Canada has admitted recently that its new visa application form, criticized by Russia for seeking sensitive information on applicants’ military service, aims to weed out visitors inadmissible to Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Canada ‘must protect the health and safety of Canadians, maintain the security of Canadian society and promote international…
Articles Posted in Global Immigration Stories
Mauritius, Switzerland sign agreement on short-stay visa waiver
Mauritius and Switzerland on Wednesday signed an agreement on short-stay visa waiver under which Mauritians could stay in the European country without visa for a maximum of three months in a six-month period. Mauritius and the European Community (EC) signed a similar agreement on 28 May, 2009, allowing Mauritians to…
Poland supports Bulgarian bid to join Schengen travel zone
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk backed on Thursday Bulgaria’s bid to join the European visa-free Schengen travel zone in 2011. “Bulgaria is on a fast track to join Schengen and Poland will help it in that direction. Tusk also praised the government’s “steadfast efforts against corruption and organized crime.” Borisov,…
Kosovo Visa Liberalization Process
The Green MEP said she expected the European Commission, EC, to open Kosovo’s path towards the White Schengen list, which allows citizens of a country to travel across most of the European Union without a visa, in the ‘next couple of weeks’. The news follows the European Parliament’s approval last…
New high tech electronic passports of Canada
Canada has begun the process of procuring millions of electronic passports and plans to start issuing them in 2012. Canada’s ePassport will contain a “proximity contactless chip” that can only be read if it’s held within 10 centimetres of a reader and the machine-readable zone on page two has been…
Fiji Dual Citizenship
The Fiji Immigration Department approved 857 applications for dual citizenship between July 2009 and July this year. The dual citizenship status was granted under the Citizenship Decree which came into effect in April 2009. Government says many of those that have been granted dual citizenship have invested in property, farming…
UK Immigration Cap under attack from within Government
There is continuing disagreement in the UK Coalition Government between the more pro-immigration Liberal Democrat Government Ministers and Conservative Party Government Ministers. The Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable has said that the interim immigration cap is doing “huge damage” to business. Mr Cable is concerned that some companies may…
UK Immigration Minister speaks on UK immigration policy changes
UK Immigration Minister Damian Green spoke recently at the Royal Commonwealth Society in London about immigration. The Immigration Minister said that the Government wishes to “maximize” the benefits of immigration. This means that the unsustainable levels of net migration seen in recent years must be brought down. He added that…
New Zealand to open second Visa Facilitation Office in India
According to a New Zealand consulate general official, NZ is currently experiencing good growth in tourist numbers from India. The rise in Indian tourists is expected to be between 10 to 15 per cent by 2011. India is currently the tenth largest source market for NZ. As a direct effect…
Canadian Immigration Minister visit to include India, China and Philippines
Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is currently on a visit to various Countries in the World. Immigration Minister Kenney will be visiting Paris, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Hong Kong, Beijing and Manila. The Immigration Minister will be trying to reduce immigration fraud. There have been concerns about marriages of convenience and…