Taiwan’s latest visa-refusal rate has met the requirement of the United States for its Visa Waiver Program (VWP), but there is no timetable for Taiwan’s inclusion in the program due to various technical issues, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said Thursday. Taiwan’s U.S. visa refusal rate for fiscal…
Passport authorities at King Abdulaziz International Airport Haj Terminal, Saudi Arabia have turned away 61 pilgrims so far because of discrepancies in their documents and fingerprint records, a senior official said on Tuesday. The General Directorate of Passports has installed state-of-the-art equipment to detect fraudulent Haj visas at the Haj…
The British government will create a new “entrepreneur visa” and reform its intellectual property laws to try to attract high-tech businesses. Cameron will set out plans to transform a stretch of East London into a high-tech hub to rival Silicon Valley, starting with new investments from the likes of Internet…
A drug-smuggling tunnel and approximately 30 tons of marijuana were discovered early Wednesday in the Otay Mesa section of San Diego, said officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. The officials said the tunnel, which contained much of the drugs, was roughly 600 yards…
On 19 July 2010, the UK Government introduced a limit on the number of initial applications that can be issued under Tier 1 (General) of the points-based system until 31 March 2011. The limit does not affect applications from dependents or applications to extend existing Tier 1 visas. The UK…
The Indian Government has agreed to streamline visa procedures for citizens from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines, said the Financial Times of India on October 31. Citizens from the four ASEAN nations will be granted immigration visas to enter India at the border. The decision will come into force…
The Finnish Immigration Service is looking into the possibility of introducing a citizenship test in Finland. According to a report in the Turun Sanomat daily, immigrants applying for Finnish citizenship would have to pass the test before being granted the right to a Finnish passport. Officials say the results would…
Moscow is hoping for the speedier signing of a border deal with Poland on simpler border passage for citizens of the neighboring Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The issue is among the highlights during Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s current visit to Warsaw. European laws allow visa-free travel for people living within…
Taiwan moved another step closer to obtaining visa exemption treatment from Schengen countries after the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) passed a visa liberalization motion for Taiwan yesterday, sending the proposal to a vote at the parliament’s plenary session late next month. James Lee,…
The British High Commission in Nigeria said yesterday that it issued about 100,000 visas to Nigerians wishing to travel to the United Kingdom, out of the 170,000 that applied. The commission stated this in a statement signed by its press secretary, Hooman Nouruzi in Abuja. The statement said: “The British…