Articles Posted in Global Immigration Stories

The UAE government is to implement new limits on the influx of unskilled workers in a move to balance the country’s demographic structure. The country’s Federal Cabinet Sunday said the “uncontrolled import of unskilled labourers should be limited and replaced by recruitment from within the UAE”.

The UAE will instead focus on bringing in highly skilled workers based on “accredited professional and educational certificates”, state news agency WAM said. However, the cabinet’s resolution said the chairman of the Federal Demographic Structure Council may exempt from this resolution domestic helpers or any other categories he specifies.

In a bid to lessen the unskilled workers in the construction sector, the largest employer of this kind of manpower, the Cabinet instructed agencies to define a set of guidelines to improve productivity and limit the number of unskilled workers needed.

The UAE’s handling of its demographic structure is one of government’s top priorities, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s ruler said at the Cabinet meeting. Sheikh Mohammed, also Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, said empowering the UAE citizen and making him the key engine of development was one of its main aims.

He said the government was drawing up policies in a bid to strike a “demographic balance in parallel with the comprehensive development that benefits UAE citizen in all emirates of the country”. He was speaking during a Federal Cabinet meeting which issued a resolution to set specific percentage targets of UAE citizens over the next 20 years, without elaborating on the details. The Cabinet also ordered the setting up of a minimum required qualifications to occupy some jobs.

The entry to Panama of foreigners from countries with restricted visas must be approved by the National Council of Security, Public Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said. He added that this new norm will be applied across the country and offices of the consulates of Panama all over the world have been instructed that the measures take immediate effect.

“The measure is being announced yesterday by Migration Director of Panama and at all the consulates in the world,” he said, adding that although the new measure has not been approved as law yet it was already being enforced.

He said the decision is under the administration of the Security Council rather than the National Migration Service which up until yesterday had handled such issues. Mulino said that citizens from such countries will have to submit a request to the Migration Service but that request will then be transferred to the Security Council. Mulino added that his office is working on the executive decree, which will be presented to Panama’s President Ricardo Martinelli to be ratified and published.

The government will issue a visa exclusively for foreigners marrying Koreans, from as early as the latter half of this year, as part of efforts to boost its immigration efficiency and help foreign spouses better settle down here. The plan comes as the Ministry of Justice Friday unveiled changes in the nation’s immigration law, saying it will submit a revised bill to the National Assembly for approval in the near future with an aim of making the changes take effect in the second half of this year.

A new F-6 visa will be issued to foreigners who come here to marry Koreans in a bid to better help a growing number of migrant wives, mostly from China and Southeast Asian countries, adapt to the new living environment and deal with legal and other issues here. Currently, they receive an F-2 visa just as other foreigners who wish to stay here for longer than 90 days.

The country has seen a rapid increase in the number of foreigners coming to marry Koreans over the past few years. The number was estimated to exceed 140,000 nationwide as of the end of 2010. “It is difficult to implement policies specifically directed to “marriage immigrants” because there are many types of long-term foreign residents under the current F-2 visa regime. We expect the introduction of a separate visa for foreign spouses will help us provide timely and more tailored-made policy assistance,” a ministry official said.

Foreigners whose Korean husbands or wives have died or gone missing will also be eligible for the visa. Additionally, foreign retail investors bringing in more than $500,000 here will be given the F-2 visa, while those who invest over $300,000 and hire at least two Korean employees will also be given the same status. Currently, only foreigners employed by a company investing
over $500,000 here are given the right to stay for the long term.

In a bid to secure talented human resources, the government also plans to make foreigners holding Ph.D. degrees eligible for the F-2 visa. Now, only those who have Ph.D.s and are employed by domestic companies are issued with the visa.

A Russian visa center will open in Helsinki in the coming days and there will be three more – in Turku, Lappeenranta and Mariehamn – all scheduled to open next month.

The centers will make things easier for Finns applying for Russian visas. But they will only accept documents, while decision-making on visas will remain the prerogative of diplomatic missions.

The Executive Yuan passed a draft amendment Thursday that simplifies the process for foreigners seeking residency in Taiwan in an attempt to attract foreign talent into the country. A new article was added that stipulates that if a foreigner enters Taiwan on a “four-in-one” employment pass, which incorporates a visa, work permit, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit, he or she will not be required to apply for an ARC again with the National Immigration Agency (NIA) upon arrival in Taiwan.

The ARC is the identification card issued to foreign residents in Taiwan. Under current regulations, a foreign professional who wishes to work in Taiwan has to apply for a work permit from the Council of Labor Affairs and a resident visa from a Taiwan embassy or representative office overseas before applying for an ARC from the NIA within 15 days of arrival in the country.

As Taiwan is expected to enter a zero population growth era from 2022, an important issue for the government to consider when formulating its immigration policy in the future is how it can attract foreign talent to make up for a shortage of homegrown talent resulting from a decline in the country’s fertility rate, said Premier Wu Den-yih.

Wu said the most important job for the government at present is to allow more non-resident foreigners to enter the country, relax restrictions on the residence rights of overseas-born children of Taiwanese nationals, simplify the process for foreigners applying for residency, and strengthen the management of international marriage brokers.

According to the draft amendment, overseas-born children of Taiwanese nationals can now apply for residence or settlement in Taiwan at any age. Previous regulations stipulated that only those over the age of 20 are eligible to file for application.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs is in the process of creating an ‘eMigrate’ system as a mission-mode e-governance project to streamline the emigration process and eliminate the loopholes in the current unorganized system.

“At present, it is not possible to keep track of every emigrant. With the formation of a separate ministry in 2005, the involvement of touts has been reduced but not completely eliminated. The eMigrate system will begin in a couple of months and will be implemented in phases over three years,” said KN Shrivastava, additional secretary and financial advisor, Ministry of External Affairs.

There are 25 million Indians working in 50 countries, and over 5 million unskilled and semi-skilled people in the six Gulf countries besides a sizable number in Malaysia, followed by Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.

Close to 50 employers from the above countries are participating in a two-day conference beginning here today, organized jointly by the MOIA, AP government and the Overseas Manpower Corporation of Andhra Pradesh.

Shrivastava said the recruitment of labor was mainly through recruiting agents at present, which was exploitative for workers and cumbersome for employers. The MOIA was formed to address the labor problems, and a new legislative and regulatory framework would be introduced soon.

A new Immigration Management Bill has been drafted to replace the existing Immigration Regulation Act 1983. It has also taken up skill upgradation programmes for unskilled or semi-skilled labor. The ministry is mulling bilateral understanding with all Gulf countries and Malaysia.

The passports division of the External Affairs ministry would create seven ICT-enabled passport seva kendras in the state by August, three of which are to be in Hyderabad, to curb malpractices. The MOIA has set up an Indian Workers Resource Center with a toll-free 24-hour helpline in Dubai, a similar helpline in Delhi and regional migration resource centers. A Rs 25-lakh Indian Community Welfare Fund has also been created to provide support services to emigrant labour.

The EU Commission has given EU member states until 1 July to implement the blue card directive. Starting on 1 June 2011, highly skilled workers from outside the European Union can apply to work in Bulgaria under the EU Blue Card scheme. The blue card would allow a skilled worker with a job offer to take employment in member states under the directive. It may also be possible to work in more than one EU member state using the same Blue Card.

The Blue Card aka Blue European Labour Card is an approved EU-wide work permit (Council Directive 2009/50/EC) allowing high-skilled non-EU citizens to work and live in any country within the European Union, excluding Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom, which are not subject to the proposal. The term Blue Card was coined by the think tank Bruegel, inspired by the United States’ Green Card and making reference to the EU flag which is blue with twelve golden stars.

The Blue Card proposal presented by the European Commission offers a one-track procedure for non-EU citizens to apply for a work permit, which would be valid for up to two-years, but can be renewed thereafter. Those who are granted a blue card will be given a series of rights, such as favorable family unification rules. The proposal also encourages geographic mobility within the EU, between different member states, for those who have been granted a blue card. The legal basis for this proposal is Article 63(3)(a) and (4) of the Treaty of Rome, which states that the Council shall adapt measures on immigration policy concerning “conditions of entry and residence and standards on procedures for the issue by Member States” and measures “defining the rights and conditions under which nationals of third countries who are legally resident in a Member State may reside in other Member States”.

“[One of the] requirements for a non-EU citizen to get a blue card are a higher education certificate,” said Hristo Simeonov of the Bulgarian Ministry of Social Policy and Labour.

Many European companies, including Bulgaria, are experiencing shortage of highly qualified and highly skilled workers. Citizens of countries such as Ukraine, Serbia, Russia, Turkey, Croatia, and Moldavia may soon find it easier to work in Bulgaria, and in other Countries in the EU.

The Philippine Embassy explained recently about new Philippine immigration regulations on travel to the Philippines by foreign children who are under 15 years old, unaccompanied by their parents, or not coming to visit a parent. These children traveling individually or in groups to the Philippines have to notify the Commission of Immigration in writing their intent to travel to the Philippines at least 72 hours before arrival, the Philippine Embassy said.

An inquiry emailed to the Philippine Immigration Department on the new immigration regulations has not received a reply at press time. On the special Philippine medical visas for foreigners as reported in the foreign press, Charge D’ Affaires Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat said yesterday the Philippine Embassy has not received any guidelines from the Philippine Bureau of Immigrations.

Consul General Raymond Balatbat said the new regulations from the Philippine Department of Immigration amends an old law barring the entry of minor children who are not accompanied by their parents, or not visiting their parents in the Philippines.

The new regulations allow the travel of children under 15 years old to the Philippines subject to certain conditions. If those children have to be admitted to travel to the Philippines, there is a need for an intent to travel letter to be sent directly to the Philippine Bureau of Immigration in Manila, and not to the Philippine Embassy in Brunei.

We can still help by doing parallel (services),” Consul General Balatbat said. They can apply in Manila and furnish us with the same documents. We have Bruneian youths travelling to Manila to join cultural or sports activities, who are accompanied by the organizers, head of delegations, or chaperoned by persons who are not their parents.

“If the foreign child/children arrive in the Philippines without notifying the Commissioner of Immigration, they can still enter the Philippines provided the minor’s guardian or legal representative presents copies of the minor’s passport and attaches the accomplished Waiver of Exclusion (WE) forms obtained from the Immigration Duty Supervisor (IDS) in the Philippine port of entry.

“The minor’s guardian or legal representative has to pay a 3,120 Philippine pesos (around B$100) fee for each unaccompanied minor to the authorised cashier, present the payment receipt to the IDS, who shall direct an Immigration officer to admit the minor/s,” Balatbat said. The letter of intent to the Commissioner of Immigration should include a request for the minor’s waiver of exclusion and the relinquishment of exclusion fees, copies of the minor’s valid passport, visa (if required), return ticket, and letter of invitation from a parent or sponsor from the Philippines.

Finding merit in the request, the Commissioner of Immigration issues an order waiving the minor’s exclusion, and may also waive the exclusion fees. Otherwise a waiver fee of 3,120 Philippine pesos shall be imposed.

The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh has announced its schedule for outreach consular services missions, commonly known as the “Embassy on Wheels” (EOW), for the year 2011.

While the schedule is tentative, the Embassy will exert its best to stick to the schedule, provided that venues are confirmed and approval of the host government are obtained for each consular mission.

The following is the tentative schedule of the outreach activities:
27 – 28 January 2011 – Al Khobar
10 – 11 February 2011 – Al Jouf
24 – 25 February 2011 – Al Khobar
24 – 25 March 2011 – Al Khobar
14 – 15 April 2011 – Hail
28 – 29 April 2011 – Al Khobar
19 – 20 May 2011 – Al Khobar
9 – 10 June 2011 – Sana’a, Yemen
23 – 24 June 2011 – Al Khobar
7 – 8 July 2011 – Buraydah
21 – 22 July 2011 – Al Khobar
11 – 12 August 2011 – Al Khobar
15 – 16 September 2011 – Jubail
29 – 30 September 2011 – Al Khobar
20 – 21 October 2011 – Al Khobar
3 – 4 November 2011 – Sana’a, Yemen
17 – 18 November 2011 – Al Khobar
8 – 9 December 2011 – Al Khobar
Starting January 2011, the EOW will adopt the appointment system for its passport services. This is to avoid the inconvenience associated with the long queues during the past EOWs. The new appointment system is free of charge and the applicants shall enlist themselves directly through email or text.

For email, passport applicants should e-mail eowappointment@philembassy-riyadh.org and indicate the applicant/s full name, contact number, and their city in Saudi Arabia. They can also reserve a slot thru text message by sending the following format: EOW(space)full name(space)city in Saudi Arabia to 0540269731 (example: EOW Juan Santos Dammam).

Family applicants must indicate all the names of its members, otherwise only one slot would be provided to them. One week before the scheduled EOW, the list of those who would be served during the EOW passport services will be posted on the Embassy website (www.philembassy-riyadh.org).

Those who could not be accommodated for the particular EOW outreach mission will be automatically listed for the next EOW outreach mission. The next EOW is tentatively scheduled on 27-28 January 2011 at the International Philippine School in Al Khobar (IPSA) in Al Khobar, Eastern Region.

The Consulate of Vietnam has officially been inaugurated in Nagoya city, Aichi prefecture with the Chairman of the Central Japan International Airport Co. Ltd. (Centrair), Yukihisa Hirano, being appointed as the honorary consul.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan, Nguyen Phu Binh said Nagoya is a major economic centre in central Japan and the expanded area of Nagoya accounts for 1 percent of global GDP. The appointment of Mr Yukihisa Hirano as the honorary consul is of great significance for promoting relations between the two countries, Mr Binh emphasised.

Under the Vietnamese Foreign Minister’s decision issued in September, two Japanese citizens were appointed honorary consuls. Mr Yukihisa is located in Nagoya city while Taro Nakajima, President of the Kushiro Coal Exploitation Company is located in Kushiro city in Hokkaido prefecture.

Mr Hirano said he would do his best to promote exchange activities with Vietnam especially when Vietnam Airlines has opened a direct air route from Centrair to Hanoi and HCM City.

Situated on Honshu island, Nagoya is the centre of Japan’s third biggest urban area in Chukyo with a total population of 8.74 million and an area of 326.45 km2. Vietnam has now set up three diplomatic representative offices in Japan, including an embassy in Tokyo and two consulate generals in Osaka and Fukuoka.