Articles Posted in Global Immigration Stories

UK’s Migration Advisory Committee today recommended that the number of migrant workers coming into Britain from outside EU be cut between 13-25 per cent next year.

The MAC submitted a 300-odd page report to the government in which it has said that the number of visas issued both under tier 1 and tier 2 categories in 2011-12 should be between 37,400 and 43,700, that would represent a 6,300 to 12,600 reduction over the 2009.For the Tier 1 General route, in order to achieve the Government’s policy objective, the MAC suggested a reduction in the number of entry clearance visas issued, compared to 2009, in the range of 3,150 to 6,300 and a limit on the number of Tier 1 entry clearance visas in the range of 8,000 to 11,100 in 2011-12.

For the Tier 2 shortage occupation, RLMT (resident labour market test) and intra-company transfer routes, the MAC has recommended a reduction the number of entry clearance visas issued, compared to 2009, in the range of 3,150 to 6,300 and a limit on the number of Tier 2 entry clearance visas in the range of 29,400 to 32,600 in 2011/12. This limit excludes extensions, switchers and dependants.

The MAC report sets out to answer the question raised by the the Home Secretary who wrote to the MAC Chair commissioning the following question: “At what level should limits on Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the points-based system be set for their first full year of operation in 2011/12, in order to contribute to achieving the government’s aim of reducing net migration to an annual level of tens of thousands by the end of this Parliament, and taking into account social and public service impacts as well as economic impacts?”
Submitting the report today the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, David Metcalf, said, “It is not possible to reduce net migration to the tens of thousand by limiting work-related migration alone. The Committee assumes that work-related migration takes 20 per cent of the total cut – its fair share – which implies that family and student migration must take the other 80 per cent.”
The MAC report is only recommendatory in nature. The final decision on the exact cap imposed on non-EU immigrants will be decided by the government. The final decision is expected by end of December this year. The Conservatives, the main party in the current coalition government came to power with one of its promises being setting a cap on immigration.

Business lobby CBI, reacting to MAC recommendations tabled today said,“The committee rightly accepts that those coming to the UK with a job offer should have priority, and this has been something that businesses have consistently called for. It is also important that companies with an international operation can transfer their own staff, as required, on a temporary basis, and we would like to see these ‘Intra-Company Transfers’ exempted from the cap.”
The report submitted by UK Migration Advisory Committee today revealed that India topped as the largest source of migrants into UK under five different categories. Indians topped the list under Tier 1 General (41 per cent of total approvals), Tier 1 Post-Study Work Route (31 per cent), Tier 2 General (24 per cent) and Intra-Company (68 percent) transfers and finally Tier 2 Dependents (45 per cent). The data relates to approved applications between the first quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said yesterday Cambodia and Thailand would sign an agreement next week allowing nationals from each country to cross the border without having to obtain a visa.

He said the agreement would be signed during the two-day Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy Summit in Phnom Penh, which begins November 16. “At the ACMECS meeting we have planned to sign this exemption for ordinary passport holders,” he said.

Thani Thongpakdi, deputy spokesman for the Thai foreign ministry, said he hoped the agreement would be signed “as soon as possible”. “Thai nationals and Cambodian nationals [currently] need to get visas [to cross],” he said. “This agreement is about exempting that.”
He said procedures for crossing the border remain in place, stating that nationals must still pass through designated border gates. Koy Kuong said yesterday Cambodia has signed similar pacts with ASEAN members Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Thai newspaper The Nation yesterday quoted Thawatchai Samutsakorn – commander of the Thai troops stationed near the Preah Vihear temple – as saying that he would push for the Preah Vihear border gate to be reopened before the New Year so that tourists could visit the temple from the Thai side.

But Koy Kuong said the gate would only be opened when Thai troops withdrew from the temple. “Samdech [Hun Sen] stated clearly that if Thailand made the situation normal again, the border gate can open anytime,” he said. “It was closed when Thailand sent troops to invade Cambodia.”
Relations between Thailand and Cambodia soured in July 2008 when the temple was listed as a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Both countries claim a 4.6-square-kilometer zone adjacent to the temple. Thai parliamentarians are set to meet next month to discuss agreements made between the two countries to undertake joint demarcation and demining projects and to redeploy troops in the area.

Immigration New Zealand head Nigel Bickel says sponsors will need to meet more specific eligibility criteria and be willing to take real responsibility for ensuring people they sponsor don’t become a burden to New Zealand taxpayers.

More specific rules for people sponsoring family and friends to visit or live in New Zealand come into effect from the end of this month. The changes are about ensuring that New Zealand citizens and residents who sponsor friends and family to come here are fully aware of their obligations.

From 29 November, sponsors will be required to sign an undertaking that they will be responsible for all aspects of ‘maintenance, accommodation and repatriation’ (or deportation if required) of the sponsored person – rather than being able to choose just one aspect. This includes responsibility for all ‘third party’ costs, such as health costs. More specific criteria for sponsors are also being introduced.

For temporary entry visas, this broader obligation will be in place for the whole time the sponsored person is in New Zealand. For resident visas, the obligation will be in place for a specific period.

Another change allows organizations (companies, charitable trusts and societies) and government agencies to sponsor individuals in some circumstances. These new categories of sponsors will be eligible to support visitor visas and also work-to-residence and residence-from–work visas under the ‘talent’ category (arts, culture and sports). The new sponsorship rules are part of changes related to the Immigration Act 2009, which come into effect from 29 November this year.

“The Act creates a new, strengthened framework for sponsorship that better protects sponsored individuals and New Zealand taxpayers by ensuring sponsorship requirements and obligations are applied consistently across different categories,” Mr Bickle says.

The new Act does not make any changes to the categories under which people apply to come to New Zealand to visit, study, work or live. Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs Chief Executive Dr Colin Tukuitonga says it is important for sponsors to understand the new rules.

“Many Pacific families sponsor relatives to come to New Zealand. The Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs will be working alongside Immigration New Zealand to help our Pacific communities understand the minimum criteria to be a sponsor and the associated obligations,” Dr Tukuitonga says.

The country’s President Tarja Halonen announced during her visit to the Russian city that Finland will open a visa centre in March 2011in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. It is a part of Halonen’s four-day state visit to Russia.

Speaking with republican President Rustam Minnikhanov, Halonen said that the visa center will be opened in order to “make relations between people easier, more comfortable and closer“. -Nothing can replace communication between people, she stressed.

The Finnish President also told journalists that Finland will do whatever it can to help introduce visa-free traveling between Russia and the EU, but admitted that this is a very complicated process.

Russian tourists have for several years been the largest group of foreign travelers to Finland. In 2010, Finland will grant nearly one million visas to Russian businessmen and tourists, more than any other EU country. Furthermore, over 80 per cent of the visas will be multiple entry visas.

The Federal Government of Nigeria on Tuesday announced the extension deadline for expiration of the Machine Readable Passport (MRP) to the Harmonised ECOWAS Electronic (Smart) Passport, otherwise called e-passport from December 31, 2010 to April 30, 2011.

The Minister of Interior, Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho, who made this known during the presentation of his ministry’s scorecard for 2010, in Abuja, said the December 31 deadline earlier announced was not feasible because a lot of complaints had been received by the ministry from most Nigerians abroad who were yet to obtain the e-passport.

He disclosed that in order to protect and meet the expected high demand for the e-passport from Nigerians in diaspora, the Nigerian Immigration Service had procured 15 mobile enrolment and 135 officers had been selected and trained for passport intervention programme in the six continents of the world.

The Ministry of Interior has denied rumors that it has stopped issuing visas to the immediate relatives of expatriate residents. Major General Nasser Al Awadi Al Menhali, Director-General of the Naturalization and Residency Department, told Gulf News that visas are still being issued to immediate family members, and especially to parents.

He added that a husband has the right to sponsor his wife, parents and in-laws. Wives in turn have the right to sponsor their husbands, parents and in-laws. Parents have the right to sponsor their children if they are under the age of 21. The ministry takes into consideration humanitarian and social imperatives and sometimes issues visas to children above the age of 21 who want to visit their families or continue their education.

A local Arabic-language newspaper reported yesterday that the Naturalisation and Residency Department had stopped issuing visas to parents of residents, but continued to issue them to husbands, wives and children. The report prompted panicked expatriates to call newspapers and residency department offices.

Al Menhali said there had been no change in the UAE’s naturalisation and residency laws. Applicants are required to deposit a guarantee of Dh5,000, in addition to the visa application fee.

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 justice and security by fostering respect for human rights’.

‘Temporary resident applicants from a number of countries have been asked questions regarding military, security and political activities that could make someone inadmissible in the past to ensure that officers have adequate information when determining admissibility to Canada.’ The new visa application form merely attempts to standardize various questions that have been asked before and eliminate the need for country-specific forms.

Earlier, Russia protested against the new visa application form issued by Canada, complaining it will ‘seriously complicate’ the application process for Russians and could provoke reciprocal measures. ‘The modified Canadian form goes beyond the conventional criteria, and its adoption goes against the global tendency to ease visa regimes,’ Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said at a briefing. The new form will ‘make the process for Russian citizens to receive Canadian visas much harder,’ he added. Russian tourist operators also complained this week that the form, required for visa applicants outside Canada, asks for information that is illegal for Russian citizens to disclose. Applicants are asked to provide details about military service, including location of the military unit and name of the commanding officer.

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 enter and stay without visa in the territory of the European Union (EU) member States within the Schengen Area for the same period.

Mauritian Secretary for Foreign Affairs Anun Neewoor, said that under the combined effect of both agreements Mauritians could travel without a visa to the 25 EU member States and Switzerland and stay for a maximum period of three months with multiple-entry facilities within a six-month period.

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, on his part, thanked Tusk for the support, highlighting its importance in the light of Poland’s upcoming EU presidency in the second half of 2011.

Bulgaria is seeking to join the Schengen zone in March 2011 but is still awaiting the European Union’s final greenlight. The two premiers of the Bulgaria and Poland also discussed on the issues pertaining to economic crisis, gas deliveries and transportation links too.

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 week of plans for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the list from January. 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’.

If the Council of the European Union agrees to extend visa liberalization to the two Balkan states in November, Kosovars will be the only citizens of the region requiring visas to travel to the EU. The Austrian politician told Balkan Insight that she agreed with some Kosovars’ fears that such a step would transform Kosovo into a ‘ghetto’. Even those countries that don’t recognize Kosovo have said that Kosovo needs to be included in visa liberalization.

But she added that Kosovo’s image as a country of ‘criminals and corruption’ among certain member states, and increasing scepticism voiced by some major European powers, such as France, over extending visa liberalization, present obstacles on the road to visa liberalization for the world’s youngest state. Officials in Paris have expressed doubt in recent weeks about extending visa liberalization to Albania and Bosnia, which have now fulfilled the technical criteria to become members of the White Schengen List, according to the EC.

The Commission wants a measure [visa liberalization] but will not be dealing with its negative impacts,” an unnamed high-level French diplomat told Le Monde earlier this month. French State Secretary for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche called the visa policy a “matter of security” in a speech to the French parliament on September 29. He said that France would request “security guarantees” from Albania and Bosnia before it will support visa liberalization.

Visa liberalisation for Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia was granted in January this year and led to a spike in asylum claims in Belgium filed by citizens mainly from Serbia and Macedonia. In recent weeks it has emerged that Sweden has become the latest destination for Serbians seeking asylum. According to local reports, of the 22,045 applicants that have sought asylum in Sweden this year, about 4,000 declared Serbian citizenship, compared with 421 in the same period last year.