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The eight SAARC countries have decided to exempt 19 categories of people from visa requirement and agreed to grant multi- entry visas for three to six months to selected journalists, business persons and sportspersons without prior clearance.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an organization of South Asian nations, founded in December 1985 and dedicated to economic, technological, social, and cultural development emphasizing collective self-reliance. Its seven founding members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined the organization in 2007. Meetings of heads of state are usually scheduled annually; meetings of foreign secretaries, twice annually. It is headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The meeting of SAAARC council of ministers, held in the Bhutanese Capital of Thimphu also endorsed India’s proposal for setting up of a SAARC forum, comprising non-government officials to act as a pressure group for increasing regional integration, media report said.

Revisiting the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme, the meeting approved a proposal under which visa regime could be liberalised for selected groups.

People from 19 other categories, including members of parliament, diplomats and non-government people involved in SAARC projects will get visa stickers from the respective foreign ministries exempting them from visa requirements.

Finland’s Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb opens state-of-the-art visa centre in St. Petersburg with 83 service counters and more than 200 employees. The 3,000 square meters top-modern visa centre was opened this week by Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb.

With the new visa centre, Russians will no longer need to stand for hours in queue to deliver their passport documents. Applying for visa will take no more than 15 minutes, according to the information posted at the portal of Finland’s Consulate General.

It is, however, not the staff of the Consulate General that man the new visa centre. Finland is outsourcing the work on receiving and delivering out visas. The centre is operated by the Indian company VFS, while the all decisions relating to visas still will be taken by the staff of the Consulate General.

Since 2005, visas to Finland issued in St. Petersburg have tripled to 751,000 in 2010.55 of the 83 service counters are reserved ordinary applicants. The 28 other counters are for tour operators and travel agencies. The visa-centre is located over two floors with both escalator and elevators within the Olympic Plaza shopping centre.

With an ensured maximum waiting time of 15 minutes, customers can drop in and pick up their visa during the lunch break without wasting much time.

Consul General Olli Perhentupa said “It is hard to imagine a better place for the visa center, because it is located near several metro stations and other transport hubs downtown.”
The centre is open from 9 to 17 on weekdays, but the Consulate General says the centre can work even in weekends if necessary. Also, if visa applicants forget to bring a photo, they can do it at the new centre. There is a bank desk, and customers can purchase snacks and refreshments.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that they decided to set up High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council between Turkey and Kyrgyzstan. Holding a joint press conference with Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambaev in Bishkek on Wednesday, Erdogan said that the first meeting of the council would take place in Turkey in March.

Noting that it would be beneficial to establish an Investment Agency in Kyrgyzstan, Erdogan said that the two countries could take mutual steps as well as steps in third countries through Investment Agency. He added that Turkey could share its experiences with Kyrgyz officials.

Erdogan said that investments and support made by Turkey in Kyrgyzstan had reached 450 million USD so far, adding that the support which Turkey extended only regarding Manas University had reached 150 million USD so far.

Turkey donated 10 million USD to Kyrgyzstan in 2010, said Erdogan, adding that International Cooperation & Development Agency of Turkey (TIKA) would make an investment of 15 million USD for hospitals and schools especially in southern regions of Kyrgyzstan in 2011.

Noting that a tripartite cooperation could also be made between Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Russia to make investments in Kyrgyzstan, Erdogan said that today Turkey and Kyrgyzstan signed an agreement to lift 90-day visas. He added that the agreement included a sentence to lift visa procedures completely between the two countries by the end of the year. Visa will be lifted between Turkey and Kyrgyzstan by the end of 2011, said Erdogan.

The Federal Government will make it easier for businesses helping the Queensland reconstruction to employ overseas workers. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has promised quicker visa approvals for employer-sponsored temporary skilled migrants who join the effort.

“Skilled labour will be as important as funding for rebuilding,” Ms Gillard said. There will be extra resources, assistance to employers and simpler processes to ensure a five-day turnaround for decision-ready applications. The median processing time now is 18 days.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions urged caution.

“No one wants to see a return to the sort of abuses we saw under the former Coalition government, where unscrupulous employers were allowed to exploit overseas workers and to remove job opportunities and push down the wages of Australian workers,” ACTU president Ged Kearney said.

The Philippines will introduce special medical visas for foreigners, as the country seeks to grab a bigger share of Asia’s booming health tourism industry. The medical tourist visas, to be introduced later this year by the Bureau of Immigration, will allow foreigners to stay in the country for six months without having to apply for extensions, as regular tourists are required to do.

The government is banking on its English-speaking and internationally trained doctors among its advantages, as well as medical and surgical costs that are up to 50 % cheaper than the United States or Europe. It is optimistic that by offering this visa, it will get more medical tourists from Europe and the United States. The Philippines’ health department launched a programme in 2004 to promote medical tourism by encouraging state hospitals and specialised private institutions to compete with medical organisations elsewhere in Asia. But despite many initiatives, actual numbers have been far lower than set targets. The proposed visa will also help the government earn income from the visa fees and charges.

The Bureau of Immigration is preparing the proposed guidelines for the visa, for approval by the Department of Justice and the President. Under the proposed guidelines, the visa holder may stay in the Philippines for six months without having to secure an alien certificate of registration or identity card. Medical tourist visa holders will also exempted from paying the annual report fee levied on foreign residents. Visa holders will be required to post a bond based on the value of their airline tickets, to help ensure that the foreigners will not violate the conditions of their stay in the Philippines. But local medical tourism businesses are unhappy that making patients post a bond goes against the point of launching the visa; and if a customer has to pay visa fees and arrange a bond, it could drive them to countries with a less bureaucratic approach. The Immigration Act currently allows the extension of tourist or temporary visitor’s visas only to foreigners who come to the Philippines for business or pleasure. Foreigners are initially allowed to stay for either 21 days or two months that may be extended every month up to a maximum of two years.

India has now exempted foreign tourists from the mandatory two-month gap to re-enter the country for regular onward medical treatment. A circular issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs said,” For persons coming for medical treatment, there is a separate category of medical visa. Foreign nationals coming for medical treatment will have to come only on medical visa and not on tourist visa. But this is subject to their submission of a detailed itinerary and supporting documentation (ticket bookings.”
Medical tourism in India has grown. The government estimates, although there are no real figures, that in 2002 150,000 foreign patients visited India for treatments, and this could reach 500,000 this year.

India has recently clamped new restrictions on foreign tourists visiting the country on tourist visas to avoid misuse of such visas which entailed tourists had to give a mandatory two-month gap before re-entering India. So foreign nationals holding Indian tourist visas with multiple entry facility have to make a two-month gap mandatory between two visits. India issues tourist visas to foreigners who do not have a residence or occupation in the country, will now allow foreign tourists who after initial entry into India plan to visit another country as part of neighborhood tourism-related travel and allow them to re-enter India before their final exit to have two or three entries.

Syria lifted visa restrictions on Iraqi nationals on Tuesday in a sign of improving ties between the two neighbours after political disputes curbed border movement. Syria’s official news agency said a cabinet decision will make it possible from Feb. 1 for any Iraqi to apply for visa at border points, instead of from the Syrian embassy in Baghdad.

Visa rules imposed in 2007 limited visas to Iraqi merchants and academics, making it difficult for other Iraqis fleeing violence in their homeland to go to Syria. Syria, which has a 600-km (375-mile) border with Iraq, received hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees following the US invasion that removed Saddam Hussein from power in 2003 and ushered in sectarian strife.

Iraq withdrew its ambassador from Syria in 2009 after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki accused Damascus of sheltering two people he said were behind bomb attacks in Baghdad that killed 100 people. Syria reciprocated immediately.

Relations between the two countries improved last year and the two governments agreed to restore ambassadors to each other’s capital in September. Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari discussed the visa issue during a visit to Baghdad this month. The Syrian and Iraqi side also talked about the possibility of building a 56-inch gas pipeline from Iran to Syria via Iraq.

U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has planned to launch a website that can be used by public. This website would be pretty much useful for companies as they can post notices regarding their proposal to hire H-1B workers. This has led to a more transparency regarding the H-1B hiring process.

If the website is launched, then it would be helpful for U.S. workers to find out about their Visa status and also to identify whether the employers are showing discrimination against U.S. workers. Through this website the employers can rank their H-1B visa holding employees, which would be easy for the employers to hire the best candidates. This has been suggested in a 118-page report by the GOA which comprises of this particular suggestion about the website as well as other issues.

Britons are still wanted down under as over 24,000 UK residents emigrated to Australia last year. NSW remains the most popular choice for new arrivals to Australia despite an overall drop in migration, a new survey shows. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) Settler Arrival survey reveals 140,610 people moved to Australia in the 2009-2010 financial year, a drop of 11 per cent from last year.

NSW was still the most attractive destination, with about 30 per cent of all new arrivals flocking to the state. The next most popular states was Victoria which attracted 26 per cent of new migrants, followed by Queensland at 18 per cent.

Western Australia attracted around 15 per cent of arrivals.Most migrants to NSW were educated professionals hailing from China and India, with settler arrivals from those countries at 17 and 11 per cent respectively.

Kiwis were Australia’s biggest import at around 13 per cent of all migrants, closely followed by China at about 12 per cent and India at 11 per cent. UK migrants account for around 9%. This is a major change as 3 years ago, British migrants were ahead of both China and India ; although this situation is anticipated to be reversed in 2012 as the tougher rules on studying in Australia begin to bite.

More than half of all settlers into Australia were professionals or worked as managers and administrators.The Settler Arrival survey sources its data from passenger arrival and departure cards filled in by new arrivals.

Foreign workers without work permits would be forced to leave the country, said deputy minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa. The regulation comes under a draft decree which has been edited by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to submit to the Government.

The draft decree also regulates that highly qualified foreigners who worked as high-ranking experts would not need a work permit. Government Decree 34/CP, which regulates foreign worker recruitment and management, came into effect in April 2008, but enterprises that employed foreigners without permits only received administrative punishment under the regulation.

Foreign workers who did not obey the decree were to be expelled, but in fact, that never happened, and the level of punishment was not enough of a deterrent, said Hoa. Procedures to issue work permits would not be changed, but would be more strictly regulated, he added.

The draft decree would not have unnecessary procedures like the old one, under which the Minister of Public Security had to authorise any expulsions. Under the updated version, city police directors would have the power, said Hoa. He added: The draft decree creates good conditions for foreign workers with high levels of ability to work in Viet Nam, and manage other foreigners better.

According to ministry statistics, there are currently 57,000 foreign workers in the country, 70 per cent of whom do not have a work permit, and 30 per cent work under a visa.

Four out of every five Britons want the government to cut the level of immigration. A large-scale poll carried out for the government by the Communities Department has revealed more than half the UK population wants to see the numbers of immigrants arriving to stay permanently in Britain reduced by a large amount. The survey suggests public demand for a cap on immigration is rapidly growing.

The results of the poll can be seen as a warning from Whitehall to Home secretary Theresa May and PM David Cameron that concerns over the high level of immigration are not going away. The issue played a prominent part in pre-election campaigning last year and is likely to lead to frustration amongst the electorate if pledges made last May are not adhered to.

Promises during the run-up to the general election included a reduction in the number of immigrants to 1990s level of under 100,000 a year. In Labour’s last year in office, net migration stood as 215,000. The Communities Department Citizenship Survey was set up under Labour as an attempt to measure ‘community cohesion’ One important point in its design was that Muslim and ethnic minority communities were ‘robustly represented’ in the results.

A total of 10,000 people took part, with pollsters later taking opinions from another 5,000 ethnic minority residents and 1,200 Muslims before reaching their conclusions. Results stated 54 per cent of the population wanted immigration cut ‘a lot’, with 24 per cent saying ‘a little’ and only 19 per cent saying levels should stay the same. NO evidence was found that local communities were becoming more divided. Some 22 per cent believed they received poor treatment from public services due to racial prejudice, but 85 per cent believed their communities were racially cohesive.

Sir Andrew Greene, considers the figures are a clear indication immigration still features large in the public concern, in spite of other worries. He adds the coalition government, especially its Lib-Dem members, should take the survey seriously. Critics are stating the UK is busy importing workers while six million of its citizens remain on benefits and unable to find jobs.