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Canada has repealed an ineffective refugee program in order to put more emphasis on work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and refugees in the greatest need, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today.

“By repealing programs such as the Source Country, we can direct more resources on proven and effective resettlement programs, such as our partnership with the UNHCR,” said Minister Kenney. “This will enable us to quickly offer refuge for more individuals in real need of protection.”
The Source Country class was intended to be a flexible tool for humanitarian intervention, capable of responding to a variety of situations. The objective of the class was to provide resettlement assistance to people who were in need of protection, but who were unable to leave their countries and were therefore not receiving international protection under the mandate of the UNHCR.

In practice, however, the Source Country class was an inflexible tool that did not allow the government to respond to emerging situations. The class was too restrictive as it only applied to people in countries listed in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations and this list was difficult to change. As well, in some of the designated source countries, there was minimal uptake, while in others, the people who applied were not eligible or were not those for whom the program was intended.

Furthermore, overall approval rates in the program were low. In Colombia, for example, the approval rate was estimated at less than 10 percent. This meant that CIC had to process nine cases before finding one that merited Canada’s protection. In contrast, by working through the UNHCR, over 85 percent of all cases are approved.

As part of the measures taken to repeal the Source Country class, Canada will also be ending direct access in the six countries where the source country program had previously operated. Direct access allows refugees in designated source countries to apply for resettlement directly to the Canadian embassy serving their area without a referral or a sponsorship. Once direct access ends, all applicants who have left their country of origin will need to include a referral from the UNHCR, a designated referral organization or a private sponsor with their resettlement application in order to be eligible for resettlement.

“Canada remains committed to those who need our protection,” added Minister Kenney. “We are working with international partners to find long-term solutions to a number of protracted refugee situations. For example, Canada will resettle 20,000 refugees from Iraq and Iran over a five-year period, many of whom were persecuted for their religious beliefs or sexual orientation. Also, as part of the measures to reform Canada’s refugee protection system, the Government of Canada is increasing the total number of refugees resettled each year by 20 percent. This means that up to 500 more government-assisted refugees and 2,000 privately sponsored refugees will find protection in Canada.”

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Effective October 6, 2011, the Source Country class has been repealed. This means that individuals can no longer apply for resettlement to Canada under the Source Country class.

As part of the measures taken to repeal the Source Country class, Canada will also be ending direct access in designated geographic areas as of November 5, 2011. This means that applicants in the countries listed below will be required, as of November 5, to include a referral from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a designated referral organization or a private sponsor with their resettlement application in order to be eligible for resettlement.

These changes apply to people residing in the following countries:
– DR Congo Nairobi, Kenya
– Sudan Cairo, Egypt
– El Salvador Guatemala City, Guatemala
– Guatemala Guatemala City, Guatemala
– Colombia Bogota, Colombia
– Sierra Leone Accra, Ghana

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Ukraine hopes for the liberalization of the visa regime with Greece, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.

“We hope that at the level of bilateral relations, Greece will continue constructively changing its visa policy for Ukrainian citizens,” Yanukovych said in Athens on Thursday, during a meeting with President of Greece Karolos Papoulias.

The Ukrainian head of state added that Ukraine highly appreciates the position of Greece on the liberalization of the visa regime between the two states, and its support for Ukraine’s movement towards European integration, especially before the signing of the association agreement with the EU.

Yanukovych added that during talks with his counterpart he expressed Ukraine’s support for Greece “in difficult times.”
The Ukrainian president invited the president of Greece to make a state visit to Ukraine and continue the dialogue.

The Ukrainian president’s press service said that during the meeting, Yanukovych said that the Ukrainian and Greek peoples have been united by mutual respect and support for a long time.

“The traditions and relations between the Ukrainian and Greek peoples do not depend on any political situations,” he said.

“Greece and its people are facing a difficult period. Ukraine [is facing difficult times] too, but we are making a visit today, because we realize that it is high time to take a very active position, and we have to find a way to support and help each other. This will support the long, traditional good relations between Ukraine and Greece,” Yanukovych said during a meeting with Papoulias in Athens.

The president of Greece, in turn, welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart on behalf of the Greek people and said that his state visit was an important step in development of bilateral relations between the states.

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The U.S. Department of State released the lasted visa bulletin for November 2011 on October5, 2011.

For the month of October 2011, the EB-1 category was still current for nationals all over the world. In EB-2 category, the cut-off dates moves forward from July 15, 2007 to November 1, 2007 both for Chinese Mainland nationals and Indian nationals. In the EB-3 category, the cut-off dates moved forward from August 8, 2004 to August 22,2004 for Chinese Mainland nationals and moved forward from July 15, 2002 to July 22, 2002 for Indian nationals.

For the recently popular EB-5 investment immigration, although applicants are getting more and more, the visa number now is still current.

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The Netherlands has agreed to grant ROC passport holders the right to enter all its territories visa-free, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oct. 4.

At present, Holland is the only country within the Netherlands that ROC nationals are allowed to enter without having to apply for a visa in advance. In the future, this privilege will be extended to include Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten, as well as the three Carribean special municipalities of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, the MOFA said.

“We welcome the decision by the Netherlands,” the MOFA said in a news release, adding that the date the new policy will take effect has not been determined.

The decision by the Netherlands brings the total number of countries and territories that offer visa-free entry or landing visas to ROC citizens to 123, according to the MOFA.

When ROC President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May 2008, the MOFA noted, only 54 countries gave Taiwan the same privilege. “In three years 69 additional countries have given Taiwan visa-free rights, a 128-percent increase.”
“The visa-waiver privilege will save weeks of time for ROC passport holders on visa applications, and will become a big incentive for those who are into water sports and ecotourism,” the MOFA said.

ROC citizens were allowed visa-free entry to Holland and all other European countries within the Schengen Area since Jan. 1. Since then, the number of ROC nationals travelling to Europe has increased by almost 40 percent compared to the same time last year, according to the MOFA.

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru has reassured that the Nigeria Consulate in San Francisco, California will be reopened next year. Ashiru gave the assurance on Wednesday night at a town hall meeting with Nigerians in the Diaspora during his first official visit to the Nigeria embassy in Washington D.C.

“By next year we will reopen the consulate in San Francisco; lucky enough we have a building there owned by the federal government. I have already told the ambassador to renovate the property in time for reopening of the consulate,’’ he said.

The consulate in San Francisco was closed in the 80s because of rationalisation of foreign missions carried out by the then government. The Minister also informed the gathering that foreign mission and consulates are being repositioned for effective service.

He stressed the need for Foreign Service officers to spend “more time with investors’’ with a view to attracting more investment to Nigeria. “The first priority is to take care of Nigerians resident in their host country, we believe that Nigerians deserve the best and they should be so treated,’’ he said, adding that “foreign policy must be relevant to the ordinary people.”

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The Department of Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka is to introduce new system called “Electronic Travel Authorization – ETA” in order to grant prior approval for visa via online for the foreign nationals visit Sri Lanka.

This was revealed to the public at a press briefing held at Ceylon Intercontinental yesterday (28 Sep) organized by the Department of Immigration and Emigration.

The new system will be introduced on 30 September, and it will terminate the presently implemented ‘on arrival visa’ at the ports of entry, the Department said.

Accordingly, foreign nationals from 78 countries visiting Sri Lanka on purposes of tourism affairs, medical treatments, sports, cultural shows, business conferences and discussions, training programmes and seminars can apply for the Electronic Travel Authorization via www.eta.gov.lk, the dedicated official website of the Department for the purpose.

Only an administration fee has been suggested for this “Electronic Travel Authorization, the Department said.

The previous method of granting visas on arrival at the airport free of charge to the nationals from the Maldives and Singapore is still in effective as a reciprocal gesture, the Department further said.

Information is available in nine international languages allowing great continence to foreigners. However, applications should be forwarded only in English language and six methodologies have been introduced to facilitate the process.

According to this new visa granting system, since the air and ship crew are exempted from obtaining prior approval for the visa, the old system will be effective as before. The foreigners, who officially or diplomatically visit Sri Lanka should obtain prior approval for visa through a government institute of Sri Lanka and such approvals will be granted free of charge.

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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryshchenko predicts that, with the current momentum of dialogue and constant demands, Ukraine’s visa-free regime with the European Union is possible in 2-3 years.

Responding to a question about when Ukraine will be able to get visa-free regime with the EU, Hryshchenko noted that this could happen “in 2-3 years if the current dynamics of dialogue is maintained and the requirements that are put forward for visa-free regime do not materially change.”

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Prime Minister Donald Tusk says a local visa free zone between Poland and Russia will be established “in few weeks”. The zone, which will include more than four million people, will require a revision of the Schengen regulations.

Donald Tusk, who made a stop in the Warmia-Masuria Province as part of an election campaign tour, promised the regional population that it in “few weeks” will get a local visa-free zone with the Russian region of Kaliningrad. The cabinet leader maintained that the city of Gdansk and all of Kaliningrad Oblast will be included in the zone.

If established, the zone will be the second of its kind between Russia and a Schengen member. In November 2010, a similar agreement on local border traffic was signed by Russia and Norway, and a local zone of visa-free traveling is in the pipeline in the areas between the municipalities of Sør-Varanger and Pechenga.

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The visa processing time for Chinese, Brazilians and Indians may be shortened to 30 days, said a U.S. tourism official on Monday.

“The U.S. Senate just introduced a legislation last week to bring the waiting time (for a visa) to under 30 days,” Roger Dow, president and CEO of U.S. Travel Association (USTA), told Xinhua at an annual China-U.S. tourism leadership summit on Big Island, Hawaii.

“Specifically they are looking at China and taking a look at the feasibility of not having a face-to-face interview,” Dow said.

Reports said the Senate held a meeting on Wednesday to consider a State Department funding bill that would require the department to hire sufficient staff in China, Brazil and India to allow visa applications to be processed in no more than 30 days.

Shao Qiwei, chairman of China’s National Tourism Administration, said China and the United States are working together to improve the efficiency of visa issuance.

Since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in 2007 that aimed to bring more customers to the U.S. tourism industry by facilitating group leisure travel from China to the United States and permit U.S. destinations to market themselves in China, the two countries have seen significant growth in this market, Shao said.

The three-day summit opening Monday is designed to build business through creating relationships and knowledge of both the Chinese and U.S. markets. Members of USTA and the China National Tourism Association, including more than 70 regional tourism officials from the United States and China, attended the meeting.