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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today published an expanded list of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degree programs that qualify eligible graduates on student visas for an Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension-an important step forward in the Obama administration’s continued commitment to fixing our broken immigration system and expanding access to the nation’s pool of talented high skilled graduates in the science and technology fields.

The announcement follows President Obama’s recent remarks in El Paso, Texas, where he reiterated his strong support for new policies that embrace talented students from other countries, who enrich the nation by working in science and technology jobs and fueling innovation in their chosen fields here in the United States, as a part of comprehensive reform.

By expanding the list of STEM degrees to include such fields as Neuroscience, Medical Informatics, Pharmaceutics and Drug Design, Mathematics and Computer Science, the Obama administration is helping to address shortages in certain high tech sectors of talented scientists and technology experts-permitting highly skilled foreign graduates who wish to work in their field of study upon graduation and extend their post-graduate training in the United States.

Under the OPT program, foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges and universities are able to remain in the U.S. and receive training through work experience for up to 12 months. Students who graduate with one of the newly-expanded STEM degrees can remain for an additional 17 months on an OPT STEM extension.

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Sudan and Eritrea have agreed to open their common borders to facilitate passage between the two countries through ID cards without the need for entry visas. In addition, the two countries have agreed to facilitate goods and commodities traffic, without restrictions, organize inter trade and remove all border crossing points that hinder movement of citizens of the two countries.

Eritrean President, Isaias Afewerki, said the close relations between Sudan and Eritrea has prompted governments of the two countries to work for facilitating natural movement of the peoples of the two countries.

In his meeting in Asmara yesterday with the visiting Minister of Interior, Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kamal Hassan and the accompanying delegation, the Eritrean President said the stability of North Sudan and South Sudan means the stability of the entire region.

The Minister of Interior said the visit by the Sudanese delegation to Eritrea comes by within the directives of President Omer Al Bashir who has directed for the removal of all obstacles that hinder smooth traffic between the two countries.

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The Federal Government will implement a suite of regional migration initiatives together with a measured increase in permanent migration – to 185 000 visas – in 2011-12 to deliver on its broader economic and regional development priorities. Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen MP, made the announcement today as part of the 2011-12 Budget, and said a new model for selecting skilled migrants was proposed to be introduced, as the significant next step in the government’s migration reforms.

The government’s recent reforms have contributed to a decline in net overseas migration levels by almost half from its peak of more than 315 000 for the year ending December 2008 to about 180 000 for the year ending September 2010, slowing the rate of population growth to a more sustainable level.

‘This has provided scope for a moderate increase in the migration program in 2011-12, while maintaining more sustainable annual levels of net overseas migration – in the region of 170 000–180 000 over the next few years,’ Mr Bowen said.

About two-thirds of the increased migration program will be for skilled migrants to help fill critical skill needs, particularly in regional areas. The skill stream intake will increase to 125 850 places, with 16 000 places allocated to the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme. Regional visas will also be afforded the highest processing priority to recognise the needs of employers and encourage regional migration.

‘For the first time, the Federal Government will specifically allocate permanent visas for regional areas,’ Mr Bowen said.

The government will also fast-track permanent residency for temporary business (subclass 457) visa holders who have spent two years in regional Australia and where their employer will continue to sponsor them for a further two years. This will make it easier for 457 visa holders to remain in the region where they have been living and working.

Mr Bowen said regional areas would also benefit from the introduction of Regional Migration Agreements, a new initiative that will bring together employers, local and state governments and unions to cooperate in addressing local labour needs.

‘This government recognises that different regions face different opportunities and pressures. The patchwork nature of the Australian labour market means it’s important to recognise unique local circumstances and tailor migration solutions accordingly,’ he said.

‘Regional Migration Agreements will offer a coordinated, localised response to labour needs, helping local areas to implement workforce strategies that support growth while ensuring local workers remain the first choice for employers and industry.’
Fostering training initiatives for Australians will be a strong focus of the new agreements. The existing network of regional, industry and union outreach officers will also be further resourced to ensure regional employers and industry groups are well informed about such initiatives, and can better gain access to skilled labour where it is needed.

‘This is a responsible and measured approach that recognises the role skilled migrants play in supporting regional enterprises, such as in the resources and healthcare sectors and in trades and professions currently facing significant shortages,’ Mr Bowen said.

The family intake for the 2011–12 migration program will increase to 58 600 places. The family program is socially important as it allows for the reunification of Australians with their close relatives, children and spouses.

Mr Bowen said in setting the size and composition of the migration program for 2011–12, and announcing recent reforms to skilled migration, the government has balanced the importance of maximising prosperity for all Australians, ensuring communities and regions are sustainable and maintaining job opportunities for local workers. It is critical that Australia’s skilled migration program is driven by Australia’s skills needs, rather than the desires of prospective migrants.

‘That’s why the government will introduce a new model for selecting skilled migrants to better target Australia’s future skill needs, expected to come into effect on 1 July 2012. The new model concludes a series of reforms to ensure the skilled migration program is more focussed and efficient, demand-driven and tailored to employers’ needs.

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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.

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The European Commission (EC) is not planning on implementing any measures for the time being that would result in ending the liberalized visa regime for the Western Balkans, EC Spokesman Martin Grabiec told B92 on Friday (May 6th). He confirmed that several days ago the EU’s executive arm had received a letter from Belgium, expressing concern about certain cases involving so-called false asylum seekers, but said the EC’s stance is clear. “Even if Belgium really requested suspension of the visa-free regime it would be necessary to hold a debate and get consent from all member states,” he explained.

On Saturday, European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur on Visa Liberalisation for the Western Balkans Tanja Fajon told Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti that “a new wave of false asylum seekers from Serbia and Macedonia, especially in Belgium and Sweden is a reason for a great concern among the EU member states.”
According to her, the possibility of reintroducing visas for the citizens of one or both countries should not be ruled out. “Visa-free travel has certain restrictions. If you don’t respect the rules you will face consequences,” she warned.

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Norway’s Consulate General in Murmansk plans to enter agreement with an external company for receiving of the visa applications and handing out issued visas.

More and more people in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions apply for visa to Norway, Sweden and Finland.

In February, Finland opened the world’s largest visa-centre in St. Petersburg. The centre is operated by a private Indian company that receives applications and delivers out visas on behalf of the Finnish Consulate General in the city. Now, Norway wants to do the same in Murmansk.

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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.

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Melbourne, Beleaguered Australian universities have come together to plead for easing of visa restrictions for students from India and China. The two most populous countries in the world provide the vast bulk of international students to Australia. There has been a significant drop in students from India putting many self-funded Australian universities and other higher education providers in deep financial crisis.

Though the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) recently eased the visa norms for India and 37 other countries, a body representing Australian universities want more relaxations to save the third largest export of the country.

There has been a call to revamp the Assessment Level system which decides the key requirements like financials and English Language requirements for the international students interested in Australian education. Currently, students from India and China are classified under Assessment Level 3 and 4. The visa requirements become stringent as the level goes up.

“Broadly, the extraordinary burden placed on high quality university students from Assessment Level 3 and 4 countries, particularly in terms of financial proof, is critically prohibitive to the ongoing sustainability of the international education industry,” Universities Australia (UA) said in a submission to the Knight Review of Student Visa Program. The submission suggests varied Assessment Levels within countries like China and India.

The need for selective Assessment Levels has been made as “in India and China if high rates of fraud and non-compliance exist in Punjab and Fujian respectively, then they should attract a much higher assessment level compared to other regions within those large countries”, UA argued in the submission to the review body. The Universities Australia has blamed “Commonwealth” agencies for not acting in time to prevent fraudulent practices even though “the triple digit growth in 572 visas from Nepal and India (Punjab) was very obvious” in 2009-10. The subclass 572 visas were granted to students enrolled in vocational courses like hairdressing and cookery.

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Georgian Foreign Ministry welcomes the U.S. decision to extend the visa term for Georgian citizens. Given the visa-free regime that Georgia has established for United States citizens, based on the agreement reached at a meeting of a working group under the U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership Charter, the U.S. government has decided on a maximum extension of the visa term for certain categories of Georgian citizens, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

The maximum visa term for tourist and business visas (B1/B2) and transit (C1/D) visas will increase from the current 12 months, multiple entry, to 120 months, multiple entry and in the A, F, G, H, J, L, M, O, P, Q, R categories – from the current 12 months to 60 months; in the B, C, D categories – from the current 12 months to 120 months.

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Georgia introduces a visa-free regime for citizens of Albania, Iraq, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As the Parliamentary Secretary of the government Gia Khuroshvili told Trend, citizens of these countries will be eligible for visa-free stay in Georgia for 360 days.

According to the Georgian government, the introduction of the visa-free regime will facilitate the inflow of foreign investments in the country and tourism development. Earlier, Georgia introduced a visa-free regime for citizens of the United States and European Union states. The bill was considered by ministers at yesterday’s governmental meeting, and will be submitted to parliament for approval in the next few days.