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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed into law a new bill easing work permit regulations for highly qualified foreign specialists in Russia, including those employed at the Skolkovo hi-tech research hub, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Highly qualified specialists from abroad will now be able to extend the term of their residence permit not after, but during receipt of a work permit. Foreign labor quotas will not be applied to such specialists or their families. They will also be exempt from the necessity to register their residence, a bureaucratic leftover from the Soviet era.

Skolkovo, dubbed Russia’s Silicon Valley, is being built from scratch 20 kilometers west of Moscow. The hub will focus on five research areas: energy, information technologies, communications, biomedical research and nuclear technologies.

Earlier, Federal Migration Service head Konstantin Romodanovsky said that about 20,000 high-profile foreign professionals and researchers come to Russia annually, while the Kremlin needs some 46,000 skilled foreigners a year to implement its ambitious modernization plans.

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The number of Chinese people living in South Korea topped 600,000 for the first time last month, accounting for nearly half of all foreigners in the country, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday.

As of the end of November, 606,408 Chinese nationals, including illegal immigrants and those on short- and long-term stays, were living here, making up 48 percent of some 1.25 million foreign residents, the ministry said.

The tally at the end of October was about 597,000. Chinese nationals of Korean descent accounted for two thirds of the total, numbering 404,000 last month. The majority of the Chinese residents, or 87 percent, had legal justification to live here, while the rest were illegal immigrants.

The Chinese also took up large portions of marriage immigrants and visitors to South Korea. Of some 140,000 marriage immigrants in the country, 66,000, or 47 percent, were Chinese, including about 31,000 of Korean descent. The number of Chinese visitors rose sharply this year, helped by an easing of visa regulations, and hovered around 1.62 million as of the end of November, marking a 44 percent increase from the same period last year.

Chinese students also accounted for three quarters of all foreign students in the country, numbering 67,000. The second-largest foreign community was that of U.S. citizens, with 128,000 residents, while Vietnamese, Filipinos and the Japanese rounded out the other top five nationalities.

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The Sweden Government has today decided to close Sweden’s Embassies in Buenos Aires, Brussels, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur and Luanda.

“This painful decision is a consequence of the recent decision of the Riksdag to cut funding to the Government Offices by SEK 300 million,” says Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt.

The five embassies will be closed during 2011.

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THE consular staff of the Indonesia Embassy in Brunei will be visiting Kuala Belait from December 25-26, to provide consular services for Indonesians living in the area.

In a statement made available to The Brunei Times yesterday the embassy will also brief expatriates residing in the Belait District on the regulation on employment order and immigration act stipulated in the country for those working here.

The consular services will take place at Syarikat Asoh Raya (Driving School) No: 456, Lot 1600 Kampung Mumong, Jalan Singa Mentiri, Kuala Belait. The two-day event will be conducted from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday, while on Sunday it will be opened from 8am to 4.30pm. “Considering the importance of this activity, the embassy hopes that the Indonesian community or the Indonesian migrant workers living in Belait District are able to take this opportunity at its best,” the statement said.

The Indonesian community who need assistance in consultation related to labour regulation, passport renewal, paper work legalisation, and reporting their domicile in the country are encouraged to come to the gathering. Referring to the Indonesia Foreign Ministerial Regulation on Citizen Service, an integrated system has been provided for the protection of Indonesian citizens, including expatriates working abroad.

According to a data provided by the embassy, there are currently a total of 50,839 Indonesia’s expatriates working in the Sultanate. Out of the total number, 27,401 are working in the informal sector such as domestic helpers, while the remaining 17,700 are those working at the formal sector such as in the oil and gas industry, constructions, medical, agriculture, and service sector.

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds Haitian nationals that the registration deadline for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is Jan. 18, 2011.

Haitian nationals who have continuously resided in the United States since Jan. 12, 2010, and who meet other TPS eligibility requirements, must file their applications for TPS no later than Jan. 18, 2011. The TPS designation for Haiti will remain in effect through July 22, 2011.

USCIS advises Haitian nationals to review their TPS application packages carefully. Details and procedures for applying for TPS are provided on the USCIS website and in the Federal Register notice announcing TPS for Haiti.

TPS forms are available on the USCIS website or by calling toll-free 1-800-870-3676. For additional information, applicants may also contact the USCIS National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.

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The UK Border Agency has announced that it will stop accepting Tier 1 (General) applications made overseas from 00:01 on 23 December 2010. This is to ensure that we do not exceed the limit set by the government for issued Tier 1 (General) applications between 19 July 2010 and April 2011.

Tier 1 (General) overseas will not reopen for applications. Tier 1 (General) in the UK will remain open until 5 April 2011. There will be transitional arrangements beyond 6 April 2011 for some applicants who are already in the UK, and we will announce details of these in due course.

Following a court judgement on Friday, the government has also set a limit until 5 April 2011 on the number of certificates of sponsorship that are available to licensed Tier 2 sponsors under Tier 2 (General). The level of the limit will be 10,832, and the changes will take place immediately.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said:
The recent Court ruling is about process, not policy – the policy of having a limit has not been found to be unlawful. The court’s ruling rests on a technicality, which we have set right today to ensure that from now on the interim limit is back up and running. This judgment does not affect the annual cap in any way. The interim limit was a temporary measure introduced specifically to tackle a rush of applications ahead of the introduction of the annual limit. As a result of the volume of applications received since the interim limit was introduced last July, no more Tier 1 visa applications from overseas will be accepted after 22 December. The government remains firmly committed to reducing net migration to the tens of thousands.

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The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft agreement with Switzerland on visa facilitation.

“The government has approved a draft agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Swiss Federal Council on the facilitation of the issuance of visas. A relevant resolution was passed at its meeting on December15,” the Department of Information and Communications of the Cabinet Secretariat said.

The implementation of this agreement will help relax the rules for trips to Switzerland, in particular expanding the categories of Ukrainian citizens who to whom the simplified procedure for gaining Swiss visas applies. In addition, the agreement proposes cutting the time for processing visa applications, increasing the term of validity of multiple-entry visas and simplifying the procedure for their issuing.

The draft agreement also suggests the abolition of visa fees for certain categories of Ukrainians. As reported, Ukraine intends to agree on the relaxation of visa requirements with 14 countries, in including Switzerland, in 2011.

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An interim cap introduced last summer has been deemed unlawful by the UK High Court; High Court Judges have ruled that ministers needed parliamentary approval before going ahead with the temporary immigration.

As a result, the temporary immigration cap is no longer in force. If you wish to apply for a tier 1 visa or tier 2 visa you should apply as soon as possible. Ministers can introduce a new cap when Parliament returns in January. MPs and Peers would then have an opportunity to oppose the immigration cap within 40 days.Ministers introduced the temporary cap — set at 24,100 a year — last summer as an attempt to reduce net immigration into the UK. The cap was challenged by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and the English Community Care Association.

Lord Justice Sullivan and Mr. Justice Burton found that the home secretary had not gone through proper channels when implementing the cap; The proposals should have been put to a vote in Parliament.

“There can be no doubt that [Theresa May] was attempting to side-step provisions for Parliamentary scrutiny set up under provisions of the 1971 Immigration Act and her attempt was for that reason unlawful,” they stated.

Because of this, the High Court ruled that no limits were to be in place for Tiers 1 and 2 of the points based immigration system.

The English Community Care Association said the cap was implemented without regard for how it would affect care providers. Vacancies could not be filled by British staff. There is insufficient demand for these jobs among the UK Citizens and residents.

The immigration cap has been highly controversial, even within the UK Government. The Lib Dems the junior Coalition partner has called for the cap to be more flexible so that UK companies can hire the highly skilled staff they need from abroad.

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A worker with an expired contract in the UAE can now obtain a new work permit and shift to another employer without a consent of his sponsor, a move that will also benefit the Indian workers in the country.

According to a new resolution issued by the UAE Labour Minister Saqr Gobash, the new regulations on conditions and criteria of issuing new work permit for a worker after the expiry of his service contract and transfer of sponsorship will take effect as of first of January 2011 in implementation of a cabinet resolution regarding internal work permit at the ministry.

The resolution says that the new employment permit will only be granted to the worker after the end of his work relationship with his employer without consideration of the legitimate six month period which is usually calculated after the cancellation of the worker”s labor card, but stipulates two must-do conditions.

The UAE has 1.75 million Indian population, which is the largest expatriate community in this country. Once operational, the new regulations will replace the current formalities of transfer of sponsorship for expatriate workers.

Gobash said the new measures aim to infuse broader flexibility in the labour market and strike a balance in the contractual relationship between the employer and worker.The conditions mean that the two contracting parties should end their work relationship cordially and the worker should have worked with his employer for at least two years.

The resolution defines two cases where the worker can obtain the new work permit after the end of the contractual relationship without the agreement of the two contracting parties. The resolution also defines three cases where the worker shall have the right to get a work permit without fulfilling the condition of working two years at least with the employer.

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The Ghanaian High Commission in the UK is in the process of introducing automated visa and passport application procedures.

In a press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, the High Commission says the news system when completed will facilitate online visa and passport applications. The new system the Mission said will come into effect on January 17, 2011 and applicants can complete their applications on the Mission’s website at www.ghanahighcommissionuk.com.

It will also use text messaging and email services to notify applicants when the Mission receives applicant’s documents, and when approved applications are ready for collection or dispatch