by

More than 3600 people from 118 countries became citizens at 68 ceremonies across Australia as part of Australian Citizenship Day on 17 September 2010. Chris Bowen, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, said that citizenship is a “bond which unites” all Australians.Australian Citizenship Day is a time for all Australians to take pride in their citizenship and reflect on the meaning of being a citizen of this great nation,” he said.

He added: It is also a special day for our newest Australians to join the Australian community at ceremonies across the country. Becoming an Australian citizen is a step that shows commitment and loyalty to this country and the desire to share a common future.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and local government councils hosted citizenship ceremonies in state and territory capital cities, major metropolitan centres and regional towns across Australia.

by

A new website in 11 different languages makes it easier for Canadian immigrants to find community service information.

The ‘In my language’, developed by the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), which represents more than 200 settlement agencies in Ontario provides an electronic library of translated content which will assist newcomers in adapting to life in Canada.

In my language website is an excellent resource for newcomers to Ontario, said Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism.

The website has received funds of $1.4 million from the Government of Canada. Newcomers now have a website where they can get the information they need in the language of their choice. “This multilingual website will give newcomers to Ontario a head start on accessing information on housing, health care, legal advice, community services, and language training across the province,” said MP Paul Calandra. The website has content in the following languages: English, French, Chinese, Punjabi, Urdu, Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, Gujarati, Tamil and Russian.

“Helping newcomers get settled is the key to their success,” said MP Bob Dechert. “Settlement information needs to be accessible, and this initiative is a significant step in fulfilling that aim.”
Besides immigrants, other users of the website include community organizations, schoolboards, police services, and the healthcare industry. The new website has multilingual information on housing, healthcare, employment, schooling and other important topics.

Government funding of the new website was made possible through the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement (COIA), which was signed in 2005. Through this agreement, the Government of Canada is investing $428 million in Ontario for settlement services for immigrants.

by

The removal of the entry visa to Canada for Grenadian citizens is still open for review, according to Minister of State of Foreign Affairs in the North American country, Peter Kent. He made the disclosure when he met with Grenada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter David during a bilateral meeting on the margins of the 65th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.

“We are aware of the visa issue and let me state that this has nothing to do with the relations between both countries but rather with individuals who took advantage of the economic citizenship program,” said Minister Kent, promising to follow up on the progress of the review.

The economic citizenship program was introduced by Grenada in October 1997 to supplement government revenues. It allowed investors to acquire a legal second passport for a specified minimum investment in the local economy. However, the system came under fire from critics who said it allowed criminals to effectively adopt new legal identities for a price. It was suspended indefinitely in 2001, with the Finance Minister at the time, Anthony Boatswain, saying it was too risky in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States. But in December of that year, Canada imposed the visa restrictions on citizens from Grenada, Dominica, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, all of which sold passports. Before then, anybody holding a passport from one of those countries could have entered Canada without a visitor’s visa.

by

Startling accusations Wednesday that GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman had an illegal immigrant as her housekeeper for nine years have all the elements of a classic late-campaign “October surprise” – a sobbing victim, a media-savvy attorney, charges of hypocrisy and dirty tricks.

The charges sent Whitman’s campaign team into overdrive as it worked nonstop to limit the political damage from the allegations, which the former eBay CEO dismissed as lies and partisan attacks.

The latest chapter in California’s gubernatorial race unfolded live on TMZ.com, just hours after Whitman finished her first televised debate with her November opponent, Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown, a debate in which she argued that California employers must be held accountable for hiring undocumented workers.

Read more…

by

The Fiji Immigration Department approved 857 applications for dual citizenship between July 2009 and July this year. The dual citizenship status was granted under the Citizenship Decree which came into effect in April 2009.

Government says many of those that have been granted dual citizenship have invested in property, farming and tourism developments. The Department received a total of 1054 citizenship applications between July 2009 to July 2010.

The Decree allows for any child, spouse and former Fiji citizen to apply for citizenship by registration and also allows foreigners who are working, investing or residing in Fiji for the last ten years to apply for Fiji citizenship by naturalization. Government says the concept was introduced to allow those that have left Fiji to return and re-invest in the country.

by

The Iraqi government is to abolish entry visa fees for Iranian visitors, as part of efforts to boost tourism. The general policy of the country currently aims at promoting tourism through providing facilities for visitors to Iraq such as abolishing entry visa fees,” Ali al-Alaq, secretary general of the Iraqi cabinet.

Visa fees for Iranians currently range from 10-20 dollars per person. The Iraqi government has been courting tourists for a number of years now, amid a decline in sectarian violence.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Iranians take part in the various Shiite rituals across Iraq.

by

There is continuing disagreement in the UK Coalition Government between the more pro-immigration Liberal Democrat Government Ministers and Conservative Party Government Ministers. The Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable has said that the interim immigration cap is doing “huge damage” to business.

Mr Cable is concerned that some companies may move jobs abroad because of the difficulty in obtaining Tier 2 visas and highly skilled Tier 1 visas for workers from overseas. Mr Cable says that he still wants a permanent cap from April 2011. However, he wants it to be more “flexible”.

The official view of the Conservative Party Prime Minister’s office is that the cap will still allow “the brightest and best to come to Britain”.The Home Secretary had previously announced that under the interim cap to April 2011 the number of non-EU workers allowed entry to the UK would be reduced by about 5% to 24,100.

The Business Secretary Vince Cable also had the following to say about the current problems in bringing in skilled professional staff into the UK:
I was talking to people in the City and there were two investment banks that recruit hundreds of people from the non-EU area, Indians and Americans. They were allowed only 30-40. They have moved some operations to Hong Kong. He added that he would still support the Coalition Government agreement on the cap. This will mean a permanent immigration cap on non-EU immigration from April 2011. Mr Cable went onto say that he wanted to have a flexible cap that will vary depending on the economic situation. During the General Election campaign the Conservative Party made a manifesto commitment to the immigration cap. The Liberal Democrats opposed the immigration cap.

It is hoped that the Liberal Democrat Government Ministers including the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who supports Vince Cable vies on the immigration cap will have a moderating influence which will at the very least result in a more flexible immigration cap.

by

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in the UN head-quarters in New York.

Nalbandian stressed Armenia attaches importance to the development of cooperation with Iraq. For this reason, a decision was made to reopen the embassy in Iraq. Zebari mentioned the Iraqi government also intends to establish diplomatic representation in Yerevan. He presented the Iraqi authorities’ efforts to establish stability in the country and the talks over the formation of a government after the parliamentary elections in the country.

by

Hong Kong welcomed a record 3.4 million visitors in August, its highest-ever monthly figure, tourism officials said Thursday. The total was 21 per cent higher than the same month in 2009 and brought the total arrivals so far this year to 23.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 24 per cent.

Both the short and long-haul markets increased, according to figures from the Hong Kong Tourism Board. However, mainland China still accounted for the largest proportion of the influx. Of the total arrivals, 61 per cent, or 2.4 million visitors, were from mainland China, a 28-per-cent increase on August 2009.

The Tourism Board said the growth was fueled by the peak summer travel season and the implementation of a scheme for residents in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen that made it easier for them to come to Hong Kong.

by

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have signed yesterday an agreement allowing their nationals to use smart ID cards instead of passports to cross the joint borders. The deal will take force only one month after being signed by Kuwaiti Minister of Interior Lt-Gen (rtd) Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and Saudi Arabia’s Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Prince Nayif Bin-Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

Sheikh Jaber said the agreement would give a strong impetus to the friendly exchanges between the two countries. Saudi Arabia is of strategic importance for Kuwait and constitutes a crucial link between Kuwait and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. The deal will greatly facilitate the movement of citizens of the two sister countries and it sets example for what the ties between neighbors should be.

It is only a step which will be followed by other steps on road of cooperation in all domains,” Sheikh Jaber affirmed. Meanwhile, Director-General of Saudi Passports Directorate Salem Bin-Mohammad Al-Belhid said the document materializes the political will of GCC leaders for facilitating the movement of the GCC nationals. Echoing Sheikh Jaber’s remarks, Al-Belhid said: “The GCC interior ministers are determined to adopt a range of measures to bolster up integration particularly in the security field. The Kuwaiti and Saudi nationals will be able to use smart cards to enter each other’s country through the official crossing points in line with the travel laws and their executive statutes.