Articles Posted in Immigration Reform

Saudi Arabia aims to create more jobs for its nationals by not renewing the work permits of foreign workers who have spent six years in the country, the Saudi labor minister said. The current situation calls for strong cooperation between the government and private sector in solving the problem of unemployment with hundreds of thousands looking for work.

It remains unclear as to when the decision will be implemented or whether it will be applicable to all foreigners or to specific jobs. There are currently eight million foreign workers in the Kingdom, of which six million are employed in the private sector.

Companies across Saudi have targeted workers from Asia, who are allegedly willing to work long hours for low salaries, or have swerved towards well-paid foreign experts. Unemployment in the Kingdom currently stands at 10.5 percent, the minister said. An estimated 28 percent of the unemployed were women and 40 percent high school graduates, he added.

Saudi Arabia has an estimated population of 25 million, with almost 70 percent of Saudis under the age of 30. The Gulf Arab state, the largest economy of the GCC and largest oil exporter in the world, has an annual GDP of $622 billion, and a GDP per capita of $24,200.

Unemployment amongst Saudi nationals has risen despite the country’s wealth. Analysts say that a dated school system focused on religion and the Arabic language is a factor that has produced graduates who have difficulty finding jobs in the private sector. Also, a rapidly growing population – increasing by around 2.4 percent annually – adds to the difficulty for finding jobs.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle confirmed that Russia and the United States will soon agree on three-year multiple entry visas. At their meeting on Thursday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to liberalize visa restrictions for businessmen and tourists traveling between the two countries. Under the new agreement, eligible business travelers and tourists would be issued visas valid for 36 months at a unified and reciprocal fee.

“I think that in two months maximum we will sign an agreement to issue new multiple entry visas for three years,” Beyrle said in Russian during an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station. “The presidents instructed to complete negotiations on the issue, that’s why I expect the agreement to be ready by summer, maximum by fall.”
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed scrapping visa restrictions between the two countries altogether during a meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Moscow in March.

Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Klyuyev said here on Wednesday that biometric passports will be introduced in the country by the end of this year. “This is a very important task and, in my opinion, we will be able to resolve the issue till the end of the current year,” said Klyuyev at a meeting in Kiev.

The main purpose of the new passports introduction is to facilitate travel of Ukrainian citizens abroad. A new system of biometric verification and identification will enable to get visas faster. The new passports will be very close to the EU standards. They will contain a non-contact electronic data with passport biometrical data in accordance with international rules. An ID number, digital images and digital signature will be also the elements of the new documents.

According to preliminary calculations, biometric passport will cost about 92 U.S. dollars in Ukraine. While the average European price of biometric passports is about 62 dollars. Klyuyev, also minister of economic development and trade of Ukraine, stressed that the president and prime minister of Ukraine personally control the process of visa regime with EU liberalization.

A biometric passport, also known as an e-passport is a combined paper and electronic document that contains biometric information that can be used to identify the traveler’s features.

In an effort to cater to foreign investors and businesses, President Chinchilla signed a new policy this week that will grant 2-year temporary residencies to foreign executives and employees in Costa Rica. Certain foreign companies operating in free-trade zones and the tourism, export, import and business sectors will now have an easier time at the Costa Rican immigration office.

The laborious process of obtaining a visa in Costa Rica will soon become easier, thanks to a new regulation signed by President Laura Chinchilla. The new “Foreign Business Registration Policy” will expedite the visa process for foreign business executives and employees working and investing in Costa Rica.The policy change will grant two-year temporary residencies to foreign executives, managers and technical personnel employed in free-trade zones or by the tourism, telecommunications, airlines, and import and export sectors.

A representative of the Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX) told that this policy doesn’t apply to individuals unless they are employed by foreign businesses or operations that fit the criteria outlined by the government agencies.

Estonian Ambassador to Denmark Meelike Palli opened the fifth Estonian Honorary Consulate in Denmark. Estonia’s new honorary consul is Thomas Graversen. The honorary consulate is located in the city of Fredericia in South Jutland.

Estonian Ambassador Meelike Palli said at the opening that an honorary consulate in Fredericia will help to develop closer economic and cultural ties than before. “Opening an honorary consulate in the economically active area of Jutland – the triangle of Fredericia, Vejle and Kolding – will create new opportunities for Estonian businesses in business relations, export, and investments,” the ambassador stated.

“Since Denmark and Estonia have such good, long-lived and historical relations, being the Estonian honorary consul is a particularly great honour for me,” noted Thomas Graversen during the opening of the honorary consulate.

Head of the foreign offices of Enterprise Estonia Krista Humal was present at the opening to introduce Estonia’s favourable investment environment and tourism opportunities. Others present at the opening of the honorary consulate were members of South Jutland’s local government and representatives of business, cultural, educational and consular circles, including Mayor of Fredericia Thomas Banke.

Honorary Consul Thomas Graversen was born in Fredericia in 1962. He studied at the Fredericia International Business College and at the Trekantområdet Business Academy. In 1984 he began working at the furniture production company Fredericia Furniture and in 1995 he became the owner of the company.

The new honorary consulate is located at the address Treldevej 183, 7000 Fredericia, Denmark. The honorary consul can be reached by phone at +45 7592 3344, by fax at +45 7592 3876, or emails can be sent to estonianconsul@fredericia.com.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.