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The Russian government has approved a draft agreement with the United States, which makes it simpler for the two countries’ citizens to obtain visas. It is proposed that the agreement be concluded through the exchange of notes, according to a document posted in the databank of government acts. The same document approves the draft of a Russian note.

The agreement sets out the conditions for issuing visas for short-term official trips, as well as the conditions for issuance of Russian business, private, humanitarian and tourist visas and U.S. B1/B2 visas, the approved draft note said.

The countries’ diplomatic missions and consular departments will normally make the decision about a visa within 15 calendar days from the start of processing, the note said. The period for making a decision on a visa application can be extended in certain cases. At the same time, this period can be reduced to three business days or less in urgent cases.

The parties shall agree to issue normally multiple-entry visas for a stay of no more than six months from the date of each entry and valid for 36 months from the issue date, the draft agreement said. This agreement shall be valid, provided the parties observe the principles of reciprocity.

For short-term official trips, the parties agree to issue mainly multiple-entry visas for a stay of up to three months from the date of each entry and valid for 12 months from the issue date.

When considering a visa application, diplomatic missions may request additional information to confirm the stated purpose of the trip and available funding, the draft document said. A joint recommended list of documents for submitting such information will be agreed by the parties through diplomatic channels, the draft agreement said.

“The provisions of the note do not aim to limit the powers of the competent authorities of either party to refuse a visa, to cancel a visa, to refuse entry or exit to another country’s citizens, or to limit their stay in accordance with the national laws,” the note said.

In the event that this proposal is acceptable for the U.S., the said Russian note and the note sent by the U.S. Embassy in response shall be deemed to constitute an agreement simplifying visa formalities, which will become effective within 30 days from the date of receipt through diplomatic channels of the last written notice about completion of internal procedures, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

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President Ma Ying-jeou said Saturday that Burkina Faso will become the 124th nation or region to grant visa-free entry or landing visas to Republic of China (Taiwan) passport holders.

The decision was made earlier in the day by the government of the African ally, the president said at the opening of an exhibition held to mark the Republic of China’s 100th year.

“It is normal to apply for a visa when traveling internationally,” he said. “Visa-free treatment is a privilege.”
Traveling has become easier for Taiwanese because of the many visa waivers the country had obtained, Ma said, as he shared a story of how a friend benefited from the program when taking a trip to Europe.

Taiwan gained visa-free access to 35 nations or regions in the European Union on Jan. 11, 2011. During Ma’s presidency, the number of countries or regions granting visa waivers to Taiwan has risen from 54 to 124.

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As a result of public input during recent outreach sessions in the CNMI, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued Thursday the procedures and requirements that will now allow foreign workers applying for H-1B and other nonimmigrant classification to remain in the CNMI and continue working while awaiting a decision on their application.

Without this welcome relief from USCIS, foreign workers being petitioned for H-1B or other Immigration and Nationality Act classification by their employers need to exit the CNMI if the Form I-129 petition has not been adjudicated by Nov. 27.

Examples of nonimmigrant classifications for which an I-129 petition may be filed include H-1B specialty occupation, E-1 treaty trader, E-2 investor, L-1 intra-company transferee and R religious worker.

Douglas Brennan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday that the largest business organization in the CNMI “gladly accepts this change in practice by USCIS.”
Brennan, general manager of Microl Corp., said many employers “were extremely concerned with having to exit their specialized personnel if their visa applications had not been processed by Nov. 28, 2011.”
“Some of our educational institutions would have had to literally remove teachers from their classrooms mid-term, so this is welcome news,” Brennan said when asked for comment on the matter.

Richard Pierce, the Chamber’s executive director, said “as USCIS administers the new system from California, where petitions are adjudicated, and Hawaii, where enforcement offices are stationed, it’s rare to see where the district director can effectuate changes from what he’s gathered here in the CNMI.”
“Makes you almost wish there was a permanent presence in the CNMI,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Only those whose Form I-129 petition for nonimmigrant worker was filed before Nov. 28, 2011, may apply for parole and an employment authorization document, or EAD.

Parole will allow the foreign worker with pending H1-B and other INA classification application to remain in the CNMI.

There is no filing fee to apply for parole in this situation.

EAD will allow them to continue working while their application is still pending.

There is a filing fee of $380 for the I-765 request for employment authorization.

If granted, parole and employment authorization document, or EAD, in these instances generally will be valid for 120 days.

Pierce also said the Chamber spent considerable time with USCIS acting deputy chief counsel Philip B. Busch discussing this oversight by USCIS.

“He reported they had not even considered the implications where enough time was not available to process H-1B applicants so as to avoid exiting current employees from the CNMI. We’re satisfied there has been a decision based upon those exchanges we had on Sept. 21st,” Pierce added.

USCIS district director David Gulick told Chamber members and guests on Wednesday about the agency’s plan to consider allowing those with pending H-1B, R-1 and L-1 applications to remain in the CNMI and continue working here.

At the time, Gulick said the procedures were still being finalized. USCIS issued the requirements and procedures on Thursday, along with a question-and-answer. Back in September during the outreach sessions, USCIS officials said those whose petitions for INA classification have yet to be adjudicated by Nov. 27 will need to exit the CNMI unless they are paroled. And even if they have parole status after Nov. 27, they could not work.

But USCIS developed an approach in response to input received from the public during USCIS outreach sessions in the last two weeks of September.

Employers and workers were concerned that businesses would have to close if the benefiting employees had to leave the CNMI to await decisions on their employer’s I-129 petitions.

“There was particular concern about a negative impact on schools and hospitals,” USCIS said.

USCIS said it also recognizes that it is important to support movement into regular employment-based nonimmigrant categories under the INA, as that is the ultimate goal of the CNMI transition to federal immigration law.

“A continuing employment provision in the CW transitional worker final rule allowed this convenience for workers who are being petitioned for CW-1, but there are no equivalent special regulatory provisions for those under INA categories,” it added.

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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.