Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryshchenko predicts that, with the current momentum of dialogue and constant demands, Ukraine’s visa-free regime with the European Union is possible in 2-3 years.
Responding to a question about when Ukraine will be able to get visa-free regime with the EU, Hryshchenko noted that this could happen “in 2-3 years if the current dynamics of dialogue is maintained and the requirements that are put forward for visa-free regime do not materially change.”
Prime Minister Donald Tusk says a local visa free zone between Poland and Russia will be established “in few weeks”. The zone, which will include more than four million people, will require a revision of the Schengen regulations.
Donald Tusk, who made a stop in the Warmia-Masuria Province as part of an election campaign tour, promised the regional population that it in “few weeks” will get a local visa-free zone with the Russian region of Kaliningrad. The cabinet leader maintained that the city of Gdansk and all of Kaliningrad Oblast will be included in the zone.
If established, the zone will be the second of its kind between Russia and a Schengen member. In November 2010, a similar agreement on local border traffic was signed by Russia and Norway, and a local zone of visa-free traveling is in the pipeline in the areas between the municipalities of Sør-Varanger and Pechenga.
The visa processing time for Chinese, Brazilians and Indians may be shortened to 30 days, said a U.S. tourism official on Monday.
“The U.S. Senate just introduced a legislation last week to bring the waiting time (for a visa) to under 30 days,” Roger Dow, president and CEO of U.S. Travel Association (USTA), told Xinhua at an annual China-U.S. tourism leadership summit on Big Island, Hawaii.
“Specifically they are looking at China and taking a look at the feasibility of not having a face-to-face interview,” Dow said.
Reports said the Senate held a meeting on Wednesday to consider a State Department funding bill that would require the department to hire sufficient staff in China, Brazil and India to allow visa applications to be processed in no more than 30 days.
Shao Qiwei, chairman of China’s National Tourism Administration, said China and the United States are working together to improve the efficiency of visa issuance.
Since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in 2007 that aimed to bring more customers to the U.S. tourism industry by facilitating group leisure travel from China to the United States and permit U.S. destinations to market themselves in China, the two countries have seen significant growth in this market, Shao said.
The three-day summit opening Monday is designed to build business through creating relationships and knowledge of both the Chinese and U.S. markets. Members of USTA and the China National Tourism Association, including more than 70 regional tourism officials from the United States and China, attended the meeting.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) seeks public comments on a proposed rule published in the Federal Register today that would enable USCIS to process certain applications approved between 1995 and 1998 by immigrant investors under the fifth preference employment-based immigrant visa classification, also known as EB-5.
The proposed rule would implement provisions of the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act. These provisions apply to a group of immigrant investors who had a Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, approved between Jan. 1, 1995, and Aug. 31, 1998.
Specifically, the rule would enable USCIS to process cases for approximately 580 principal immigrant investors and their dependents whose Forms I-526 were approved during the period described above and who, prior to Nov. 2, 2002, sought to:
Register for permanent residence or adjust their status (using Form I-485); or
Remove conditions on permanent residence obtained as an alien entrepreneur (using Form I-829).
The processes outlined in the proposed rule would provide an additional two-year period for most of these immigrant investors to meet the EB-5 investment and job-creation requirements. This rule would not impact any other applications or petitions filed under the EB-5 program.
EB-5 visas are available to immigrants seeking to enter the United States to invest capital in a commercial enterprise that will create at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers. The public has 60 days—from Sept. 28 to Nov. 28, 2011—to submit comments on this proposal, which is available for review at www.regulations.gov.
Prime Minster David Cameron announced that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will be expanding its diplomatic presence in Canada by upgrading the UK Trade & Investment office in Calgary to a full Consulate-General next summer.
Speaking during his press conference in Ottawa, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said:
“Clearly in trade and investment, we are both massive investors in each other’s countries. The trade links are already very strong, but I always believe it’s with your best customers you can do even more business.”
Dr. Andrew Pocock, UK High Commissioner to Canada said:
“We are committed to refreshing and deepening our relationship with Canada, building on our existing close links. A clear indication of how highly we value the relationship is that we will be expanding our diplomatic presence there, upgrading the UKTI office in Calgary to a full Consulate-General. This will be our fourth Consulate-General in Canada – as well as the High Commission in Ottawa”.
Alberta is Canada’s third largest economy and has led Canadian growth for 20 years. Please note that consular services will continue to be provided for Alberta out of the Vancouver Consulate General.
Australia’s seaports are more secure than ever before, highlighted by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s grant this week of the millionth maritime crew visa (MCV).
“This is an impressive milestone given that the department first introduced the MCV on 1 January 2008,” a departmental spokesman said.
Since its introduction, all foreign shipping crew are required to apply for the visa, which involves a formal visa application process.
This process strengthens border protection at Australian ports by allowing for security checking as with other temporary entrants. Prior to the MCV’s introduction, crew accessed special purpose visa arrangements that did not involve a formal application process.
“The MCV is specifically for crew entering by sea and allows multiple entries during its three-year life. Visa holders are then permitted to continue work in relation to the usual operational requirements of the ship while they are in Australia,” the spokesman said.
The top nationalities using the visas include Filipino, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and Ukrainian. In an average month, up to 20 000 MCVs are granted.
“The MCV scheme has maintained an impressive compliance rate of 99.8 per cent since its inception. This is testament to the support the visa has had from the shipping industry, crew manning agents, shipping operators and foreign crew themselves,” the spokesman said.
More than 60 per cent of maritime crew visas are applied for and granted online, while about 40 per cent are referred to the department’s global processing centre for additional manual assessment and processing.
Major factors that have contributed to the overall success of the MCV include the streamlined application form and processing arrangements, the absence of an application fee and the timeliness of decision-making. Most electronically lodged applications are finalised within a few days, if not immediately upon receipt.
The U.S. immigration agency is enforcing a new set of rules that can make life harder for Americans and their non-citizen spouses living overseas.
The new process of obtaining an immigrant visa increased from three months to a minimum of five. Sometimes it may take as long as three years, The New York Times reported on Aug. 14.
Ukraine is no exception. Americans married to Ukrainians residing in their home country will have to go through a long and complicated visa process if they decide to leave. The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine estimates that the rule will affect approximately 5,000 Americans internationally.
In an effort to centralize the process, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security now requires applicants abroad to mail the visa document called I-130 to a central immigration office in Chicago, whereas before it was enough to contact a local consulate.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who is visiting New York to attend the 66th session of UN General Assembly, and his Colombian counterpart Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar have signed a package of bilateral agreements.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan informs that the package composes an agreement on the exchange of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic, official and service passports as well as the memorandum on the introduction of a mechanism of political consultations between Foreign Affairs Ministries of Azerbaijan and Colombia.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved an intergovernmental agreement between Ukraine and Serbia waiving mutual visa requirements for short-term stays in these countries.
The cabinet’s resolution is dated September 21, according to the government’s Web site.
The agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Serbia on visa-free travel for citizens of both countries was signed in Kyiv on May 31, 2011.
According to the document, citizens of Ukraine can stay in Serbia for up to 30 days without visas. The same applies to Serbs visiting Ukraine.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration today announced a 60-day postponement of the effective date for the final rule concerning the wage methodology for the temporary nonagricultural employment H-2B program. The delay will permit the various courts involved in ongoing litigation surrounding the implementation of the rule to determine the appropriate venue for the resolution of all claims and allow the department to avoid the possibility of administering the H-2B program under potentially conflicting court orders.
In consideration of these pending challenges, the department determined under Section 705 of the Administrative Procedure Act that the interest of justice would be served by postponing the effective date of the rule from Sept. 30, 2011, until Nov. 30, 2011. A Federal Register notice to that effect will be published next week.
The H-2B program allows the entry of foreign workers into the U.S. when qualified U.S. workers are not available and the employment of foreign workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. The H-2B program is limited by law to a cap of 66,000 visas per year.
The department published a final rule on Jan. 19, 2011, that revised the wage methodology for the H-2B program and set the effective date of the wage rule as Jan. 1, 2012. On June 16, 2011, in response to a challenge, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania invalidated that date and ordered the department to announce a new effective date within 45 days.
In response to that court’s order, the department issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on June 28, 2011, which proposed that the wage rule take effect 60 days from the date of publication of a final rule. After a period of public comment, the department published a final rule on Aug. 1, 2011, which set the new effective date for the wage rule as Sept. 30, 2011, without altering the substance of the rule.
