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The Consular Section of the US embassy in Bangkok will be in Phuket tomorrow (December 17) to provide consular outreach services.

The “consular clinic” will be at the Metropole Hotel on Montri Road in Phuket Town from 8am to midday. Consular staff will be available to provide services on:
• Passport renewal applications ($110 or 3,300 baht for adult passports, and US$105 or 3,150 baht for a child’s passport).

• Notarial services and certified copies ($50 or 1,500 baht). This includes income affidavits for retirees in Thailand.

• Extra visa pages (US$82 or 2,460 baht). However, the embassy notes, “We can accept applications, but the passports will have to be brought back to the embassy for final processing the next working day.

“As of this writing, Thailand Post has approved our request to use prepaid envelopes to return passports. We will bring prepaid envelopes on outreaches that you can buy from us (at cost) if you wish us have us mail your passport back to you. “Alternatively, one can pick up their passport at the embassy. One can also have a friend pick up your passport by giving them written authorization to present to us,” said the consular release.

Consular Reports of Birth cannot be processed during consular outreach trips.

The next two outreaches planned for Phuket will be on March 16 and June 16, 2011.

For more information on US consular outreach services, email acsbkk@state.gov or call the American Citizen Services Unit at 02-205 4049.

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UK Border Agency have today published new versions of our application forms and policy guidance under the following categories of the points-based system:
* Tier 1 (General)
* Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
* Tier 1 (Investor)
* Tier 1 (Post-study work)
* Tier 2 – all categories (application form only – no change to policy guidance)
* Tier 5 (Temporary worker) – all sub-categories
* PBS Dependant
These new versions reflect the new requirement for Tier 1 and Tier 5 applicants to obtain biometric residence permits, and other minor changes. One should use the new forms with immediate effect. However, and in line with paragraph 34 (I) of the Immigration Rules, we will continue to accept applications made on the previous version of the application forms until (and including) 4 January 2011. We will consider all applications under the current Immigration Rules, regardless of which version of the application form you send. For details visit http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/pbs/tables-changes-1210.pdf

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Three years ago, the U.S. Armed Forces struggled with a serious recruiting crisis, a crisis that evaporated temporarily only when the economy slumped. As it recovers and our population continues to age, the Armed Forces will face yet another challenge in recruiting the high-quality people needed for the modern military.

For that reason, the Department of Defense identified the DREAM Act as a smart way to expand the pool of eligible candidates for enlistment.

The Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a bipartisan bill that would provide a path to legal residence for undocumented young people who were brought to the United States as children. The conditions: They must graduate from high school, demonstrate good moral character, and — to keep their legal status — complete at least two years of higher education or at least two years service in the U.S. military.

Without the relief of the DREAM Act, the future of these American-educated young people is bleak.

About 65,000 such eligible students graduate from U.S. high schools each year, but upon graduation, these young people, who include honor roll students, star athletes and junior ROTC members, hit a wall.

Read the story…

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U.S. consular officials are arranging to meet with a San Diego-born 14-year-old accused of carrying out killings and decapitations for a major drug cartel in central Mexico.

Mexican officials approved the meeting after a formal petition from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, the juvenile court judge handling the teen’s case said Monday.

Mexican troops arrested Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as “El Ponchis,” and his two sisters on Thursday on the outskirts of the central Mexican city of Cuernavaca, a tourism destination 40 miles south of Mexico City and the capital of the state of Morelos.

All three have ties to San Diego, according to county birth records. The night of the arrests, the boy was carrying a San Diego County document registering his birthplace as San Diego, but the Mexican government was still waiting Monday for U.S. officials to authenticate his citizenship.

Army officials had made it known a month ago they were searching for “El Ponchis,” after graphic online videos prompted talk of a boy assassin.

An unnamed Mexican Army lieutenant said in written testimony that an anonymous tip led authorities to the airport where the arrests occurred.

Read more…

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Belarus will soon open an embassy in Brazil, Foreign Minister of Belarus Sergei Martynov said in an interview to Belarus-TV Channel. “Actually we are opening the embassy there. The first employees have already been deployed. Previously we had a consulate general in Brazil, and now we are opening a full-fledged embassy,” Sergei Martynov said.

The minister explained the importance of cooperation with Brazil, which is the eighth economy in the world. For Belarus this is one of the major trading partners in Latin America. “The downside is that Belarus has been primarily exporting fertilizer there. And we want our trade with Brazil to be diversified with other goods including machinery and chemicals, and also the manufacture of our products in Brazil,” Sergei Martynov said.

“Our approach to foreign economic relations is that we need to proceed from simple forms of trade (exports/imports) to more sophisticated forms. We seek to create joint ventures and through them increase our presence in the market,” the minister stressed.

He also noted that in the near future Belarus will open its embassy in Nigeria. “This is a reflection of the policy that we must advance onto new markets – the countries new to us,” the minister said.

Over the past two years we have discovered, figuratively speaking, 34 new countries. Naturally, that our diplomatic presence moves along with our economic interests,” Sergei Martynov added.

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Effective immediately, travellers with ordinary Taiwan passports issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan no longer require a Temporary Resident Visa to visit Canada, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today.

“Canada regularly reviews its visa requirements and has determined that Taiwan meets the criteria for a visa exemption,” said Minister Kenney. “This decision will help boost Canada’s significant trade, investment, cultural and people-to-people links to Taiwan.”
In 2009, more than 51,000 Taiwan travellers visited Canada. More than 150,000 Canadians are of Taiwanese descent.

“The decision to lift the visa requirement means that Canada will benefit from stronger ties between Taiwan and the Canadian-Taiwanese community,” said Minister Kenney.

Canada’s visa policy is based on an assessment of a number of established criteria, including immigration violation rates, asylum claims, the integrity of travel documents and the cooperation on removals by the country or territory in question.

In Taiwan’s case, Canada’s review found, among other things, a very high visitor visa approval rate for travellers from Taiwan. It also found a very low number of asylum claims from Taiwan nationals: 23 claims between 2007 and 2009. The review also found low numbers of immigration violations and removals from Canada to Taiwan. This means that a large number of people were meeting Canada’s eligibility criteria to come and visit.

The visa exemption only applies to holders of ordinary Taiwan passports issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan that contain the personal identification number of the individual. During a technical visit, Canadian officials observed good passport management practices for ordinary Taiwan passports.

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The Consulate of Vietnam has officially been inaugurated in Nagoya city, Aichi prefecture with the Chairman of the Central Japan International Airport Co. Ltd. (Centrair), Yukihisa Hirano, being appointed as the honorary consul.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan, Nguyen Phu Binh said Nagoya is a major economic centre in central Japan and the expanded area of Nagoya accounts for 1 percent of global GDP. The appointment of Mr Yukihisa Hirano as the honorary consul is of great significance for promoting relations between the two countries, Mr Binh emphasised.

Under the Vietnamese Foreign Minister’s decision issued in September, two Japanese citizens were appointed honorary consuls. Mr Yukihisa is located in Nagoya city while Taro Nakajima, President of the Kushiro Coal Exploitation Company is located in Kushiro city in Hokkaido prefecture.

Mr Hirano said he would do his best to promote exchange activities with Vietnam especially when Vietnam Airlines has opened a direct air route from Centrair to Hanoi and HCM City.

Situated on Honshu island, Nagoya is the centre of Japan’s third biggest urban area in Chukyo with a total population of 8.74 million and an area of 326.45 km2. Vietnam has now set up three diplomatic representative offices in Japan, including an embassy in Tokyo and two consulate generals in Osaka and Fukuoka.

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The EU will lift visa requirements for Eastern Partnership states if the latter introduce European security standards, a senior official has said. The European commissioner for enhancement and European neighbourhood policy, Stefan Füle, made the remarks at the opening of the second European civil society forum in Berlin on Thursday.

The European commissioner described as “extremely important” social contacts among EU citizens and the countries involved in the EU’s Eastern Partnership – Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Ukraine, Ukrinform’s correspondent in Germany reported.

“I believe we will be able to gradually remove barriers to the free movement of people in Europe but for this purpose our partners in the east must ensure the appropriate level of security control,” Füle said.

He also stressed the special role of civil society in promoting the liberalization of the visa regime in Europe. He described civil society as a fundamental part of the democratic process. In addition, in the countries of the Eastern Partnership civil society will help introduce the reforms that will bring these states closer to European standards. Füle stressed the important role of the Civil Society Forum which he said had become one of the most dynamic elements in the Eastern Partnership in just one year. He promised that the European Commission would listen to the recommendations of the forum participants.

The forum involves 230 public organizations from among member-states of the European Union and Eastern Partnership countries. The overall aim of the event is to develop contacts among civil society organizations and assist their dialogue with state bodies. The two-day conference is discussing the political and economic situation in the Eastern Partnership countries, social problems, energy conservation, climate protection, combating corruption and ensuring free speech.

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UK’s Migration Advisory Committee today recommended that the number of migrant workers coming into Britain from outside EU be cut between 13-25 per cent next year.

The MAC submitted a 300-odd page report to the government in which it has said that the number of visas issued both under tier 1 and tier 2 categories in 2011-12 should be between 37,400 and 43,700, that would represent a 6,300 to 12,600 reduction over the 2009.For the Tier 1 General route, in order to achieve the Government’s policy objective, the MAC suggested a reduction in the number of entry clearance visas issued, compared to 2009, in the range of 3,150 to 6,300 and a limit on the number of Tier 1 entry clearance visas in the range of 8,000 to 11,100 in 2011-12.

For the Tier 2 shortage occupation, RLMT (resident labour market test) and intra-company transfer routes, the MAC has recommended a reduction the number of entry clearance visas issued, compared to 2009, in the range of 3,150 to 6,300 and a limit on the number of Tier 2 entry clearance visas in the range of 29,400 to 32,600 in 2011/12. This limit excludes extensions, switchers and dependants.

The MAC report sets out to answer the question raised by the the Home Secretary who wrote to the MAC Chair commissioning the following question: “At what level should limits on Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the points-based system be set for their first full year of operation in 2011/12, in order to contribute to achieving the government’s aim of reducing net migration to an annual level of tens of thousands by the end of this Parliament, and taking into account social and public service impacts as well as economic impacts?”
Submitting the report today the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, David Metcalf, said, “It is not possible to reduce net migration to the tens of thousand by limiting work-related migration alone. The Committee assumes that work-related migration takes 20 per cent of the total cut – its fair share – which implies that family and student migration must take the other 80 per cent.”
The MAC report is only recommendatory in nature. The final decision on the exact cap imposed on non-EU immigrants will be decided by the government. The final decision is expected by end of December this year. The Conservatives, the main party in the current coalition government came to power with one of its promises being setting a cap on immigration.

Business lobby CBI, reacting to MAC recommendations tabled today said,“The committee rightly accepts that those coming to the UK with a job offer should have priority, and this has been something that businesses have consistently called for. It is also important that companies with an international operation can transfer their own staff, as required, on a temporary basis, and we would like to see these ‘Intra-Company Transfers’ exempted from the cap.”
The report submitted by UK Migration Advisory Committee today revealed that India topped as the largest source of migrants into UK under five different categories. Indians topped the list under Tier 1 General (41 per cent of total approvals), Tier 1 Post-Study Work Route (31 per cent), Tier 2 General (24 per cent) and Intra-Company (68 percent) transfers and finally Tier 2 Dependents (45 per cent). The data relates to approved applications between the first quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010.

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Citizenship and Immigration Canada will again start accepting applications under the federal Immigration Investor Program from 1 December 2010. Applicants under the Immigration Investor Program will need to have a personal net worth of $1.6 million CAD, which doubles the previous net worth requirement of $800,000. Moreover, applicants will be required to make an investment of $800,000. Under the previous rules, only a $400,000 investment was needed.

According to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, changes to the criteria for the immigration investor program were overdue.

“These changes were necessary,” said Kenney. “The requirements had not been increased in more than a decade and we need to keep pace with the changing economy.”
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) said that Canada had the lowest requirements for their investor immigration schemes compared to other countries with similar programs. To reduce the backlog of applications and to avoid a rush of applications before the changes take place Canada suspended the Immigration Investor Program in June 2010.

“The new criteria now align it more closely with other immigrant-receiving countries,” CIC said in a statement.

CIC said that the previous requirements were leading to a backlog of applications. By raising the net worth and investment requirements, Canada hopes to reduce the number of applicants and only let in those who can make a substantial investment in the Canadian economy.

“Higher investment amounts mean provinces and territories will receive more investment capital to put toward job creation and economic development projects,” Kenney said.

Canada’s Immigration Investor Program grants applicants a permanent residence visa and a guaranteed repayment of their investment. The immigrant investor program was already an expensive way of gaining permanent residence in Canada. Doubling the investment requirements is bound to put off some people. It remains to be seen if the changes will in reality result in increased investment into Canada. There are already a number of ways in which you can emigrate to Canada and a number of other Countries around the World without having to invest any money.