by

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it has begun issuing a redesigned, more secure Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550) as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance the integrity of the immigration system. The agency anticipates that over 600,000 new citizens will receive the enhanced certificate over the next year.

by

The British High Commission in Nigeria said yesterday that it issued about 100,000 visas to Nigerians wishing to travel to the United Kingdom, out of the 170,000 that applied.

The commission stated this in a statement signed by its press secretary, Hooman Nouruzi in Abuja. The statement said: “The British High Commission would like to note that the UK is committed to providing a top class visa service. The UK Border Agency works to strict customer service standards which have been maintained during a busy summer in Nigeria that has seen demand exceed expectations.” “Last year we received over 170,000 visa applications from Nigerians wishing to travel to the UK, of which approximately 100,000 were successful.”

by

In an attempt to prevent foreigners from getting non-technical jobs, the government has made it clear that citizens of other countries will be taken only for highly-skilled assignments in India and should draw an annual salary of over USD 25,000.

In an order, the Home Ministry nullified a Labour Ministry circular which allows one percent foreigners among the total work force in any project with a minimum of five and maximum of 20 people.

“An employment visa is granted to a foreigner if the applicant is a highly skilled and/or qualified professional, who is being engaged or appointed by a company/organization/industry/undertaking in India on contract or employment basis,” according to the Home Ministry guidelines. Besides, the ministry made it clear that employment visa shall not be granted for jobs for which qualified Indian are available and also for routine, ordinary or secretarial/clerical jobs.

“The foreign national being sponsored for an employment visa in any sector should draw a salary in excess of USD 25,000 per annum,” it says.

However, this condition of annual floor limit on income will not apply to ethnic cooks, language teachers (other than English), staff working for the Embassy/High Commission concerned in India.

The Labour Ministry had ordered that visa applications could be cleared by the Indian missions abroad at their level if the foreign national is skilled and qualified professional, technical experts, senior executives or in managerial positions and those kinds of skills which are not available in India.

by

The EU will decide whether to scrap visa requirements for Bosnian and Albanian citizens on November 8th, Sarajevo-based daily Nezavisne Novine reported on Monday (October 18th) ,quoting diplomatic sources in Brussels. The source also said that visas will be lifted by the end of the year.

Several countries — including France and Germany — reportedly have requested additional security guarantees in order to back visa-free regimes for BiH and Albania. On October 7th, the European Parliament green-lighted lifting visa requirements for both countries. The final decision is up to the Council of Ministers.

by

Tourism in Russia has seen rapid growth since the late Soviet times, first inner tourism and then international tourism as well. Rich cultural heritage and great natural variety place Russia among the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The country contains 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, while many more are on UNESCO’s tentative lists. Major tourist routes in Russia include a travel around the Golden Ring of ancient cities, cruises on the big rivers like Volga, and long journeys on the famous Trans-Siberian Railway. Diverse regions and ethnic cultures of Russia offer many different food and souvenirs, and show a great variety of traditions, like Russian banya, Tatar Sabantuy, or Siberian shamanist rituals.Despite being home to some of the world’s great attractions – from Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow to the famed Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg – Russia has struggled to attract tourists.

The major hurdle towards attracting less tourism is it is epicenter of some of the most expensive hotels in the world, inadequate tourism infrastructure, a reputation for surly service and bureaucratic headaches for visitors and the absence of English. To tackle this, the Russian government is hoping to change all that and is planning to launch an ambitious programm to make the country a tourist paradise by 2016 and thrust it into the ranks of major tourism destinations. The deputy minister for tourism and sport, Nadezhda Nazina said “We are going to do everything possible so that a foreign visitor feels comfortable in Russia.”
The Russian government will soon be considering a 352-billion-ruble (11.7-billion-dollar, 8.5-billion-euro) plan to improve infrastructure, train specialists and launch a major advertising campaign, she said. If the plan is successful “in five years up to 40 million foreign tourists could visit Russia every year,” Nazina said.

Russia last year attracted only 2.3 million foreign visitors, according to the federal tourism agency, placing it far below the top destinations for international tourists. The top two destinations, France and the United States, attracted 74 million and 55 million visitors respectively in 2009, according to the World Tourism Organization. To reach its target, Russia would need to attract about as many tourists every year as Italy, which last year hosted 43 million foreign visitors.

Industry experts in Russia said they would love to see the plan succeed but were highly skeptical. The figure of 40 million tourists “is a prediction that is in the realm of science fiction,” said Maya Lomidze, the executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.

“Too many conditions would have to be met for this plan to be realized. The main necessity is that we have hotels at affordable prices. Russia is a very expensive country,” she said.

According to a recent study by travel consultancy the Hogg Robinson Group, the average price of a hotel room in Moscow is 402 dollars (288 euros), the most expensive in the world. In Paris the average price was 318 dollars (227 euros) and in New York 297 dollars (213 euros).

“In Moscow there are almost no economy-class hotels or they are very bad. The prices are exorbitant,” said Irina Tyurina, the spokeswoman for the Russian Tourism Industry Union.She said Moscow and Russia’s Tsarist-era capital Saint Petersburg, famed for their luxury hotels, continue to host most visitors to Russia, accounting for 95-98 percent of foreign guests.

The next most-popular destinations are the so-called Golden Ring of ancient cities near Moscow including Vladimir and Rostov, the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s Far East and the Lake Baikal region in Siberia. Industry experts said Russia will also have to overcome the bureaucratic red-tape that is the bane of visits to the country.

Foreign visitors are not only required to indicate the cities they plan to visit when applying for a Russian visa, they are also required to register with local migration authorities every time they visit a new city, a process Tyurina described as “humiliating.” Russia is also country “that has not yet adapted to the needs of foreign tourists,” Lomidze said. For example, there are no signs in English in the Moscow Metro except for small plans posted in the underground transportation network.

by

Immigration New Zealand has begun trials of biometric technology that uses facial recognition to verify the identity of people coming through New Zealand customs.The trialled technology from biometrics technology firm Daon takes a photo of the person applying for a visa, and then uses this photo to verify the identity of the applicant when they attempt to gain entry to the country.

Over the next few years plans to use biometrics to confirm the identity of visa applicants and travelers at the border. Any technologies adopted will have substantial privacy safeguards, in accordance with New Zealand privacy laws. The trial is not currently being deployed in regular border control operations and a decision on whether the technology will be employed by Immigration New Zealand is not expected to be made for at least 12 months, the department said.

“The evaluation is a short-term trial that is not being deployed operationally,” Immigration New Zealand said. “It is separate from the Immigration Global Management System (IGMS) replacement of the current Application Management System (AMS). IGMS, once approved, will provide future operational identity management capabilities for INZ.”

by

According to a new study by the Conference Board of Canada (CBC), immigrants can help boost innovation in Canada, which is currently lagging behind other developed nations.

“Immigrants tend to be motivated individuals willing to take risks in search of greater opportunities, which should predispose them to be innovative,” said Diana MacKay, Director, Education and Health. “At every level we examined—individual, organizational, national and global—immigrants were associated with increased innovation in Canada.”The CBC says that Canada is consistently ranked 14 out of 17 industrialized nations in its capacity to innovate. In it’s report, Immigrants as Innovators: Boosting Canada’s Global Competitiveness, the CBC used various criteria to show that countries benefit by encouraging immigration.

The report found that at least 35 percent of Canada Research Chairs are foreign-born, even though immigrants only make up one-fifth of the population. In addition, immigrants win proportionally more literary and performing arts awards in Canada than native born Canadians.

Immigration also leads to an increase in trade between Canada and the immigrants’ countries of origin. According to the CBC report, a one percent point increase in the number of immigrants to Canada can increase the value of imports into Canada by as much as 0.21 percent and raise the value of exports by 0.11 percent.

Foreign direct investment in Canada is also greater from countries who are well-represented in Canada’s immigrant population, according to data compiled by the CBC from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

by

A high court challenge is likely to cause problems for the UK’s plans to implement a cap on immigration into the country.

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and a number of businesses that depend on skilled immigration to deal with skill shortages have brought a judicial review of the government’s temporary cap on immigration. The cap was imposed on 28 June 2010.The JCWI says that the cap is unlawful because ministers did not seek proper parliamentary approval before introducing the immigration cap. If the immigration cap was debated in Parliament beforehand there would have been an opportunity for MPs to consider in detail what would be the appropriate limit on skilled and highly skilled visas.

According to the Government, the temporary immigration cap was implemented to prevent a large influx of Tier 1 (highly skilled migration) and Tier 2 (skilled migration) visa applications from migrants originating from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area. The temporary immigration cap reduces overall skilled immigration by a relatively modest five percent. The surge is expected because the Government plans to implement a permanent cap on immigration in April next year.

However, the Government is facing criticism as the immigration cap is damaging to UK business and so to the UK’s global competitiveness. Startup companies, major research positions, and other highly skilled endeavors are well-represented by foreign-born members of society in many industrialized nations. The immigration cap has so far affected Tier 2 visa applications more than Tier 1 visa applications. Some businesses have been left in a situation where they are unable to sponsor anyone at all on a Tier 2 visa. Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable complained publicly that the temporary cap was damaging British industry.

by

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk backed on Thursday Bulgaria’s bid to join the European visa-free Schengen travel zone in 2011. “Bulgaria is on a fast track to join Schengen and Poland will help it in that direction.

Tusk also praised the government’s “steadfast efforts against corruption and organized crime.”
Borisov, on his part, thanked Tusk for the support, highlighting its importance in the light of Poland’s upcoming EU presidency in the second half of 2011.

Bulgaria is seeking to join the Schengen zone in March 2011 but is still awaiting the European Union’s final greenlight. The two premiers of the Bulgaria and Poland also discussed on the issues pertaining to economic crisis, gas deliveries and transportation links too.

by

Iraq’s ambassador to Afghanistan celebrated the opening its new embassy Wednesday in Kabul, saying it will strengthen diplomatic relations between the two countries that date to the 1930s and assist Afghans who want to visit holy sites in Iraq.

“Iraqis and Afghans are almost brothers,” Ambassador Qais Subhi al-Yacoubi said at the opening. “Whenever I go on the street, people know that I’m Iraqi. Everyone welcomes me so I never feel that I am here as a guest. I am among my brothers and my friends. The relationship is not only Iraqi-Afghani, it is also Arab-Afghani and Islamic-Islamic and before everything else, we are Muslim.

The Afghan government has said it also has plans to re-open its embassy in Baghdad, as it tries to expand and deepen its links to the Muslim world. Iraq broke relations after the Taliban seized Kabul in 1996, but has had relations with the current government of Afghanistan for years.

The new Iraqi embassy in Kabul eventually will have a consular section to assist Afghans who want to visit Iraq, which is home to religious shrines important to Shiite Muslims around the world.

“We have thousands and thousands of Afghans who want to go to Iraq,” he said. “Iraq is full of holy shrines from north to south. … Our consular section will facilitate that. It will take some time, but we are working quickly.”
Many Muslims, including Afghans, visit Iraq during Ashoura, the yearly mourning period in which Shiites remember the seventh century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, in a battle in the central city of Karbala.