Immigration Lawyer Blog

The Southern Island province of Hainan is now the most accessible Island in China, thanks to new regulations introduced by the Chinese government. The newly introduced visa exemptions, will grant passport holders from 27 countries including Australia and New Zealand unparalleled access to Hainan.

The first exemption is a ‘Free Landing Visa,’ targeted mainly at groups, which is the first in China to allow travellers free access in and out of Hainan Island without a visa. The second exemption is a special Landing visa perfect for individuals or couples and can be acquired on arrival of any airport of Hainan. The free Landing Visa entitles travellers to stay in Hainan for up to 15 days free, provided that they enter in and out of Haikou or Sanya international airports.

The Special Landing Visa policy has also been seen as a landmark for all travellers as it provides travellers with the easiest method of obtaining a visa in China. On arrival at any airport in Hainan, travellers must simply go to the visa station before customs to process, it normally takes 10 minutes and costs just RMB200(Approx $30AUD), compared to the $80 and a trip to the Chinese Consulate. This visa is also valid for 15 days, but can be extended at any of police station in China for up to a two-month period.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved an agreement with the government of Israel on waiver of visa requirements for persons using the passport of citizen or official passports of Ukraine and Israel.

Thus, this intergovernmental agreement, signed on July 21, took effect in Ukraine. The instrument stipulates that citizens of Ukraine and Israel may stay in another country without obtaining a visa up to 90 days.

The Norwegian-Russian agreement on visa-free travel for people living in the border area will be signed when Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Oslo on November 2nd. Speaking at the joint press-conferance with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Murmansk today, Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that the deal will be signed soon, but he did however not confirm the date.

Norway share a 196 km long border with Russia, and the negotiation regarding visa-freedom for the people lining in a 30 km zone on each side of the border has been under way since Sergey Lavrov visited northern Norway in the spring 2008. The agreement was first supposed to be signed during Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s visit to Oslo in April, but the last few obstacles were then not solved. One of the problematic issues was regarding non-Norwegian citizens living within the Norwegian part of the border zone. The Russian position was first that only Norwegian citizens should be allowed to get the right to travel without visa. But, the Schengen-agreement says all Schengen-citizens should have the same rights. This issue is now solved and other Schengen-citizens that have lived longer than three years in Kirkenes will be included for visa-free border travel.

Britain is handing out passports to more foreign nationals than any other EU country. In one year, the number of citizenship applications rubber-stamped by the last government was almost a quarter of those issued across all 27 EU member states. From 2002 to 2008, the latest period for which full figures are available, the total number of approvals by Home Office officials was 1,008,500.

Eurostat, the EU’s statistics authority, said this figure outstripped even Germany and France, which have larger populations. Once granted citizenship, people have full access to housing, benefits and the jobs market.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: ‘These statistics show why we must tighten our immigration system and look to be more selective about who we give British citizenship to.

While it is important that we attract the brightest and the best to ensure strong economic growth, uncontrolled permanent migration places unacceptable pressure on public services.

In addition to issuing the highest cumulative number of passports, Britain topped the league table in three individual years. In 2007, the 164,500 passport approvals was the equivalent on 23 per cent of the EU total. Over the entire seven-year period, they accounted for 20 per cent of those given out.

Labour repeatedly promised to make the citizenship rules tougher, but by the time it left government, the numbers were rising sharply. The Eurostat report stops at 2008. But, in the following year, Home Office figures show the government granted 203,790 passports.

Britain has the third largest number of foreign citizens living here – behind only Germany and Spain. The total of 4,020,800 consists of 1,614,800 people from inside the EU who – because of free movement directives – do not require a visa to live in the UK.

During the election campaign, Labour claimed there were equal numbers of workers entering and leaving the UK.

In reality, Eurostat says there were just 287,600 UK nationals filling jobs elsewhere in the European Union by autumn 2008. Yet there were 1,020,000 citizens from other Euro countries taking posts in the economy here. Earlier this week, Mr Green said that – as part of his plan to halve net migration – he wanted to make it harder for non-EU nationals to settle permanently in the UK.

The UAE plans to open an embassy in Azerbaijan this year. The UAE is the first country that recognized Azerbaijan’s independence in 1991.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1992. Azerbaijan opened an embassy in Abu Dhabi in 2001 and a consulate in Dubai in 2006.

Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Minister of Foreign Affairs, answering questions during his turn at the meet-the-press series at the Ministry of Information in Accra. Three new Passport Application Centres (PACs) are to be inaugurated by the close of this month to help ease the congestion and rush at the PAC and the Passport Office in Accra.

The new PACS are to be inaugurated in Sekondi, Sunyani and Tamale. Since the biometric passport was launched on March 23, 2010 in Accra, 29,019 Ordinary, 48 Service and 251 Diplomatic passports have been issued to various categories of Ghanaians. Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, announced this in response to a question when he took his turn at the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Ministry of Information in Accra yesterday. He conceded that there had been challenges in the issuance of the biometric passports but explained that it should be expected of any new project. He, however, gave an assurance that when the three new PACs and the remaining ones were inaugurated, the challenges would be addressed.

Alhaji Mumuni also admitted that the old machine readable passports were being issued alongside the biometric passports because there were outstanding applications prior to the launch of the biometric passports and indicated that the ministry did not want to burden those applicants to re-apply by purchasing the new forms. According to him, the old passports are machine readable and are valid until 2015, when it will be phased out.

Touching on other activities of the ministry, Alhaji Mumuni said the ministry continued to pursue the policy of good neighbourliness to sustain the climate of peace and stability in the sub-region. The mutual trust and confidence established by President J.E.A. Mills and his counterparts as the basis for addressing common challenges to development across nation frontiers, was maintained.

Alhaji Mumuni said the ministry also sought to give substance to the government’s declaration to make regional integration the flagship of its foreign policy by actively participating in the deliberations of ECOWAS and other sub-regional and regional economic communities while ensuring that Ghana derived maximum benefit from its membership of such bodies.

According to him, the decision to relocate the new ministry at that site was because the AESL had advised against the reconstruction of the old ministry gutted by fire in October, last year. Besides that, Alhaji Mumuni explained that as the gateway to the government and the nation, it was important that the ministry was sited at a place that was attractive and conducive as against the old place which was close to the market.

As part of its response to the Canterbury earthquake, Immigration New Zealand is working closely with other Government agencies to identify occupations where skill shortages may occur, for example, in the infrastructure or construction sectors to ensure that where an immigration response is required we are able to respond in a timely manner. For instance, this may result in changes being made to the Essential Skills in Demand Lists before our next review which is due for completion in mid 2011.

From Sept. 8, travelers flying to the US which do not requires visas will be required to pay a $14 “operational and travel promotion.” According to US Customs and Border Protection website, people from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries must pay when applying for an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).

The new tourist tax that was implemented today received criticism from European Union as “inconsistent with the commitment of the U.S. to facilitate transatlantic mobility.” The tourist fee affects air and sea travelers from VWP countries such as Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The total fee for a new or renewed ESTA will be $14. The breakdown includes $US10 tax and $US4 to recover the cost of the ESTA system. ESTA approval, which went into effect in early 2009, allows travelers to enter the United States without a full travel visa, which can cost over $100. The ESTA authorization lasts for two years (or until the individual’s passport expires), and is valid for multiple entries.