Work permits have been taking in the region of 2-3 weeks to process in recent weeks, mainly due to a backlog of applications and the trial of a new system of allocating applications to caseworkers which has been less efficient than the government’s previous process.

Unfortunately the situation appears to be deteriorating and we have been informed that the Border & Immigration Agency (BIA) now has a backlog of over 7,000 applications.

Consequently, it is likely that the processing timescale for work permits will increase further. In order to manage business expectations, we therefore suggest that HR staff quote a minimum 3-4 weeks when speaking to line managers about work permit timescales.

NB. This ‘3-4 weeks timescale’ relates to the first stage in any work permit process and does not include the subsequent time for further leave to remain or entry clearance applications. Typical timescales for these latter processes are:

 ‘In-country’ further leave to remain (fast-track) – a few working days

 'In-country’ further leave to remain (postal) – approximately 4 weeks

 ‘Overseas’ Entry clearance – anything from a few working days to several weeks depending on the country in which the application is being made

Timing is particularly critical on work permit extensions where an employee’s leave to remain will be expiring in the near future – PLG UK can deal with extension applications up to 3 months before an employee’s leave to remain expires so the earlier we are instructed the better.

The following countries known as "member states" currently make up the Schengen Area:

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

The new Schengen Members who were added on December 21, 2007 are the nine new member states:

Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia

Over the next 6 months, the new 9 member states, will begin to implement the Schengen Agreement in various stages.

The first stage commenced on Dec 21, 2007 where all consulates of the 9 new member states began issuing Schengen visas for visa nationals (i.e. travelers who required a visa to travel to a Schengen country) and all land and sea border controls between the existing Schengen countries and the new 9 member states were abolished.

The next stage is due to take place at the end of March 2008, and that will be the abolishing of all air border controls between the old and new Schengen member states.

The final stage will be at the end of June 2008, where all national short-term visas issued before December 21, 2007 by the 9 new Schengen members will remain valid for the purpose of traveling through another Schengen member.

There are various types of Schengen Visas.

The most common is the Short-Term Visa (Type C), commonly referred to as the "Schengen Visa".

This visa may be issued by any one of the member states and may be used to enter any Schengen member state for maximum period or authorized stay of 90 days over a 180-day period.

Labels: Schengen visa

The Entry and Exit Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security has tightened its regulations pertaining to the issuance, renewal and alteration of visas. The changes took effect July 2007.

For the foreseeable future, it will no longer be possible to change tourist (L) and exchange (F) -type visas to other types. Many applications that formerly could be handled by a representative now must be completed in person by the applicant. Additionally, express visa service is no longer available.

Enforcement has tightened of entry and exit violations, with recent reports of police, school administrators and hotel staff checking to ensure that foreigners have not overstayed their visas.

Please be advised that current regulations state that the penalty for overstaying a visa is 500 RMB per day of overstay, not to exceed 5000 RMB and/or detention. The period of detention can range from 5-30 days depending on the severity of the violation. Detention may be longer than 30 days in the case that the authorities believe that the foreigner was involved in criminal activity.

The Embassy is aware of several recent detentions of American citizens relating to visa overstays and violating the terms of their visas (i.e. working while on a visitors visa).

For more information, please consult with you local Public Security Bureau, Entry and Exit office or logon to Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureaus English language website at www.bjgaj.gov.cn.

U.S. citizens residing or traveling in China are reminded to register with the U.S. Embassy or closest U.S. Consulate by entering your travel itinerary and contact information at https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/home.asp.

In case of difficulties registering online, please contact the closest U.S, Embassy or Consulate.

U.S. Embassy Beijing: No. 2 Xiu Shui Dong Jie, Chaoyang District. tel: 86-10-6532-3431 Email: amcitbeijing@state.gov. Embassys website: beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn

U.S. Consulate General Chengdu: Number 4, Lingshiguan Road, Section 4, Renmin Nanlu, Chengdu 610041, tel. 86-28-8558-3992 Email: consularchengdu@state.gov.

U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou: The Consular Section is located at 5th Floor, Tianyu Garden (II phase), 136-146 Lin He Zhong Lu, Tianhe District, tel. (86-20) 8518-7605; Email: GuangzhouACS@state.gov.

U.S. Consulate General Shanghai: The Consular Section is located in the Westgate Mall, 8th Floor, 1038 Nanjing Xi Lu, Shanghai 200031; tel. (86-21) 3217-4650, Email: shanghaiacs@state.gov.

U.S. Consulate General Shenyang: No. 52, 14th Wei Road, Heping District, Shenyang 110003; tel. (86-24) 2322-2374, Email ShenyangACS@state.gov

Russia's Federal Migration Service called for amending the law on the legal status of foreigners in the country.

In particular, it proposed to cancel quotas for guest workers whose staying in Russia does not require visas. The proposal was brought forward at a conference over measures to improve the regulation of external labor migration.

The conference was chaired by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. "In the condition of increasing labor force shortages in the Russian economy, it is necessary to enhance the country's attractiveness for immigrants," the document said. Issuing work permit quotas for guest workers coming from the states with which Russia has visaless regimes no longer makes sense, especially because "labor migrants from the state with visaless regime states find jobs on their own," according to the proposal. The FMS also proposed to provide for reserve work permits quotas, beginning from 2008, in the amount of at least 50 percent of regions' estimated demand for labor force.

According to the Rostrud Federal Service for Employment and Labor Relations, 12,900 checks of companies using foreign labor force were carried out in the period from January 1 through June 11, 2007.

More than 73,000 violations of labor legislation were exposed, including 27,000 violations in retail trade. Authorities issued some 9,500 instructions on stopping the exposed violations, including 3,600 such instructions in retail trade. Companies paid a total of 3,500 fines worth 7.5 million roubles.

As of June 18, 61 Russian regions submitted the data on attracting foreign workers.

In all, employers sent 13,104 applications for 681,902 jobs. The countries with which Russia has visaless regimes accounted for 420,777 jobs, and other states - for 261,125 jobs.

In the research and application of information found the following website http://www.budgetmoscow.com/news/00064/ was used by Pro-Link Global.

Our Consultant in Hungary, Kasia Pinska, recently advised that getting a Hungarian Visa from neighboring countries is no longer an option for expats. In the past, many expatriates could visit Hungarian embassies in countries neighboring Hungary to obtain their residence visas (work visas, family member visas, income generator visas). However, please be advised that this is no longer the case as these embassies are no longer willing to issue residence visas to foreigners not resident in their respective countries.

For some time now, many Non-E.U. expatriates (incl. U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, South Africa) who entered Hungary on a 90-day tourist visa, but then wished to obtain an extended visa, could often apply for same at a Hungarian Embassy in Vienna, Prague, Bratislava or Zagreb. However, due to a tightening of procedure, foreigners can now only apply for an extended Hungarian visa at the Hungarian Embassy in either their native country, or a country in which they have official residency.

Exceptions will only be made in extreme circumstance, such as a medical condition that might prevent the applicant from travel.

In a radical shift, the Hong Kong Immigration Department (HKID) announced last week that the spouses and dependents of professional workers or capital-investment entrants admitted into Hong Kong will no longer need prior permission before taking up employment from May 15 2006.

The department said the policy would help "enhance Hong Kong's edge in attracting professionals and investors" as their dependents' visas or entry permits granted on or after May 15 2006 will not be subject to employment restrictions.

In the past three years, which is how long the prohibition on spouses working without their own work visa has been in force for, the economy of Hong Kong has suffered since there have been expatriate assignments declined due to the inability for the spouse to work as a derivative visa holder. Prior to 2003, spouses and dependents of visa-holders were able to work without having to obtain their own work visa. This movement back to permitting the spouses and dependents work authorization is a victory for trailing spouses the world over.

Those spouses who are currently restricted from working may apply to the department to remove the restriction for free, and the HKID has promised to process these changes in one day. Alternatively, the spouse can wait to have their restriction canceled when they apply for, and are granted, extension of stay upon the expiry of their current stay period.

There is no change to the arrangements for the dependents of people admitted into Hong Kong for study. They are not allowed to work unless they have obtained prior permission from the Director of Immigration.

Pro-Link Global urges their clients who are in Hong Kong and who have spouses who wish to work, to contact us immediately so that we can facilitate this for you.

To succeed in today’s challenging business environment, global companies must recruit, keep and place the top talent where and when needed, despite tougher host-country immigration laws and post-9/11 security screens. To scale the career heights, knowledge workers must be prepared to live and work outside the familiar confines of one’s homeland.

Given these converging trends, globally competitive companies must take ownership of a process far broader than mastery of the work permit and residence rules in the headquarters country. World-class companies must develop a migration management business model that allows for employment-based transfers of key personnel from country to country, with minimal delay and proper attention to law compliance.

For a discussion of this timely and vital topic, join Andrea Elliott and Angelo Paparelli in a World of Immigrants Podcast, “The Next Frontier – Employment-Based Global Migration.”

Andrea is the Principal of Pro-Link GLOBAL, a boutique immigration firm specializing in global work permits, residence permits, entry visas, and immigration documentation and management services.

Angelo, the moderator of World of Immigrants and blogger of www.nationofimmigrators.com, leads the 12-lawyer immigration specialty firm, Paparelli & Partners LLP, from offices in New York City and Irvine, CA.

Visit Angelo's blog at http://www.nationofimmigrators.com to hear the podcast.

The United Kingdom is to resume the issuance of first entry visas to Nigerians’ under 30 years next month, i.e. March 2006 its foreign secretary Jack Straw, has announced.

This comes after a 2 year ban by the British embassy in Nigeria who in 2004 banned that category of Nigerians from getting the UK visa, citing a heavy work load and wide incidences of absconders.

Papua New Guinea’s National Executive Council (NEC) has approved sweeping changes to migration laws to give authorities more powers to search and detain illegal immigrants and establish detention centres.

In a strategic move designed to give the government more teeth when handling cases relating to illegal immigrants and the growing threat of global terrorism, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare in a statement yesterday said changes to the Migration Act and regulations would strengthen border management and help business as the law had loopholes.

But as the Government tightened the noose, Port Moresby police reported the escape of an African illegal immigrant from the Boroko police station cells.

Hamado Nabole, from the western African state of Burkina Faso, bolted from the cell on Tuesday (07 Feb) night, joining another African Mduduzi Cedric Zediber, who has been on the run from authorities since last month.

“The current Migration Act is not sufficient to address global demands," Sir Michael said. "We need to work effectively and efficiently to bring benefits to PNG that genuine foreign investment generates while at the same time preventing the entry of undesirable foreigners such as illegal workers, criminals and terrorists.

“Papua New Guinea’s global reputation rests on our ability to regulate and control our borders," he continued. “Companies who employ illegal immigrants will also be penalised under the amended laws which will provide the foundation for effective border management well into the future — ensuring PNG maintains its reputation as a nation that takes border security and control seriously.

“It is understood that the inability of the Government to charge three Fijians for breaching PNG laws, when they entered Bougainville last year on visitor visas and joined failed money scheme operator Noah Musingku," the Prime Minister said. "He could be one reason behind the rush to amend the law. Government insiders say authorities could not charge the Fijians as the trio operated on the island’s 'no-go-zone', an area which the government and its law enforcement agencies have no presence and would have difficulty conducting investigations."

Under the new amendments, the Foreign Affairs’ immigration division will have powers to detain and search unlawful entrants, facilitate the exchange of intelligence between lead agencies and set up and maintain detention centres.

Source: http://www.pacificislands.cc

A biometric database enabled authorities to arrest 1,600 immigration offenders at Singapore checkpoints last year, a 167% increase from 2004, officials said Wednesday.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said the system captures the biometric details of former offenders who had previously been arrested in the city-state and repatriated back to their home countries. Only 600 such offenders were arrested in 2004.

About 4,500 undocumented immigrants were also arrested last year, down 15% from the year before.