This is a posting to advise our clients that our China offices will be closed from the 29th January 2006 to 5th February 2006.

All Immigration offices and Consulates will also be closed in observance of the New Year celebrations.

This year is Year of the Dog. Happy New Year to our Chinese clients and team members in Shanghai and Beijing.

The European Union has urged the United States, Canada and Australia to step up negotiations on waiving visas for all EU nationals.

Talks so far have made "no tangible progress," the EU's justice commissioner, Franco Frattini, said over the weekend. He did not suggest that the EU should require Americans, Canadians and Australians to have visas to visit Western Europe, but said that he may do so in July if the talks make no progress.

Nationals of the three countries currently do not need visas to enter the EU, though their governments do not grant visa-free travel to EU nationals. Washington, for instance, demands visas from nationals of Cyprus, Greece, Malta and eight East European nations that joined the bloc in 2004. EU officials said visa waiver deals must be fully reciprocal.

Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/15/travel/travel16.php