Preethi Dimple
SEO Executive
France considers opening of a new visa center in Ahmedabad. The French Consul General in India, Jean-Raphael Peytregnet, during his meeting with Anandi Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat, has announced that a new visa center will be established in Ahmedabad to assist individuals who would like to visit France. In addition to visa center, Peytregnet also articulated the country’s desire to enhance relations between France and Gujarat by introducing a French Language Centre of Excellence in Ahmedabad. He also said that France plays a vital role in promoting 100 new cities in India and Gujarat is one of the desirable states for project. During the meeting, Patel invited French entrepreneurs to participate in the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Summit-2015.
He also provided certain details regarding probabilities in Gujarat to promote various fields including pharmaceuticals, cement industry and defense equipment production. New rules of travelling for children traveling to and from South Africa. The South Africa Airways (SAA) has proclaimed that children moving from and to South Africa are expected to provide a number of additional credentials from 1 October 2014. Tlali Tlali, SAA spokesman, said that from 1 October it is not possible to check in all tourists who can’t provide the required documentation.
The new set of laws follows implementation of an act referred as South Africa Immigration Amendment 2010, which states all the individuals less than 18 years of age are considered as children. Children migrating along with their parents should provide unabridged birth certificates which include names of both father and mother. If children are migrating with single parent then they have to produce either a court order representing guardianship, affidavit from other parent allowing approval to travel, or other parent death certificate. Children migrating alone require more formalities which include credentials providing details regarding the person receiving the child. Canada sets down new immigration rules for child dependents. Canadian government has announced that with effect from 01 August 2014, the maximum age of the children travelling to Canada as dependents has been lessened from 21 years to 19 years. According to new definition, a dependent child refer to the one who is a biological or an adopted child of the person applying for Canadian immigration aged 19 years or less and neither married nor in a common-law relationship.
However, the child, who is over 19 years and is dependent on the parents financially in view of physical or mental conditions, can yet be regarded as a dependent. Nevertheless, this is not anymore the case for children depending on their parents financially for studies. In this case, the children have to file their application for residency individually. This new rule will not be applicable to those applications submitted prior to 01 Aug 2014. Children above 19 years may choose to come to Canada as an international student as another option. The outbound travelers of Bangladesh are 1 million every year. Bangladeshi tourists visiting foreign countries are typically one million ever year, while the numbers of tourists coming in are within 50 thousand, according to a report from local tour operators.
President of the Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB), Toufiq Uddin Ahmed, said that the number of outbound tourists travelling to Malaysia, Thailand, and India was over 700,000 and the rest of 300 thousand had been to Middle East, Western and European countries. The number of Bangladeshis visiting India each year on tourist visas was over 500 thousand, he added Malaysian High Commission in Bangladesh issued 135 thousand tourist visas previous year and Thai embassy issued 85 thousand tourist visas. Nepal requires no visa for its entry due to which the number of Bangladeshi tourists visiting Nepal has been increasing. The total number of inbound travelers account for 594 thousand in 2012 and 540 thousand in 2013, according to director of the TOAB, Toufiq Rahman.
Minister Alexander visits India, highlight various immigration routes. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration of Canada, Chris Alexander, will visit India from 5 July 2014 to 10 July 2014 to promote strong economic ties between Canada and India. He will also emphasize on various immigration routes through which individuals can immigrate to Canada. During his visit, Minister Alexander will associate with students, senior government officials, business executives and business leaders concerned with various IT and entertainment sectors. He will accentuate multiple routes through which one can immigrate to Canada via various economic immigration programs. For instance, the Express Entry program which is going to be launched in January 2015 and the Canadian Immigrant Integration Program are some of the few programs that encourage immigrants.
He said that over the years the country has welcomed more number of immigrants from India who have contributed in making Canada a successful and wealthy economy. Government of Australia announces validity for skills assessment. The government of Australia has announced that the skills assessment will be valid for maximum three years from the date of issuance, effective 01 July 2014. Direct Entry streams of Employer Nominated Scheme and Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme, and Graduate work stream of Temporary Graduate visas necessitate an applicant to acquire a valid skills assessment while filing visa applications.
Skilled Independent visa, Skilled Nominated visa, Skilled Regional visa and Temporary Work visas require an applicant to have a valid skills assessment while being invited to file applications through SkillSelect for a visa application to be successful. The system of SkillSelect is an efficient and faster way of processing ones application Australian government uses this program to fill shortage of labor in certain regions of the country. Australia experience growth in Asian immigrants. A report entitled ‘The People of Australia’ from immigration department of Australia has announced that the immigrant population of the nation comes from over 250 nations, and that Asian immigrants in the country are increasing.
The Indian population in Australia has risen by 148,000 during 2006 and 2011; the Philippines by 51,000 and the Chinese mainland-born by 112,000.The people from New Zealand and England continue to be major segments of foreign born population in Australia accounting for 483,000 and 900,000 respectively. Sydney is considered to have highest number of foreign born Australians with 1.5m while Melbourne has 1.2m. Foreign born residents constitute 35.1 percent of the residents in Perth. Greek, Arabic, Mandarin, Italian Vietnamese and Cantonese are the major non English languages used in the country. Bahrain considers implementing new visa policy. New foreign destinations are now the choice of Indian students. Indian students are choosing new foreign destinations with an aim to attain international degrees. Germany, Canada, France and Singapore are turning up to be the new destinations for education revealed an Assocham report.
Internship programs, placement opportunities, low tuition fees, reasonable living expenses, cultural experiences are regarded as few reasons to describe the interest of Indian students to pursue education overseas. More than 7,500 students from India have been registered at German universities revealing an increase of 114.2% when compared to statistics in 2008.Almost 80% of Indian students fly to Germany for higher education in the fields of science and engineering.
Italy and France are the preferred destinations for design and fashion while Switzerland and Australia are the favorite destinations for hospitality management. Besides, Russia is the most sought after destination for technical and medicine courses. India's Prime Minister's Office gives permission to electronic visas.
India's Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has given consent to electronic visa for visitors from around 40 nations by December. Russia, the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia, France, Canada, Germany , Spain, South Africa, UAE, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Austria, Ukraine, Portugal, Mauritius could be the nations where this facility can be extended. Government authorities have plans to extend this facility to 109 nations after the successful implementation of its first phase. According to the new reforms, foreign travelers will be authorized to file visa applications and acquire confirmation online in less than five working days through electronic travel authorization (ETA).
ETA can be used for duration of 30 days from the tourist arrival date in India. An exclusive website would be arranged so that this facility reaches to foreigners aiming to visit India as tourists. They are required to apply for a visa in the specified website and pay the necessary fees to acquire a visa. Japan to provide multiple entry visas for short-term stay to Indians. The Embassy of Japan has declared that the issuance of multiple entry visas for short-term stay to Indian nationals will go into play from 3 July 2014. The Embassy said that the verdict was taken succeeding the statement made by Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister, by realizing the importance of improving people to people exchanges to reinforce relations between Japan and India.
It also added that as huge number of Indians resides outside of the country, multiple entry visas will be issued at Japanese diplomatic missions in India, all the Japanese embassies and Consulate Generals overseas. It is anticipated that through this initiative, more number of Indians will visit Japan via which increased business activities will be facilitated resulting in boosting of bilateral exchanges between Japan and India.
New Visa Application Center inaugurated in Punjab. The government of Australia has launched a new Visa Application Center (VAC) in Jalandhar, Punjab, India, to meet the increasing demand for Australian visas in the region. The new center will be operated by its commercial partner, VFS Global. Mr. Patrick Suckling, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, said that there is a rise in number of people travelling between India and Australia resulting in strengthening ties between both the nations. Australian high commission in New Delhi issued over 100,000 tourist visas in a single financial year from 01 July 2013 to 30 June 2014 with an increase of 10 percent during the initial three months of 2014.
Besides the newly launched VAC in Punjab, two more VACs were launched newly in Pune and Mumbai. Visa free travel to Myanmar for ASEAN nations citizens. Citizens of ASEAN countries will be able to travel to Myanmar without visa by this year end. Kyi Thein Ko, Secretary general of Myanmar Tourism Federation said that their primary task is to allow visa free travel to ASEAN countries and expressed that their intention is to execute it by 2015. One of main goal is to complete chairmanship by fulfilling the idea of visa-free travel that is summarized in the founding rules. Myanmar as the chair will mark the start of a trade-free period and hassle free travel aid in the ASEAN Economic Community January 2015, In order to allow movement between Myanmar and each of these countries, Myanmar signed mutual visa-free agreements with Laos, Philippines, Cambodia, Brunei and Vietnam.
Myanmar is yet to sign agreements with Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. US Embassy celebrates Student Visa Day to encourage aspirants. North Korea to simplify visa requirements for Russians. North Korea is set to streamline visa requirements to employees of Russian companies working in their country and agreed upon mutual payments in rubles starting from June. Considerations are in process for simplification of formalities for Russian businessmen seeking multiple entry visas besides employees of Russian companies working in North Korea. Alexander Galushka, Russian Minister for Development of the East, said that they have decided to simplify requirements of multiple entry visas for Russian company employees working in the DPRK and for Russian business people.
He added that, Russian entrepreneurs can also gain access to communication systems including telephone and internet services. Galushka said that, to boost trade and economic cooperation between them, both Russia and North Korea decided to make their mutual payments in Rubles with the opening of first accounts Russian banks. Canada considers new visa application center in Doha. The government of Canada is considering opening of a new visa application center in Doha with an intention to assist Qataris in Canadian visa application processes. Canada embassy was officially opened in Qatar on 5 June 2014, while the Canadian mission was initially established in 2012.
The services offered to the public at the embassy include consular assistance, passport renewal, and the Trade Commissioner Service support to aid Canadian companies in identifying business related opportunities in Qatar besides helping citizens of Qatar in identifying investment chances in Canada. Till the proposed facility in Doha gets established, visa applications are to be sent to Abu Dhabi's Visa Application Centre. Canadian Ambassador Andre Dubois said that Canada is a selected partner for Qatar and as a result of all efforts to strengthen the relationship between Canada and Qatar, the embassy was established.
South Africa intends to strengthen immigration policy. Malaysia confident in acquiring visa free travel to US. Within a period of 18 months or less visa free travel to the United States for Malaysia citizens will be succeeded. To the star today reporters’ Malaysian home minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that, he is confident that department of immigration will fulfill the essential conditions for Malaysia in order to get qualified for USA visa waiver program (VWP). People from overseas countries, which are under visa waiver program (VWP) can visit and reside in the United States for a period of 90 days for the purpose of business or tourism. Group managing director of Apple Vacations & Conventions, Desmond Lee said that acquiring a US visa presently may take four to five days; whereas waiting for face to face interview at the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur could take two to three hours which is irritating for most of the applicants.
Applicants have to pay RM580 (US$180) as visa fee which is non-refundable even though application is rejected. DACA enrolled immigrants of can apply for two year extension. Families visit visas can attain permanent status for Saudi Arabian expat workers. New Critical Skills Visa list released by South Africa. Shanghai grants Green cards for 1,000 foreigners. Obama administration to aid illegal children immigrants entering US.
Bulgaria facilitates visa rules for Kazakhstan. Brazil improves visa requirements with Jamaica for FIFA World Cup 2014. Goa's tourism will be boosted by visa liberalization process. Three new Indian visa outsource service centers in Malaysia. Turkey citizen enjoys visa-free visits to Moldova and Belarus. US visa waiver for Peruvians likely to take maximum of six years. Visa free access for 300k British Overseas Territories citizens to travel Schengen area. Visa free regime for the citizens of Kazakhstan, Argentina. US Seeks efficient visit visa application procedure for overseas travelers. VFS Global launches Swiss visa application centre in Manama.
New Schengen visa center started at Jeddah. India to launch E-visa's to assist travelers. Russian tourist's raises twice to 350,000 due to Medical tourism, visa free travel. Australia to offer new visas for offshore oil, gas workers. Armenia to end visa necessities for US citizens. Taiwan grants visa free entry for Andorra, San Marino residents. Switzerland puts immigration quotas for Eastern European Job Seekers till 31 May 2016.
US to enhance immigration pre-clearance process at Abu Dhabi. Canadians to travel South Africa with new visa requirements. New UK visa center inaugurated in Jeddah. New UK-Australia visa application center opens in Bangkok. Miami makes extensive EB-5 visa program for foreign investors. Malaysia plans to establish consulate office in Xian. British Airways plans to extend Visa-linked offer for travelers. European Commission allows second phase of visa liberalization process by Ukraine. U.S. Mission to Nigeria announces new process for visa renewal. South Africa makes six major changes in visa rules. Fast tracked Australian visas processing for vocational students. Albania's visa waiver program for Saudis. Armenian citizens benefits from visa simplification agreement with EU. Australia will accept TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic test scores of visa applicant.
Visas waived off by Jamaica for travelers of 23 countries. OECD report reveals that migration is economically neutral. Visa terms to ease for Chinese to visit Tahiti. Scotland needs 500,000 migrants to balance workers and pensioners. 17 % rise of Indian students recorded in Australia educational institutions. Australian Federal budget incorporates migration program focusing on skilled immigration. Sharp rise in demand for US visas from Indian students. Initiatives planned by Obama to promote travelling in the US. Jeddah Airport to open passport counters for women. Hong Kong signs MOU with Germany on automated clearance service usage.
Visa free travel to Europe for Bermuda passport holders. Georgia awaits positive sign from EU for visa liberalization - VisaReporter news. Brazil implements new visa provisions making it easier for foreign visitors. EU implements Visa Information Scheme. UK, Australia and New Zealand start a common visa centre in Jakarta. A joint UK-Australian visa centre opens in Bangkok. South African Tourism desires to see more visa centers in India. Extension of visitor visa for six months to boost Mindanao tourism. Taiwanese passport holders offered visa free entry at 140 countries. New Immigration bill becomes law, upon approval. Philippines to have a visa-upon-arrival scheme for Chinese tourists. Immigration to Canada from Italy on the rise since 2005. UNO head's call for bettering the conditions concerning migrants. Schengen's Visa Information System to be used in NZ. Burma and Indonesia sign agreement for mutual visa exemption. UK may still have to grapple with high levels of immigration.
South Australia to allow provisional visa holders to apply for permanent residency. AIMS, Kochi, to be a medical facility for US visa applicants. France and Italy inaugurate a joint visa office in Kolkata. UAE thinking of 'Golden Visa for investors. Immigrant population in the US growing rapidly, but the rapid rise is in just a few states.
A very high number of jews from France may migrate to Israel this year. Shared East Africa Tourist Visa for Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda, soon. Israel will begin providing its visa services in Bangalore. Pune puts in place a system to track expiry of foreigners visas. CIC offers CAN+ to facilitate travel and trade with Mexico. Guyanese applicants for EU Schengen visa face fingerprints requirements. UK government not to prevent EU migrants coming in to work. Quebec to seek exemption from the ban on hiring of temporary foreign workers. Myanmar and Indonesia have agreed upon visa-free entry. Peru to pursue visa-free entry regime with the US. Ambassador of Mongolia to South Korea pleads with it to relax its visa rules.
World Bank welcomes Australia s initiative to grant working holiday visa to Fiji. British Airways offers discounts to Indian passengers on their fares for UK visits. Irish minister for jobs, enterprises, etc. hopeful of investments by US companies. US consulate to celebrate May 28 as Student Visa Day.