Top Immigration News That You Must Know

Australia: A new ministerial direction will work on improving the skilled visa processing time. Also, soon to clear the backlogs on a priority basis created on 28 October, 2022.

Ministerial Direction No.100 is a new ruling that instructed the Australian Government to prioritize the health and education sectors. These new priorities apply to all skilled visa nominations and visa applications, including the pending and newly lodged applications.

The new direction will stop prioritizing Global Talent, Business Innovation and Investment Programs. However, the visa applications for all these programs will continue efficiently implementing the planning levels under the annual migration program.

What are the other instructions of Ministerial Direction No. 100?

• Prioritize the applications of healthcare and education occupations and offshore permanent and provisional applications simultaneously.
• Aids small businesses are reaching out to recruit overseas workers.
• Prioritize the Accredited Sponsors in all sectors- it applies to trusted employers and businesses, potentially resulting in economic productivity.
• Reduce the number of priorities, which speeds up the processing time of other categories.
• The Australian Department of Home Affairs has granted over 2,78,000 visas since 1 June 2022. The visa grants include 43,000 temporary skilled applications and 47,000 permanent skilled applications.

The United States: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have put forth the paper filing tips for all visa applicants. The information will help the applicants avoid delays and ensure a better scanning process.

What are the DON'Ts for the paper filing process?

• Do not hole, punch, staple, paper clip, binder clip, or attach the documents.
• Do not include photos and documents that are smaller than 4X6 inches. Instead, you can enclose the photocopies of these requirements for evidentiary purposes. A passport-size photograph of this size is acceptable with the filing.
• Do not submit the filing with electronic devices like chips, batteries, CD-ROMs, DVDs, toys, or thumb drives. Instead, choose to enclose the photocopies or photographs of these items.
• Also, do not submit the evidentiary documents with a spiral binding or spiral wire/plastic.

Nova Scotia (Canada): A new francophone immigration plan aims to welcome many French-speaking immigrants. The aim is to support the existing francophone communities.

It will help grow the first Nova Scotia Francophone Immigration Action Plan established in March 2019.

Nova Scotia welcomed the French Speakers in a recent draw through the Labour Market Priorities stream. The province invited 150 candidates who are eligible for Express Entry. Those candidates met either of these criteria - their first official language was French or achieved the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) with a score of 10 in all languages.

Canada aims to welcome around 5,00,000 new permanent residents through Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025. Nova Scotia contributes its part to Canada to achieve this immigration target.

Ecuador: Digital Nomad Visa is a newly launched program to allow remote workers to stay in the country for up to two years. Indians are not allowed to apply for this new visa.

Apart from India, there are many other countries not eligible for this program: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, Kenya, Libya, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen, among other countries.

Thailand: Thailand will soon issue visas for foreigners visiting the country for medical treatment. The visa grant will allow multiple entries with one-year validity. Also, three immediate family members will be permitted. The applicants with hospital appointments, health insurance and funds of 8,00,000 baht ($22,364) will only be eligible for the medical treatment visa.

Canada Holds the 24th Express Entry Draw of 2022

IRCC has sent the Express Entry Invitations for the second time this month. In November 2022, Canada issued 9,500 ITAs. Published invitations are on a ranking basis in the Express Entry pool. The ranking is derived from the 1200-point Comprehensive Ranking System. The minimum CRS required for the latest Express Entry draw was 491.

The US Embassy Approves Over 1,00,000 H1-B and L1 Visas

In October 2022, the US Embassy released over 1,00,000 visa applications, including H1-B and L1 visas. It was to relieve the visa workers who have been away from their families since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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