1.  Patience is paramount in the visa process.
We all know someone who thinks the rules don’t apply to them.  But Immigration laws apply to everyone equally and the process takes time. In only very exceptional cases, fast tracking visas is possible,  but in most cases, the visa process must run its set course. Make sure you plan well head, allowing plenty of time for the visa(s) to be granted.

2.  Don’t book a flight until the visa has been issued.
This may sound like obvious advice, but even the most straightforward cases can be delayed.  Recently we had a client who booked a flight thinking the case visa would be issued in ample time. Unfortunately the employee’s passport was expiring within six months and this prevented a visa being granted.  The visa would have taken 24 hours to secure. His passport took six weeks to renew.

3.  Visa restrictions last longer than you think
Every visa comes with rules and conditions that must be adhered to. And that means even after your employee has arrived in ther host country. Your company must continue to track and manage their visa status any changes to their role, leave your employment, or extend their stay beyond their visa expiry date, then such changes must be reported to the relevant authorities and the visa amended. A visa only ceases to be an issue after your employee has returned back to their home country.

4.  Be prepared for others’ mistakes
It is not uncommon for a government employee to misread a form and then reject a perfectly acceptable case, or for a busy line manager to forget to sign a box.  Don’t panic! Immigration decisions made in error are common and there are procedures to correct them.  Managers in host countries often do not recognise the importance of just one form but with a close eye these things can be picked up early enough not to affect the case.

5.  Keep it simple
Your business maybe rocket science or even dealing with complex brain surgery. But that should not make securing your work permit any more difficult.  Immigration laws are the same regardless of what your company does.  The law is blind to certain details even if they are critical to your business.  When dealing with visas, keep it simple and only focus on the laws and what they are asking for to administer that law.  Ensure  your explanations on visa applications meet the requirement of the Immigration law only.  Offering explanations of how complex your business is will only confuse the officer charged with dealing with the case.  Stay focused on the rules.

6.  Protect your brand
Governments the world over need to show they are no pushover when it comes to enforcing Immigration law. Do not allow your brand to become that ’six o clock news’ example.  Always aim to ensure your staff remain compliant with the Immigration law at all times in all countries.  Immigration audits which show up any negative issues can have an adverse impact on a business’s reputation and should be avoided.  Even if you make a mistake but tried your best that will go a long way in your favour.

7.  Use a reputable Immigration consultancy
Make sure any immigration consultancy you use is up to the job. Do they have registered offices? Do their staff have the experience and, most importantly, are they qualified to address Immigration issues for the host country that you require?  In many regions across the world local “immigration advisors” operate with no supervision or control.  Their limited resources and knowledge can lead to difficulties and should be avoided.  Aim to secure the services of a company that is able to assist pre-departure and has offices in the host country.

8. Understand dependents
Dependents of employees often want to study or work in the host country.  Usually it’s a straightforward process to make the necessary arrangements or to explain why they are unable to do so if restrictions apply. Whatever the outcome, dependents are as important to the main applicant as his or her own visa.  The visa process may change depending on when the dependents apply for their visa.  Polygamous marriages are banned in many countries but acceptable in others, as are gay marriages and the maximum age a child can be a dependent.  Make sure you take into account all the issues before confirming a secondment the expat declines later due to family reasons.

9.  Localised staff can bring you benefits
Many on expat benefits find it hard to give them up, but a company can make big savings if they localise their expats quickly.  If a person elects to stay in a host country, you should be ready to arrange residency and even citizenship in that country.  It will mark the end of expatriate status and localise the employee in a supportive way.

10.  If in any doubt, ask
Immigration law tends to be one of the most complex areas of any country’s legislation.  Our team are always happy to answer our clients’ questions and we would prefer they confirmed facts rather than assumed them.  Our reputation is attached to the success of our clients international mobility programs and we want to get it right 100% of the time.  Whatever your question, we want to hear about them because you are important and so is your business

For all your work visa needs, let Global Visas be your one stop immigration advice and solution finder.

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Chinese Premier Wen on UK visa visit in January 2009

With the UK government on life-support and the five tier UK immigration system writhing to the agony of as many recent defeats, it seems premature to be getting excited about removing the urinary catheter and intravenous drips just yet, especially following anti-immigration sentiment growing across the UK and EU.

But news in the Telegraph has enlightened my Monday afternoon, to the tune of a good old fashioned fight involving the UK visa system against the EU counterpart of France, Germany, Italy and Spain – the Schengen visa zone.

Might this be a story that will have UK citizens reminiscing back to the good old days of Rule Britannia and 1997 when things could only get better?

Latest government figures show the number of visitors to the UK fell from 7.19m to 6.28m in the first three months of 2009, a fall of 13per cent.

To combat this significant fall in money entering the economy, the UK immigration system wants to introduce a new UK visa aimed at capitalizing on the half a million more Chinese tourists France gets in comparison to the UK.

“Most Chinese tourists want to go on a continental tour. We cannot currently capture that. But we are busily exploring the options… whether we could offer visas as part of a wider European tour,” said Carma Elliot, consul-general in Shanghai.

The excitement surrounding the debate to pinch the wealthy Chinese tourists off our chunnel conjoined neighbours follows concerns raised by tour operators and businesses at a conference in London last week.

The general consensus was the existence of a “disincentive to include visits to the UK in tours majoring on continental Europe.”

The UK has a lot to offer the discerning Chinese tourist, including a large ex-pat community, of approximately 500,000 in the UK, compared to just 300,000 in France and 111,000 in Italy.

Alastair Morgan, UK Trade and Investment director for China, said: “We think there’s a lot of future potential for tourism from China. But at the moment we have far more business visitors. We would like the UK to be performing better like France and Italy.”

The EU Blue Card scheme will enable skilled migrants from non-EU countries to move freely around the continent filling labour market gaps.

The plan was decided upon in Brussels on 25 May, together with the establishment of a set of common standards intended to prevent employers illegally taking on immigrants and paying them unfair wages. The measures include a rule that requires all non-EU workers to carry a valid residents permit. Employers that breach these regulations will be faced with fines and possible exclusion from public tenders and access to public funds.

Under the Blue Card visa scheme national governments retain the right to decide how many workers can enter a country on a Blue Card and which industries they can work in.

The new measures do not affect people wishing to work in the UK from outside the EU as the UK, Denmark and Ireland have opted out of the scheme, claiming they wish to form their own regulations for immigration and work visas.

Canada is a huge draw for the thousands leaving the UK

With the falling value of the pound and a country well and truly in the grips of a recession, Polish and British workers are choosing to pack up and emigrate to Australia, Canada and the USA.

In the last quarter alone Global Visas has reported a 40% jump on enquiries from British nationals on the same time last year. Enquiries from Polish immigrants working in the UK have seen a massive 70% climb.

With UK earnings now significantly lower than the same time last year, cash sent home to families in Eastern Europe doesn’t go as far as it once did. Coupled with the potential to earn much more outside the EU, Polish and British migrants now consider a move to Australia, USA or working in Canada as realistic alternatives.

Equipped with English as a second language and industry skills and qualifications earned in Britain, the migrants pass immigration requirements to enter these countries and are in demand to fill skills shortage positions.

Liam Clifford is the Managing Director of Global Visas, one of the world’s leading authorities on immigration services to the world’s most popular destinations.

“Global Visas are delighted to be able to assist people escape the doom and gloom of the UK. Many people seem to have decided it is better to jump now than wait to be laid off with no prospects of re-employment.”

“Canada and Australia are the top destination enquiries. Canada recently asked for one million new immigrants while Australia continues to have a skills shortage requiring up to 300,000 workers, our figures prove we are at the beginning of another mass migration trend.”

Are you one of the many thousands looking to the horizon for a new and fresh start in 2009? Let us know your story

Wendy Richard aka Pauline Fowler from Eastenders, gone but not forgotten 1943-2009

A Polish soap resembling East Enders could soon be coming to British tv.

Londynczycy, translated ‘Londoners’ depicts life in the city from the perspective of Polish immigrants.

With 1.2 million Polish immigrants currently living in the UK and roughly 200,000 in London, some of the plot lines have been drawn from real life stories told to writers by Poles living in Finchley.

The series features a history teacher who follows his wife and son to England but struggles to get a job and ends up drinking and sleeping rough on park benches.

A Polish builder who lives in Ealing being worked to the bone by his demanding boss and a blonde 25 year old who arrives in the capital with two ambitions: become a star and marry a rich (I like her already).

The programme, filmed at Ealing Studio, features loads of shots of Wembley Stadium, the London Eye and the Southbank Centre, and less glamourous shots of Victoria bus station and a Polish delicatessen.

Andrzej Szajna, the London-based producer of the series says all the scenarios are based on real situations. The baddies are all Poles, with Polish people screwing over Polish people, ‘Which is often the case in real life’.

In one scene a Polish girl is approached by other Poles with the promise of a good job in exchange for £100.

The program is broadcast on Polish TV today.

Has anyone seen the program, is it any good?

Are any of the stories lines familiar to you?

Euros to be made on EU Blue Card

Loosely based on the United States ‘green card’, the single EU work visa is to be known as a ‘Blue Card’ after the colour of the flag, offering permanent residency anywhere in Europe after five years’ work.

The European Commission President announced plans to target qualified immigrants who will be able to bring their families after a 90-day application period. This is to meet an estimated short-fall of 20 million skilled and non-skilled workers by 2030.

Ministers said that Britain was likely to opt out of the scheme but would not be able to block most of the other 26 EU nations from agreeing to the scheme at their next summit in November. It will be decided by qualified majority voting with the Irish Republic and Austria other possible objectors.

The idea of a visa giving full employment and social security rights to migrants has long been a dream of the European Commission to meet projected shortages of engineers, doctors and IT specialists as Europe’s population ages.
Officials in Brussels believe that the Blue Card will change the image of Europe as a destination mainly for unskilled immigrants. About 85 per cent of global unskilled migrant labour heads to the EU while only 5 per cent goes to the United States, the commission argued. In contrast 55 per cent of skilled labour goes to the US and just 5 per cent to the EU.

Applicants for a card will need a job offer for at least a one-year contract and the employer will have to certify that the post cannot be filled from within the EU. The work contract will also have to offer the applicant a salary at least three times the level of the national minimum wage in the country where the job is located.

In return, migrants will enjoy an equal level of social and employment rights to EU citizens, including pensions, housing and healthcare. They will also be allowed to move to any other EU country if they find a new job there after two years of residence in the sponsoring country.

The UK Government is preparing its own system where applicants from outside the EU will only qualify to work in Britain if they earn enough points under criteria such as qualifications, age and experience.

The Blue Card will also mean increased mobility for high-skilled immigrants and their families inside the EU.

A windmill, or in Dutch windmolen

According to Dutch law an immigrant needs to pass a Dutch language test in order to get a visa. However a loophole in this law has allowed an illiterate Moroccan woman join her husband in the Netherlands to the delight of rights activists.

The Netherlands is a country filled with immigrants, with an estimated 10% of the total 16.6 million population are believed to be of non-Western origin.

But politicians have sought to stop immigrants from non-western countries coming into Holland.

This law which requires a language and culture test to be passed came into place in 2005. However it was mistakenly left out of the clause relating to family reunification, therefore this case took place and this Moroccan woman can now legally come to Holland to live.

This has been met with support by human rights activists who believe that such a law is in complete violation of international human rights law and such a law should be totally scrapped.

However their celebrations may be short-lived as Dutch politicians vow to fix this loophole as soon as possible.

Basic Level of Capability, a dangerous move?

Today the European Parliament approved a contentious new rule to expel illegal immigrants from the bloc (Basic Level of Capability). The new rules come after anti-immigrant sentiments from wealthy blocs such as Italy, who are blaming foreigners for spiking violent crimes in the country.

France is also one of the countries that pushed for this new law that has had human rights activists protesting against. The last few years has seen France grappling with tensions in its “immigrant-heavy suburbs”. The EU joins bloc member (UK) in the latest drastic immigration rules implementation.

With the US credit crash affecting economies, governments are struggling and the old trusted scapegoat of immigrants (legal or not) comes into place as introduced heavily by the UK and Europe.

Goverment immigration authorities argue that the dramatic immigration changes across Europe and the UK are needed to preserve a countries economy and to let in those (immigrants) who will benefit the country, however at www.globalvisas.com we believe that goverments should be more cognizant when making immigration policies. Not only is the rest of the world being stopped from moving freely they have to deal with new discriminatory rules that are being implemented on a regular basis just to keep migrants out.

Many industrialised countries can not deny the contribution of immigrants labour to their countries prosperity. With global mobility ever increasing, whether it’s forced (refugees/illegal immigrants) or by choice (skilled labour immigration), migrants tend to move to cosmopolitan, developed countries. In return immigrants become the worlds scapegoats for when things go wrong and especially when economies and social structures take a plundge. Immigrants are only admitted to satisfy a labour shortage and later discarded e.g. UK discarding doctors based on the new tier system and immigration changes.

Border control is important for any country and yes countries do need to protect what’s theirs. However decisions on immigration control and law change so frequently that in some cases by taking thoughtless measures a government could be sending someone to their death bed.

A country has every right to protect itself but discrimination and racism and inhumane laws are incomprehensible, especially when developed countries preach peace and togetherness to the rest of the world. The new EU law on illegal immigrants is a scramble to regain power and give a solution to countries where they have not sorted out their own internal problems because of bad policies. In the end a migrant is seen as nothing more than “human capital”, and more “capital” than “human” and if he is neither, measures are taken to deploy him. (TM).