Blog

Source: IMC Staff Writer / 2M Radio

Published: 25 October 2023

The French Ambassador to Morocco, Christophe Lecourtier, announced on radio 2M, a Moroccan radio station, earlier this week that France has lifted all visa restrictions on Moroccan citizens. “Whoever fulfils the conditions necessary to obtain a visa will get his visa”, Lecourtier assured.

This policy change, as reported by Schengenvisainfo.com and echoed by other media such as Atalayar, Voice of Europe, and Morocco World News, is anticipated to lead to an 80% increase in the number of visas issued to Moroccans by the end of this year compared to the previous year. This development is unlikely to go unnoticed by other Schengen states.

This decision directly responds to the mounting complaints about unjustified visa rejections and perceived application rule severity. In 2021, France had curtailed visa issuances to Moroccans, citing concerns from French citizens about undocumented immigrants. This move faced criticism from Moroccans, who called for fair treatment and alignment with the visa restrictions applied to nationals of other countries seeking entry into the EU.

Ambassador Lecourtier affirmed the removal of strict visa restrictions, acknowledging their negative impact on France’s image.

Despite being among the top countries for Schengen visa applications in 2022, Moroccans encountered a high rejection rate. France and Spain played a significant role in rejecting numerous Schengen visa applications from Moroccans, contributing to 85% of total rejections in Morocco last year. Moroccans submitted a substantial 423,201 Schengen visa applications in 2022, incurring associated expenses totalling €3.8 million.

In a historical context, this recent decision holds particular significance. The diplomatic ties between France and Morocco have weathered various challenges over centuries, with the lifting of these visa restrictions signalling a positive turn in the relationship. From the French government’s perspective, this move addresses contemporary concerns and contributes to the broader narrative of the enduring and evolving connection between the two nations.

Source: fragomen.com

Published: 25 October 2023

The situation

The UK government’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme commenced operation today. It currently only applies to Qatari nationals, but will be incrementally expanded to other nationalities throughout 2024 in phases.

A closer look

• ETA required for visa-free travelers. Under the ETA system, all visa-free nationals (who are only allowed to remain in the United Kingdom up to six months per visit) will need to obtain digital permission to travel or transit through the country. Creative Workers coming to the United Kingdom for three months or less and relying on the Creative Worker Visa concession will also need to apply. 
• Incremental expansion. From today, Qatari nationals can apply for an ETA – which will be necessary for travel or transit through the United Kingdom for such nationals from November 15, 2023. The scheme is set to incrementally expand to other nationalities throughout 2024.
• Application process. Applications can be made online or via the ETA app, with applicants required to provide basic personal details, passport data, and a photograph. The application fee is GBP 10.
• Validity. ETAs are valid for two years (unless the applicant’s passport expires sooner) and allow multiple trips to the United Kingdom. The ETA allows visa-free nationals to come to the United Kingdom for the purposes of tourism, business or short studies for up to six months (each visit). The granted permission lasts for two years. 
• Exceptions. ETA requirements will not apply to Irish nationals; nor will they apply to non-Irish nationals lawfully residing in Ireland who are traveling to the United Kingdom from elsewhere in the Common Travel Area. Foreign nationals who have, or require, a visa (or equivalent permission) for entry into the United Kingdom will not be subject to ETA requirements.

Impact

• Additional planning and cost. Travelers, employees and employers will need to account for this additional procedural step and cost when making plans for travel or transit through the United Kingdom. ETAs can potentially take up to three days to process, and there is no appeal mechanism if an application is refused (necessitating either a new ETA application or a separate visa application).
• Monitoring of ETA validity. Travelers, employees and employers will need to track the continued validity of their, or their employees’, ETAs.

Background

• Digitalization efforts. The ETA is part of broader efforts by the UK government to make the country’s immigration system fully digitalized by 2025.
• Information, monitoring and security. The ETA system is intended to provide more accurate information regarding the number of people travelling to the United Kingdom and where they are travelling from, in turn improving border security.

Looking ahead

• Further expansion. From February 22, 2024, foreign nationals from Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will also require an ETA to travel to the United Kingdom (which they will be able to apply for from February 1, 2024). The ETA scheme will then be incrementally expanded to other nationalities across 2024.
• ETIAS/EES. The commencement dates for the European Union’s similar digital entry-monitoring systems – the Entry/Exit System (EES) and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) – have both been postponed, with EES now set for Q4 2024 and ETIAS for Q5 2025.

Source: cicnews.com

Published: 5 October 2023

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has just released the findings of its report on the processing of permanent residence applications by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

The audit’s purpose was to determine if IRCC processed applications for permanent residence as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The OAG serves Canada’s parliament by conducting audits that provide fact-based, objective information and expert advice. Parliament uses these audits to measure the performance of government activities. The OAG also holds the federal government to account for its handling of public funds.

The OAG report was commissioned in the wake of IRCC’s inventory for permanent, temporary, and citizenship applications exceeding 2 million persons during the pandemic. This growth was accompanied by processing delays across all lines of business.

Data from the audit covers processing for PR applications under the following programs:

• Economic class: Federal Skilled Worker, Quebec Skilled Worker Program, and Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
• Family class: Sponsored spouse and Partner Program and Dependent Children program
• Humanitarian class: Government-Assisted Refugees program and Privately Sponsored Refugee program

Findings

The OAG report concludes that “despite recent efforts to improve processing times and reduce backlogs that worsened during the pandemic, most people applying for permanent residence to Canada were still waiting a long time for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to process their applications, and people applying to refugee programs were the most affected.”   

It found that refugees were heavily impacted by long wait times. On average, privately sponsored refugees waited 30 months for a decision while overseas spouses or common‑law partners waited 15 months.

Further, the report notes that IRCC was assigning application workloads to regional offices without determining if the office had sufficient resources. It gives the example of the Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) office, which had an assigned workload that was five times greater than the Rome (Italy) office, even though both offices had a comparable number of staff.

There were also differences in the size and age of application backlogs by country of citizenship in seven of the eight permanent resident programs that were examined and that offices with large backlogs of refugee applications have been under-resourced for many years.

Finally, the OAG says IRCC did not monitor the implementation of its automated eligibility-assessment tool to assess whether the tool was reducing overall processing times for all applicants as intended or to identify and resolve any unintended differential outcomes for applicants.

Recommendations 

The report contains six key recommendations for improving processing times and clearing the backlog.  

• IRCC should create achievable and reliable service standards for all PR programs, including refugee programs. The OAG also says online information on processing times should be provided for all PR applications, taking into consideration the volume, and age, of applications already in inventory 
• IRCC should take immediate steps to identify and address differential wait times to support efficient processing in all PR programs.  Notably, the report says IRCC should create and launch a plan to collect race‑based and ethnocultural information from applicants directly to help address any racial disparities in wait times. 
• IRCC should evaluate backlogged applications to identify and act on processing delays within its control. This includes waiting for officer actions or follow-up. OAG further recommends that the department should also prioritize the finalization of older backlogged applications. 
• To improve the consistency of application processing times across its offices, IRCC should match the workloads its assigns with available resources. This should be supported with reliable information on capacity within its offices. OAG recommends immediate action to address application backlogs that have accumulated in certain offices with limited capacity. 
• IRCC should examine the outcomes in processing times related to the use of automated decision‑making tools and reduce these disparities as much as possible, including reallocating sufficient resources to applications that are directed to manual processing. 

IRCC should immediately implement online application portals for its refugee programs, while also working to complete its Digital Platform Modernization initiative

Minister’s response

Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he welcomes the OAG report and highlighted that the findings from 2022 do not necessarily reflect the current IRCC backlog. He released a statement shortly after the report was published.

“Many lines of business are now back or close to being back to service standards,” he says. “As of September 2023, the department has processed over 80% of federal high-skilled applications within service standards that were received since July 2022. As well, more than 80% of spouses, partners and children (except for Quebec) applications received since April 2022 have been processed within service standards. We are also committed to monitoring and evaluating our use of technology to help process applications.”

He went on to say that since the audit was conducted, IRCC has continued to reduce the backlog by digitizing applications, hiring and training more staff and harnessing the use of automation technologies.

Service standards

IRCC has stated that it aims to process 80% of all applications within service standards, or the time it takes to make a final decision on an application. It says that the remaining 20% will take longer to process due to their complexity.

The length of time it takes to process an application can vary depending on the type. For example, an Express Entry application for permanent residence should be processed within six months, while family-class sponsorship takes a year.

An application that is not finalized within service standards is deemed backlog.

Current backlog for permanent residence

The most recently available backlog data from IRCC shows that there were 2,198,700 applications in inventory across all lines of business on August 31. Of these, 646,000 are for permanent residence and 291,000, or 45%, are in backlog.

IRCC noted that the data for August may be slightly lower than the actual numbers due to an (unspecified) technical issue.

Among economic class applicants, 12% of Express Entry applications, 27% of PNP Express Entry applications and 17% of spousal and dependent PR applications were found to be in backlog.

The Express Entry and spousal applications backlog of applications exceeds the service standard target of 20%. However, when targets were set for backlog reduction, IRCC had projected that PNP applications in the Express Entry program would be at 24% by August 2023.

What caused the backlog?

The all-time high for application backlog was in July 2022 when IRCC reported close to 2.7 million applications in inventory.

The backlog can be largely credited to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the height of the pandemic, IRCC was unable to process applications due to office closures. However, the department continued to accept applications across all programs.

IRCC eventually stopped holding Express Entry draws for the Federal Skilled Worker Program and Federal Skilled Trades Program in December 2020 and then put Canadian Experience Class draws on hold in September 2021. Candidates in the PNP continued to receive Invitations to Apply (ITAs).

Express Entry draws did not resume until July 2022. Around this time, IRCC began increasing processing capacity through measures like increased digitization and hiring more staff. Then-Immigration Minister Sean Fraser committed to a processing time of six months for all new Express Entry applications while remaining vague on how long it would take to process older applications.

Following a work-stoppage in April this year, Minister Fraser said that IRCC was back to a pre-pandemic service standard for permanent residence, family reunification and federal economic streams through the Express Entry system.

The number of applications in inventory has shown a slow but steady decrease since the high in July 2022 but has not dipped below the 2 million mark. In 2022, IRCC finalized over 5.2 million applications across all lines of business.

Immigration Levels Plan

The high volume of applications can also be attributed to Canada’s ambitious Immigration Levels Plan.

The Immigration Levels Plan sets targets for the number of permanent residents that Canada plans to admit for the next three years. For example, under the current plan for 2023-2025, IRCC will admit 465,000 permanent residents in 2023 and this target will rise to 485,000 in 2024 and up to 500,000 in 2025.

Higher targets mean that Canada must accept and process more applications. Therefore, IRCC must maintain a higher number of applications in inventory than would have been seen in the past.

A new Immigration Levels Plan is set to be released on, or by, November 1st this year for 2024-2026. Current Immigration Minister Marc Miller has said he does not anticipate that the new plan will show lower targets.

Source: fragomen.com

Published: 18 October 2023

On 25 October 2023, the UK government will implement an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme as part of its ambition to make the country’s border fully digitalised by 2025.

This will require travellers who do not usually require a visa to visit the UK to obtain digital permission to travel or transit through the country. The scheme will apply to Qatari nationals first (who can currently benefit from using the Electronic Visa Waiver scheme to visit the UK, a system that the ETA scheme will replace) for travel from 15 November (though applications for an ETA can be made from 25 October) and will then roll out to other nationalities in 2024 in phases.

The government has said ETAs will allow accurate information gathering regarding the number of people travelling to the UK and where they are travelling from. The intention is that border security will be enhanced by screening passengers before they travel and therefore allow for potential threats to be identified earlier.

The UK will not be the first or last country to introduce such a scheme. Most readers will be familiar with the ESTA scheme in the United States, and other countries such as Canada and New Zealand already have their own established schemes.

The EU will introduce its version, ETIAS, likely in 2025 (it was originally due to launch in 2024, but it has been reported that it is being delayed, as the new digital Entry/Exit System which ETIAS will rely on, has also been delayed.)

Who needs an ETA?

With limited exceptions (outlined below), all Europeans and other nationals who do not ordinarily need to apply for a visa to visit the UK and who will be either visiting or transiting through the UK will need an ETA. Creative Workers coming to the UK for three months or less and relying on the Creative Worker Visa concession will also need to apply.

However, the following will not need an ETA:

• British and Irish nationals;
• A non-Irish national who is lawfully resident in Ireland and is travelling to the UK from elsewhere in the Common Travel Area;
• Individuals who are required to apply for a visa to enter the UK will not need an ETA; and
• Individuals who already have a visa or alternative permission to enter the UK, such as status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Application process

Whilst the introduction of the scheme does represent an additional administrative burden, the application process is anticipated to be straightforward via an online form or an app. The cost of an ETA will be just £10, a minor additional expense when compared to a UK visa.

Travellers will likely be required to provide:

• Basic personal details;
• Passport data;
• A photo of themselves; and
• Security information.

An ETA will be valid for two years or until the applicant’s passport expires (whichever comes first) and will allow for multiple trips to the UK.

The application may be approved in minutes, but as it could sometimes take longer, it is recommended that it be completed at least three days before travel to the UK. If the application is refused, there are no routes to appeal the decision.

A new application could be submitted, but unless the underlying cause for the refusal is addressed, the individual would likely be better off applying for a visit visa where they can submit additional information and documentation to address any concerns the Home Office may have with their travel to the UK.

What should businesses and employers be thinking about?

The introduction of the ETA scheme will necessitate additional planning when it comes to travel to the UK. Outlined below are key areas of consideration.

Let’s CHAT about ETA!

C – Communication – Employers should ensure that all relevant stakeholders are aware of the ETA scheme. It could cause a great deal of business disruption and stress for the employee if caught unaware.

H – Help – Employers may also want to consider how much help and support they will be providing employees to obtain an ETA for business trips. Whilst the cost of an ETA is only £10, this may require an adjustment to the business’ travel expenses policies as well as resources made available to guide employees on the necessary steps to take.

A – Application – An ETA will be applied for either via the ETA app or through an online form and the authorisation will be issued electronically via email. It is likely to take between several hours to three days to process an application. Travellers will need to leave enough time to apply for their ETA prior to travel.

T – Track – An ETA will allow for multiple entries to the UK and will be valid for two years or in line with the applicant’s passport expiry, whichever comes first. Other jurisdictions have also introduced or plan to introduce similar schemes (US, Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, to name a few). With multiple permissions to potentially juggle, it may be beneficial to track these statuses for your employees to ensure they are travel-ready.

Source: news.bloomberglaw.com

Published: 20 October 2023

A Department of Homeland Security proposal aims to clamp down on abuse of the annual H-1B visa lottery by selecting registrations based on unique beneficiary, regardless of how many registrations are submitted on their behalf.

The proposed regulations (RIN: 1615-AC70) released Friday also address guidelines for voluntary work-site visits as part of compliance reviews and requirements to file new visa petitions when employment details have changed.

The proposal also offers more flexibility for entrepreneurs aiming to launch start-ups while on H-1B visas. And it aims to address “cap-gap” issues that arise when student visa holders’ work authorization ends before the start date of their employment on an H-1B.

The Biden administration’s “priority is to attract global talent, reduce undue burdens on employers, and prevent fraud and abuse in the immigration system,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

Source: investing.com

Published: 19 October 2023

Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will become an honorary citizen of Rome by early next year following a vote this week by its local assembly, the city’s former mayor Virginia Raggi said on Thursday.

Assange, 52, has been in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison since 2019 and is wanted in the United States over the release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables in 2010.

His supporters see his prosecution as a politically motivated assault on journalism and free speech.

Washington says the release of secret documents put lives in danger.

The motion to make him a citizen of the Eternal City was spearheaded by Raggi, from the left-leaning Five Star Movement, and won cross-party support.

“Assange is a symbol of free speech which is essential for any genuine democracy,” Raggi, who ran Rome’s city hall between 2016 and 2021, told Reuters.

“He has been deprived of his own liberty for years, in awful conditions, for doing his job as a journalist,” she said.

The motion was approved on Tuesday, kick-starting a process that Raggi said she hoped could be completed by Christmas but may take slightly longer.

Other Italian cities have taken similar steps. The northern city of Reggio Emilia granted Assange citizenship last month, while Naples is set to follow shortly.

If extradited to the United States, Assange risks a sentence of up to 175 years in a maximum-security prison.

Source: refugeecouncil.org.au

Published: 5 October 2023

Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) has welcomed the Albanese Government’s plan to invest $160 million in building a faster and fairer onshore protection visa assessment process.  

“For years, the Refugee Council and our members have been calling for urgent reforms to Australia’s onshore refugee protection process to address unacceptable delays in decision-making and the deep poverty being experienced by many people awaiting these decisions,” RCOA CEO Paul Power said.  

“We have been advocating for more resources, for fairer, faster and more efficient processing of onshore Protection Visa applications and for action to address unacceptable delays in administrative and judicial review processes, 

“The suite of measures announced today by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles will, we hope, bring much-needed change to Australia’s onshore protection system, offering greater hope that people will no longer have to wait many years for decisions on applications for refugee protection. 

“A decade ago, the then Immigration Department aimed to decide applications for onshore protection visas within 90 days. Now, people wait an average of 866 days (2.4 years) for a primary decision from the Department of Home Affairs, 1,330 days (3.6 years) for a merit-based review from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), and 1,872 days (5.1 years) for appeals at the court level. This means that some applicants can wait 11 years for a final outcome. There are approximately 70,000 people waiting for decisions from the Department, the AAT or the courts. 

“The Government aims to address these delays by hiring more decision-makers, investing $54 million in the primary decision-making process within the Department of Home Affairs and $58 million for additional AAT members and Federal Circuit and Family Court judges.  

“The restoration of legal assistance and the funding of over $48 million will support faster and fairer decision making by enabling applicants to access support from trusted and credible legal providers and improving the quality of information available to decision makers at the primary and review stages. 

“The Refugee Council will continue to raise community concerns about the need for a stronger financial safety net for people seeking asylum in Australia. We remain concerned about the destitution and homelessness which has resulted from massive cuts over the past six years in support offered through the Status Resolution Support Services program. 

“These issues have been exacerbated by the extended delays in resolving people’s visa status. While reform to the safety net is still an urgent priority, more prompt decisions on onshore protection visa applications will, over time, reduce the number of people left without access to the support available to permanent residents and citizens of Australia.” 

Source: euronews.com

Published: 20 September 2023

Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for home affairs, has written a letter to the Polish government asking for “clarifications” about the spiralling cash-for-visas scandal that has gripped the country.

“These allegations are very concerning and give rise to questions regarding the compliance with EU law,” said a Commission spokesperson on Wednesday afternoon.

Johansson’s letter, which has not been made public, contains a “set of detailed questions” and a request to reply by 3 October.

“We count on the Polish authorities to provide the necessary information to the Commission and to investigate these allegations,” the spokesperson said.

Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its network of consulates are accused of conducting a widespread illegal scheme through which migrants from Africa and Asia paid extraordinary sums of money to obtain a fast-tracked visa. 

Since Poland is a member of the passport-free Schengen area, a visa issued by the country grants holders free access to 27 states across Europe, including Switzerland and Iceland. 

Germany, which borders Poland, has also asked for an official explanation of the matter.

Reports in Polish media suggest that about 250,000 visas have been issued since 2021 in return for bribes, which cost thousands of dollars each. The trip to Poland was seen as an intermediate step before entering the United States, the desired destination.

In one case revealed by the Onet news portal, a group of Indians paid up to $40,000 for visas and pretended to work on a Bollywood film to fly to Poland and later reach America. Nationals from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the Philippines, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are also believed to have paid inflated fees.

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has admitted the existence of wrongdoing but insisted the scale of the problem is much smaller than what media reports suggest. The government has launched an audit of all consulates abroad, fired several officials inside the Foreign Affairs Ministry and terminated contracts for external services that were handling visa applications.

Piotr Wawrzyk, the deputy foreign minister in charge of consular matters, was dismissed and later hospitalised after reportedly attempting to commit suicide.

Meanwhile, the state prosecutor has charged seven people under suspicion of corruption and participation in the fast-tracked visa scheme.

The scandal has taken the country by surprise and unleashed a media frenzy one month before voters go to the polls in a closely-watched parliamentary election.

The cascade of accusations threatens to blight the public image of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who has leaned heavily on his hard-line migration policies as part of his re-election campaign.

Opposition leader Donald Tusk has said the alleged corrupt cell is “probably the biggest scandal of the 21st century in Poland.”

Source: bbc.com

Published: 3 October 2023

Suella Braverman has said politicians have been “too squeamish” to take action on immigration, in a hard-hitting Conservative conference speech.

In an address to party activists, the home secretary said moving to a richer country had become a “realistic prospect” for “billions of people”.

She also said a “hurricane” of migration is coming to the UK.

Two MPs from a different wing of the Tory party queried her comments, with one saying they weren’t helpful.

To a packed conference hall, Ms Braverman promised to do “whatever it takes” to stop small boat crossings, adding immigration was “already too high”.

The home secretary’s speech was big on room-rousing rhetoric but lighter on new policy.

For most of her speech though, she appeared to relish her self-proclaimed role as someone who tells it as she sees it.

She drew cheers for announcing the government would soon start closing asylum hotels.

And she told the conference that politicians had failed to properly manage migration, and had been “far too squeamish about being smeared as racists”.

“Unprecedented” migration, she added, was “one of the most powerful reshaping our world”.

“The wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th Century was a mere gust compared to the hurricane that is coming.

“Because today, the option of moving from a poorer country to a richer one is not just a dream for billions of people, it is an entirely realistic prospect.”

Last year, over 81,130 applications were made for asylum in the UK, while 1.2 million people migrated into the UK.

With 557,000 people emigrating from the country, leaving a net migration figure of 606,000.

Ms Braverman will have deliberately chosen provocative language for her keynote conference speech.

Her description of potential migration as a coming “hurricane” is likely to draw particular criticism, including from Labour and those who disagreed with her recent speech to a US think tank, in which she questioned whether the application of the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention is “fit for our modern age”.

Addressing the American Enterprise Institute, she warned that countries faced an “existential” threat unless they were able to control their borders.

Former justice secretary Robert Buckland said politicians needed to be responsible about language, saying: “I think talking about hurricanes or weather extremes isn’t helpful unless you explain the why.

“We know what’s happening in the world, with climate change, with war in the sub-Saharan part of Africa – we are seeing mass movements of population, there is no doubt about that.

“But we need to talk about the why before we start using alarmist language. Let’s do so in a way that really understands the breadth of the problem.”

Another Conservative MP, Alicia Kearns, said: “I recognise there are legitimate concerns but I think we have to be very careful we don’t create a situation where we are either demonising minorities or those who are vulnerable.”

Speaking shortly before Ms Braverman, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk announced that the government would explore options to to rent out prison spaces in foreign countries for prisoners who cannot be accommodated in UK prisons.

Heckler expelled from hall

The speech also saw a fellow Tory politician kicked out of the conference hall for heckling her, after she described “gender ideology” as “poison”.

Andrew Boff, a Conservative member of the London Assembly, was filmed describing the comments as “trash”, before being escorted out of the conference hall by security.

The incident came during a section of the speech in which she said that “gender ideology, white privilege, anti-British history” had become “embedded” in corporate Britain and parts of the public sector.

Speaking to the BBC after being removed, Mr Boff, a patron of the LGBT+ Conservative group, called her comments “disgusting”, adding he hoped they don’t “become part of the rhetoric” in the run-up to the next general election.

Mr Buckland has since said Mr Boff has had his conference pass removed – but the home secretary has called for him to be “forgiven and let back into conference”.

Mr Buckland questioned the security response, adding he hoped the situation could be resolved.