Global immigration news round-up

16.09.2024

This week, the Global Immigration team at Smith Stone Walters would like to highlight the following recent updates from Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand and Qatar.

Canada: New temporary policy to facilitate work permits for prospective Provincial Nominee Program candidates

On 11 August 2024, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration signed a new temporary public policy, effective immediately until 31 December 2024, with the aim of transitioning a greater portion of current temporary residents to permanent residency.

The policy allows eligible foreign nationals who hold an employment offer, a valid work permit or held a valid work permit which has expired as of 7 May 2024 and a support letter from the province or territory they reside in, outlining their placement in an Expression of Interest pool or other application inventory process following an initial assessment of the candidate by the province/territory, to be issued an open work permit before receiving a nomination from the province or territory.

Further details of the eligibility criteria are given here.

China: Visa-free entry for Norwegian nationals

On 9 September 2024, at a meeting with the Prime Minister of Norway in Beijing, the President of China announced that, effective immediately, Norwegian nationals will no longer require a visa to enter China for up to 15 days.

China has expanded visa-free entry to a number of other countries since 2023, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore and Spain.

Denmark: Changes to interpretation of work permit rules for professional athletes and coaches

Effective 1 September 2024, the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) now assesses differently the work permit exemption for professional athletes, coaches and associated personnel.

According to section 24(2)(8) of the Executive Order on Aliens’ Access to Denmark, professional athletes and coaches, and associated personnel, may be exempt from the work permit requirement for a period of 90 days from the date of entry for the practice and training of sports, including test training.

In practice, ‘associated personnel’ includes personnel accompanying athletes and coaches during their stay in Denmark, e.g. a masseur, a team leader, a chef, etc.

In the assessment of ‘associated personnel’, SIRI will now take into account the special needs of the individual sporting event to a greater extent. SIRI will in the future expand the interpretation of “associated personnel” so that personnel who perform tasks at a specialized level of knowledge to support the sporting event as a whole will also be exempt from the work permit requirement.

With this change, new types of sporting events, such as e-sports events, are taken into account, so that these can be carried out on the same terms as other sporting events in Denmark.

Finland: In-country residence permit applications restricted

Effective 1 September 2024, visitors to Finland can no longer apply for a residence permit from within the country.

Certain categories of applicant are exempt from this new rule and are permitted to apply to change their status from visitor to resident, including:

a family member of a Finnish citizen
someone applying for a residence permit for a child born in Finland;
someone applying for a residence permit for studies or a family member of a student;
those applying for a residence permit for a researcher or a family member of a researcher.

As before, the following can be applied for only in Finland: an extended permit, a permanent residence permit, registration of an EU citizen, international protection, temporary protection, a residence permit for a victim of human trafficking, a residence permit due to misconduct of the employer and a residence permit on a discretionary basis on humanitarian grounds.

This requirement will also be applied to those applicants who submitted a residence permit application before the entry into force of the amendments on 1 September 2024 but have not yet received a decision.

Germany: Border checks to be introduced at all German land borders

On 9 September 2024, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community informed the European Commission that it has ordered the temporary reintroduction of border control at Germany’s land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark for six months, starting 16 September 2024.

This means that border checks will be possible at all of Germany’s land borders starting on that date. The complete package of stationary and mobile border policing measures, including the possibility to refuse entry at the border, will be applied at all of Germany’s land borders as allowed by EU and national law.

Checks at Germany’s land border with Austria are currently in place until 11 November 2024, while the order to conduct checks at the land borders with Switzerland, the Republic of Poland and the Czech Republic remains in force until 15 December 2024. These temporary border control measures will be continued and their scheduling coordinated.

Since the temporary border checks were reintroduced at Germany’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland on 16 October 2023, the Federal Police have detected approximately 52,000 illegal entries and refused entry to some 30,000 people at Germany’s borders.

Entry is currently denied to people who do not have valid entry documents, who present forged or falsified documents, or who attempt to enter without a visa or valid residence title.

Malaysia: Update on dormant returned applications in ESD Online

MYXpats Centre of the Expatriate Services Division (ESD) of the Immigration Department of Malaysia has notified interested parties that, effective 1 October 2024, any returned applications in the ESD Online that are not resubmitted within 90 days will be automatically cancelled.

This update will also affect all applications that are currently in the system’s returned inbox.

To ensure a seamless process and assist in managing applications, ESD will implement several reminder mechanisms such as email notifications, a permanent notification window in the company’s ESD Online account, a countdown column, and a disclaimer banner located in the systems returned inbox. The email notifications will be sent according to the following intervals:

Three months prior to automatic cancellation;
Two months prior to automatic cancellation;
One month prior to automatic cancellation;
Three weeks prior to automatic cancellation;
Two weeks prior to automatic cancellation;
One week prior to automatic cancellation.

Users should note that the system will automatically cancel the returned application if it is not resubmitted within 90 days. The processing fee for a cancelled application will be forfeited and is non-refundable.

For Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) registered companies, automatic cancellation has been in place since 12 April 2022, but with a six-month (180-day) grace period.

New Zealand: Increase to visa charges imminent

The Government announced on 9 August 2024 that increases to visa charges, made up of fees and levies, are being introduced on 1 October 2024. Further to this, the Government announced on 3 September 2024 that the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) will also increase from 1 October 2024.

The table of changes to fee and levy rates has information on what fees and levies will be charged from 1 October 2024.

Some people applying to come to New Zealand need to pay the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) which is increasing from NZD 35 to NZD 100 from 1 October 2024.

Qatar: Traffic fines discount extended

The General Directorate of Traffic has announced the extension of the 50% discount on traffic violation fines for Qatari citizens, residents, visitors and GCC citizens from 1 September 2024 to 30 November 2024 for violations recorded within a period not exceeding three years.

Previously, the Ministry of Interior announced that, effective 1 September 2024 individuals with outstanding traffic violations are not permitted to travel outside Qatar through any borders until all fines and due amounts are paid.

These fines and outstanding payments through either the Mettrash2 application, Ministry of Interior website, traffic departments or unified service centres.