What’s new in global immigration?

07.11.2024

This week, the Global Immigration team at Smith Stone Walters would like to highlight the following recent updates from China, Italy, Lithuania and New Zealand.

China: Plan to reduce immigration announced

On 29 October 2024, during a meeting with the President of Finland, China’s President Xi announced that China would include Finland in its unilateral visa-free policy.

Although official details have yet to be published, it is likely that holders of ordinary passports from Finland will be eligible for a visa exemption policy when traveling to China for purposes such as business, tourism, visiting relatives or transit for up to 15 days.

Earlier in 2024, similar unilateral visa-free entry was granted to citizens of Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand; and Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland.

Italy: Operational guidelines for entry quota applications

On 24 October 2024, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry and the Ministry of Tourism sent out a joint circular with operational guidelines on the 2025 entry quotas for foreign national workers.

For the year 2025, the following entries are authorized:

70,720 entries for non-seasonal dependent work;
730 entries for self-employment;
110,000 entries for seasonal employment.

From 1 to 30 November 2024 it will be possible to pre-fill applications for clearance on the portal of the Ministry of the Interior. The same Portal must be used to submit applications starting from the “click days” scheduled for 5, 7 and 12 February 2025, depending on the type of workers.

5 February 2025 for non-seasonal subordinate employment;
7 February 2025 for non-seasonal subordinate employment in family and social assistance;
12 February 2025 for both agriculture and hospitality sectors.

Effective 7 February 2025, for one year on an experimental basis, up to 10,000 additional places can be submitted outside the quota for subordinate employment in family and social assistance for the elderly or disabled.

From 1 to 31 July 2025, it will be possible to pre-fill applications for clearance in relation to the click day of 1 October 2025, dedicated to seasonal work in the tourist-hotel sector.

To access the portal, to pre-fill and then submit applications, a SPID or CIE digital identity is essential. Employers must also have a PEC address registered as a digital address for all communications relating to the application process.

Employers who intend to establish a non-seasonal dependent employment relationship in Italy with foreign national citizens resident abroad must first contact the competent Employment Centre to check the unavailability of workers already present in Italy. The verification is understood to have been carried out with a negative outcome if the employment centre does not communicate the availability of workers present in the territory within eight days of the request.

Lithuania: Residence permit application rules to be tightened

The government has announced that, from 1 December 2024, the conditions for submitting applications for residence permits in Lithuania through an external service provider are being tightened.

From that date, only citizens of the country where the external service provider operates can apply to the branch of the external service provider for temporary residence permits and national visas.

Citizens of countries where there is no branch of an external service provider will be able to apply for a temporary residence permit in Lithuania through an external service provider located in another country, if they plan to come to Lithuania for one of the following purposes:

family reunification;
highly qualified work;
invitations to study;
transfer within a company;
teacher or researcher;
visit to a large investor;
collective relocation in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Investments.

Due to the closure of the external service provider’s office in Nepal, all foreign nationals who submitted temporary residence permit applications before 1 September 2024 may make appointments to visit this branch until 31 December 2024 (it will still be possible to collect documents after 1 January 2025).

Citizens of countries where there is no branch of the external service provider will be able to submit applications for a national visa, except for employees posted to Lithuania or seasonal workers.

The conditions for submitting applications in the unit operating in India do not change.

The conditions for submitting applications for citizens of Australia, Canada, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States also remain unchanged – they will continue to be able to submit applications for a temporary residence permit or a national visa at any external service provider.

In 2024, the number of outsourced offices has already been reduced from 34 to 30 – the offices in Lebanon, Jordan, Nepal and Sri Lanka have all been closed.

New Zealand: Changes to accreditation rules for companies involved in a business sale or merger

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has announced changes to the accreditation and Job Check process to make it easier for employers and people holding an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) during a business sale or restructure.

From 6 November 2024, if an AEWV holder remains in the same role and location, but their employer changes due to a business sale or restructure then the AEWV holder must still apply for a Job Change.

If the new employer holds, or has applied for, accreditation when the Job Change application is received, INZ will be able to approve the Job Change before deciding the employer’s accreditation application.

The new employer will not need to apply for a Job Check unless the AEWV holder’s role or work location will change.

Anyone holding an AEWV who transfers to a new employer after a sale or restructure will be counted in the employer’s quota of 5 AEWV employees under standard accreditation. Employers who will exceed this should apply for high-volume accreditation before the workers apply for their Job Change.