Europe Immigration News

Charlie Flanagan, Ireland's Minster for Foreign Affairs, has warned Irish students applying for J-1 exchange visitor visas hoping to go to the US in the summer of 2016 that they need to secure a job prior to travelling. The Irish government had been lobbying to have Ireland made exempt from the new rule, but without success.

Visa problems have prevented international entrepreneurs, employees of tech startups and major tech businesses from attending the annual Web Summit event held in Dublin, Ireland. The Summit, held between 3-5 November, is an opportunity for tech businesses to network. Problems with paperwork are understood to be the reason behind the visa delays and rejections.

A policy paper published on Tuesday, 22 September 2015, states that the homecare industry in Ireland is very much reliant on immigration of care workers from outside the EU. However, the paper says that the treatment of foreign workers currently serving across the industry sector needs to improve 'vastly'.

Almost 500 foreign nationals queued throughout the night outside the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) in Dublin on Friday, 25 September. The crowd gathered at the Bureau, located on Burgh Quay, to renew Irish visas for work, study and re-entry.

The queue is a regular occurrence at the Bureau and tends to extend around the corner from Burgh Quay onto the Corn Exchange Place. Staff at the Bureau say that it's not uncommon for queues to stretch all the way around the block and then split into two lines of people near the GNIB's main entrance.

Recent research, published by data scientists at LinkedIn, has revealed that 20 per cent more skilled workers arrived in Ireland than departed in the first quarter of 2015. According to the research, the software industry proved to be the most popular industry sector for skilled migrant workers moving to the country.

Dutch immigration officials will cease to provide asylum seekers with food and shelter after just three weeks if their application is unsuccessful. This is in contrast for example to Sweden and Germany that has a more generous policy towards asylum seekers.

As of November, 2015, any migrant denied refugee status or humanitarian protection in the Netherlands will have less than a month before being deported or face fending for themselves.