Europe Immigration News

Following talks between Russia's and Norway's prime ministers, Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov and Jens Stoltenberg respectively, both countries signed visa facilitation and readmission agreements in Moscow on 08 June 2007 during Stoltenberg's three-day, official visit.

Over the past year, the economy has been turning around in Germany. For nearly a decade, Germany has been synonymous with an anemic economy, high unemployment and a nearly out-of-control cost of living.

Eastern European nations who have recently joined the European Union have seen enormous growth in emigration of their citizens to other countries. Economic growth coupled with low mobility of the remaining labor force has exacerbated a growing shortage of qualified skilled labor to perform needed local work.

For the first time in a decade, Slovenia has reached its yearly work permit quota for non-European Union citizens in 2007.

The quota was set at approximately 54,000 permits, according to Marko Strovs, state secretary for the Ministry of Labour, Family, and Social Affairs.

The Swiss government relaxed its immigration laws on 01 June 2007, allowing more workers from Western European nations to seek employment within the country.

The new rules will allow citizens from European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, including Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland, unlimited access to the Swiss labor market.

France's new Immigration Minister, Brice Hortefeux, is suggesting an approach for taking care of what many French consider to be a serious immigration problem. He has introduced the possibility of paying immigrants to return to their home country.