Immigration news

In early December, the Australian government announced that it will extend to two full years the validity of multiple-entry visas for six countries from the oil-rich Gulf region in the Middle East.

Most nationals from Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are able to enter Australia as often as they wish during a two-year validity period with just one visa, effective immediately.

Previously, the validity period for tourist visas and business visitor visas had been one year for nationals from member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The government of Greece this year announced that Greek passports issued prior to 01 January 2006 will no longer be valid from 01 January 2007. During 2006, anyone holding a non-biometric passport needed to get a new one.

The changeover to biometric passports was part of an effort by Greece to comply with various European Union regulations and standards. Most westernized nations of the world, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, are requiring secure, biometrically encoded travel documents such as passports and visas.

Advanced technology industrial interests in the United States are lobbying members of Congress to change immigration policies toward highly skilled immigrants.

Democratic lawmakers and their Republican allies are working on measures to draft a bipartisan immigration reform bill for the United States. The Congress has generally fallen into disfavor with the American public, with the dismal failure of any significant leadership or progress on immigration reform during 2006 being one of the more prominent topics.

Nearly 650 illegal immigrants crammed in a 25-meter, old and leaky fishing boat, reaching the Italian island of Sicily on 19 December and sparking criticisms of the center-left government's immigration policies.

The 648 immigrants, 21 of whom were women and seven children, declared themselves as Egyptian nationals. They were taken to migrant processing centers on Sicily to determine their identities.

U.S. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine has written a letter to Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao about her concern that employers were taking advantage of lax safeguards in the H-1B process to take advantage of foreign workers and endanger American wage standards.