Global Immigration News – April 18, 2016

Get the latest information on global immigration.

Source: Fragomen Worldwide 

In United States immigration news, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received a record 236,000 H-1B cap petitions for employment in Fiscal Year 2017 - a 1.3 percent increase over last year’s total.  According to the State Department’s May Visa Bulletin, the cutoff dates for final issuance of an immigrant visa will advance by two weeks for EB-2 India and remain current for all other countries except China, whose EB-2 cutoff dates will stay the same.  EB-3 professional and skilled worker cutoff dates will advance by three weeks for India and three months for the Philippines, while remaining the same for all other countries.

Canada announced several planned changes to the Express Entry and International Mobility programs, including a proposal to provide extra points for university graduates in the Express Entry program, and to increase the maximum age to qualify as a dependent from 19 to 22, among others.

In the European Union, the European Commission adopted a policy paper urging the European Parliament and Council to assess the suspension of the short-stay visa waiver policy for nationals from Brunei, Canada and the United States.

Residency permit applicants in the United Arab Emirates are now subject to different medical examination rules.  Notably, they must now undergo pulmonary tuberculosis testing during the residency permit renewal process, which may delay the medical testing process.

Austrian immigration authorities have implemented a new requirement for employers of foreign nationals to store diplomas and resumes at the Austrian worksite and are increasingly enforcing document retention requirements and implementing fines for noncomplying companies.