Fragomen Immigration Update: May 22 - 29, 2014

This week, South Africa’s new immigration laws took effect. The implementation of the new laws is expected to result in significant delays and other case processing issues. Also, effective immediately, foreign nationals who overstay their visas in South Africa may be barred from re-entry for 12 months to five years, depending on the length of the overstay. Overstayers are no longer penalized by fines. 

These items and other news from Italy and the United States follow in this edition of the Fragomen Immigration Update. 

Remember that the Immigration Update is available through both e-mail and Web version by clicking on "View as Web Page" above.

 

Important Updates in Immigration This Week

South Africa, May 27, 2014

New Re-Entry Bans In Force for Visa Overstays

Foreign nationals who overstay their visas in South Africa may be barred from re-entry for 12 months to five years, depending on the length of the overstay. Overstayers are no longer penalized by fines.

To view entire article, click here.

 

South Africa, May 23, 2014

Immigration Reforms Take Effect May 26

The President of the Republic of South Africa has proclaimed that new immigration laws will come into effect on May 26, 2014. The implementation of the new laws is expected to result in significant delays and other case processing issues.

To view entire article, click here.

 

Other Immigration News This Week

United States: DOL PERM Processing Times Updated – As of May 5, 2014, DOL was conducting analyst reviews for PERM applications filed in October 2013 or earlier and processing audited cases filed in January 2013 or earlier. The government error queue is current. DOL is working on standard reconsideration requests submitted on May 5, 2014 or earlier. 

As of May 22, 2014, processing times for PERM prevailing wage determinations are in the 60-day target. DOL is issuing determinations for prevailing wage requests submitted in April 2014. 

PERM and PWD processing times are available on the iCERT home page. 

Italy: Work Permit Guidelines for Expo 2015 - Official delegates to Expo 2015 and their dependents will be eligible for mission visas, according to recently released guidelines. Non-accredited individuals, such as delegates of companies attending the Expo and workers at the Expo site, will be able to obtain work visas using an electronic fast track procedure. Two thousand work visas will be allocated to foreign nationals performing services in conjunction with the 2015 Expo in Milan. The event, which will begin on May 1, 2015, is a six-month universal exposition featuring a theme of global interest. Online work visa applications for Expo 2015 will be accepted from April 4 through December 31, 2014. 

Global Immigration News Links 

• President Obama has asked Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to delay his review of U.S. deportation policies until the end of summer in order to allow Speaker Boehner more time to act on immigration reform legislation.
• The rise of populist parties in the European Parliamentary elections surprised many, after newcomers from far-right and far-left parties took a third of the seats in the elections earlier this week. UK’s United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), France’s National Front and Greece’s Golden Dawn seem to have gained popularity due to their anti-immigration rhetoric. In France, especially, polls suggested that immigration played a larger role than economic woes.
• Vancouver is becoming a new technology hub as businesses are setting up in the city to take advantage of Canada’s pro-immigration policies and lower salaries.
• According to the Pew Research Center, Mexico, with its nearly 2,000-mile border with the U.S., is the source of the largest wave of immigration in history from a single country to the United States.

 

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