Pearl Global Immigration NewsFlash
May 18, 2011

Thanks for entrusting Pearl Law Group and the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers (ABIL) for your global business immigration updates. As always, we welcome your comments and questions.

AUSTRALIA

On May 10, 2011, the Australian government announced four main immigration-related initiatives in response to the tightening labor market in Australia with unemployment forecasted to fall to 4.75% in 2011-2012.

1. The demand-driven sponsored employee 457 visa program will receive additional staff and a new processing site in Brisbane. Together, these initiatives should see processing times halve to 2 weeks for decision-ready applications.
   
   
2. In response to the need for labor in regional Australia, the government has announced the introduction of Regional Migration Agreements (RMAs). RMAs will be custom-designed, geographically based migration arrangements that set out the occupations and numbers of overseas workers needed in the area.
   
   As with the current arrangements for Labour Agreements, each RMA will be negotiated between the government and representatives of the local area. Individual local employers will then be able to directly sponsor workers under the terms of the umbrella RMA. The agreements will allow employers to use overseas workers where local labor cannot be sourced. It is expected that negotiations for individual RMAs will commence in 2012.
   
   
3. In addition, the government has confirmed new Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMAs) that will allow major resource projects to gain access to overseas labor for genuine skills vacancies that cannot be filled from the Australian labor market. EMAs will be custom-designed, project-wide migration arrangements uniquely suited to the resources sector, ensuring that skills shortages do not create constraints on major projects and jeopardize Australian jobs. The terms set out in each EMA will include the occupations, qualifications, English language skills, wages, and conditions of the foreign workers on the project.
   
   The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has indicated that it plans to negotiate the agreements within 3 months of the date a project owner submits a complete request for an EMA.
   
   
4. And finally, the government has indicated its intention to implement a new Skilled Migrant Selection Model in July 2012 based on an Expression of Interest (EOI) and invitation to apply for those applicants applying under the points-tested visa pathways. The new Model will introduce a two-stage process: first, prospective applicants submit claims for skilled migration through an online EOI and subsequently may be invited to make a visa application.
   
   A key benefit of the Model is the ability to address regional skill shortages because the Model allows prospective migrants to signal their willingness to live and work in regional Australia. The Model will connect state/territory governments and employers with potential skilled workers through a central database of prospective skilled migrants. Submitting an EOI allows employers to view applicants' details and contact prospective applicants to discuss sponsorship opportunities. It also allows prospective migrants who are sponsored on a temporary basis to be invited to apply for either independent migration or state/territory-sponsored migration, if eligible.

BRAZIL

Recently graduated college or university students may wish to come to Brazil to gain knowledge necessary for progressing in their careers, or for cultural exchange, tourism, or professional experience. A new kind of visa, valid for one year and not extendable, is now available to foreigners, students, or recent graduates coming to Brazil to participate in professional exchange programs.

Normative Resolution #94, which sets forth the new visa's requirements, was published in the Official Gazette of April 14, 2011, as a new resolution of the National Immigration Council. For purposes of this resolution, a professional exchange includes learning as part of an international labor experience, which is performed in a work environment that promotes the exchange of knowledge and cultural professional experience.

To grant a work permit, the Ministry of Labor requires (i) proof of enrollment in graduation or post-graduation courses valid for less than one year, or a graduation certificate; (ii) a temporary part-time or full-time work contract; and (iii) a Commitment Term between the foreigner and the employer, with the participation of a Brazilian exchange entity (an entity responsible for the assistance of the trainee while in Brazil), which states the terms of the exchange.

The Ministry of Labor may reject the application (a) if there is any evidence of the company's interest in substituting foreign professionals in place of Brazilian manpower; and (b) if it is found that the same treatment is not granted to Brazilian nationals in the country of origin of the applicant.

CANADA

Foreign nationals are usually inadmissible to Canada for having criminal records (including convictions for driving while intoxicated). Many, however, do not know that foreign nationals can also be inadmissible to Canada on health grounds if they are "likely to be a danger to public health or public safety" (very rare) or "might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services."

Approximately 280,000 foreign nationals became Canadian permanent residents in 2010, each of whom was required to undergo a Canadian immigration medical examination before becoming a Canadian permanent resident. About 96,000 foreign students came to Canada and 182,000 foreign workers entered Canada in 2010, many of whom were required to have a medical examination.

Given that Canada has a socialized system of medicine where the provincial governments pay most medical costs, medical inadmissibility can be a real concern for those with health issues who want to immigrate to Canada.

In total, approximately 450,000 Canadian medical examinations are performed each year on foreign nationals. Of those medical examinations, less than one percent of the foreign nationals (and their family members) were held to be inadmissible on health grounds for a health condition that "might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services."

In 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada held that the personal circumstances of each foreign national seeking to immigrate to Canada should be considered by the Canadian visa office and an individualized assessment undertaken when deciding whether there is likely to be excessive demand on social services.

As the case law is evolving in this area, great care must be taken by foreign nationals interested in coming to Canada who suffer from significant medical problems.

NETHERLANDS

The Ministers of Immigration and Asylum and Social Affairs have proposed that the Knowledge Migrant Scheme (KMR) be tightened sometime in June 2011. The proposed measures, as stated in their letter sent April 11, 2011, to the Dutch parliament, include:

• The salary of a knowledge migrant must be paid in the Netherlands by the Dutch branch office if the stay of the knowledge migrant in the Netherlands is longer than six months.
  
  
• Market conformity of the salary will be assessed.
  
  
• The salary must be paid every four weeks or every month.
  
  
• The salary must be in conformity with the usual hours worked per week.
  
  
• The employer must, upon request of the Immigration Service or Labor Inspection, document that the salary is being paid.
  
  
• The Immigration Service will check via the computer network with the Labor Directorate whether the salary is actually being paid.
  
  
• The gross annual salary for social security purposes will be used as a basis to assess whether the salary threshold is being met.

Subscribe/Unsubscribe

To Subscribe to this newsletter, please send an email to plgglobal@immigrationlaw.com with "Subscribe" in the subject line.

To Unsubscribe, please send an email to plgglobal@immigrationlaw.com with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.

  

Disclaimer/Reminder

All contributors to this newsflash are members of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers. www.abil.com

This e-mail does not constitute direct legal advice and is for informational purposes only. The information provided should never replace informed counsel when specific immigration-related guidance is needed.

Copyright © 2011 Pearl Law Group. All rights reserved.