Australia
Australian Immigration to Evaluate Professional Year Visa Program
WorkPermit.com (12/09/11)
The Professional Year visa program is going to be evaluated by the Australia Department of Immigration and Citizenship to ensure that the program is reaching its original objectives and to find any potential improvements that could be made. The program has been available to engineers, IT professionals, and accountants since 2008; offers a blend of workplace experience and formal learning; and helps graduates of the program find employment. Former and current students will be asked to anonymously answer a survey, the results of which will be included in the discussion paper that is part of the evaluation process.
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Canada
Yukon Drops Financial Requirement for Foreign Workers
CBC News (Canada) (12/14/11)
The Yukon government is eliminating the requirement that foreign workers show they have at least $10,000 in assets before coming to the territory, and will instead ask employers to show a guaranteed contract offer that will allow workers to earn that amount. The government is not only trying to meet a labor shortage, says Education Department administrator Dave Sloan, but is also looking to bring workers who want to settle and raise a family in the Yukon. And, he added, the Yukon has one of the highest retention rates in Canada. Companies and foreign workers alike are applauding the rule change, saying it will help streamline the process of recruiting foreign talent and make it easier for workers to settle.
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China
Foreign Companies, Employees in China Squeezed by Pension, Tax Changes
Associated Press (12/07/11) McDonald, Joe
Many companies are expanding to China in hopes of boosting sales, but are encountering major new costs. A recent order in China required foreign workers and their employers to start paying up to 40 percent of their wages for pensions, unemployment, and health benefits. In Beijing, pensions and medical insurance will cost foreign workers and their employers a total of up to 3,780 yuan ($590) a month. However, it is not clear how foreign workers will collect pension or unemployment benefits because those who retire or lose their job typically lose the visa that enables them to stay in China. The additional costs could have an impact on consulting firms, international schools for foreign children, and companies with large foreign staffs that often account for up to 70 percent of their costs. China had an estimated 590,000 foreign nationals living there in 2010 and 231,700 had work visas, according to government data. Foreign companies in China employed 9.8 million people in 2009, the last year for which figures have been reported. Meanwhile, attorney James Zimmerman observes that, "The government has become more selective in the types of investments permitted market access and more critical of those investors that are either out of favor or perceived as troublemakers."
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Beijing Most Expensive City in Country
People's Daily (China) (12/08/11)
A new survey from ECA International finds that Beijing is now the most expensive city in China for expatriates, knocking Hong Kong out of the top spot. Beijing and Shanghai are now the seventh and eighth most expensive cities for expats in Asia, while Hong Kong dropped to ninth place from sixth last year. Overall, expatriates are paying 9 percent more for goods and services in China since last year, according to the survey. The cost of living in Chengdu jumped 21 slots to 144th globally, and Wuhan was also up 20 to 146th. The yuan’s strength is a major reason for the increase according to Professor Yang Fan of the China University of Political Science and Law. "Expatriates may feel the increase clearly, as they tend to choose more expensive goods and services," he says.
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Europe
European Banks Stop Serving American Customers
Spiegel Online (12/14/11)
A Financial Times Deutschland report reveals that several European banks have decided to end service to American securities investors. Of the German banks, HypoVereinsbank will end service on January 1, Commerzbank is considering ending service, and Deutsche Bank ended service during the middle of 2011, while Swiss bank Credit Suisse and British bank HSBC have also decided to end service to American investors. The decisions to cease providing service to American investors were prompted by the introduction of the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which will take effect in 2013. The foreign banks would be required to report on client activities and could be hit with large punitive withholding taxes on payments form the U.S. Some countries, like Germany, have privacy laws in place that would make complying with FATCA impossible. The managing director of KPMG auditing firm, Mark Naretti, notes that FATCA would also affect banks with U.S. investments or who are part of affiliated groups with entities that participate in foreign financial institutions.
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European Union
Single Permit Step
Sofia Echo (Bulgaria) (12/09/11)
Under a newly approved "single permit" directive, third-country migrants working legally in the European Union (EU) will be able to receive comparable rights to those of EU nationals with regard to working conditions and public services. This includes such areas as pay, dismissal, health and safety at work, social security, right to join trade unions, recognition of diplomas, and access to public goods and services. Non-EU workers would be able to claim tax benefits under the directive if they are tax residents in the member state concerned, although their families would be able to receive these benefits only if they live in the same EU country as the worker. Member states may restrict access to public services, such as public housing, to those foreign workers who have jobs. The new law also allows foreign workers to obtain work and residence permits through a single procedure, according to the EU. The "single permit" directive seeks to facilitate migration where it meets the needs of the EU labor market. Member states will have four months within which to decide on a single permit application without altering their power to determine whether or not to admit non-EU workers or how many to admit. The agreed rules apply to non-EU nationals who want to reside and work in an EU country or who already legally reside or work in a member state, but does not include long-term residents, refugees, posted workers, seasonal workers, intra-company transferees, au pairs, or seafarers sailing under the flag of a member state.
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Global Interest
How an Overseas Job Can Affect Family Life
BBC News (12/14/11) Gittleson, Kim
Moving an employee abroad is extremely expensive and the spouse’s happiness is the main predictor of a successful move, so it behooves an employer to do everything possible to make it easier for the spouse and family. This has always been the case, but only in the past 10 years or so have companies begun to address spousal and family adjustment, says Andrew Walker, director of global mobility at WorleyParsons. About 80 percent of relocated workers bring along a spouse, and increasingly those spouses are looking for jobs rather than staying at home with kids. “Employers ignore this at their peril,” said Kathleen van der Wilk-Carlton, the director of the Permits Foundation. It is getting harder for spouses to find jobs, though, and a 2011 study of global employment trends from Brookfield Global Relocation Services found that while 60 percent of spouses had jobs before the move, just 15 percent found jobs in their new country. Some companies are working to fix this—at Dupont, the company offers relocation packages that include some sort of career coaching before and after the move, as well as relocation support and job assistance for spouses. Still, just 18 percent of spouses responding to a 2009 Permits Foundation survey said they felt adequately supported by their spouse’s employer. Visa restrictions are a big barrier to employment for spouses, as the trend is toward protectionism in most countries, says Worldwide ERC® CEO Peggy Smith, SCRP, SGMS. However, she notes that increasingly spouses are becoming entrepreneurs in their new countries, creating business opportunities for themselves when there are none.
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Social Media 'Invaluable for Expats'
Telegraph (12/05/11) Hyslop, Leah
Social media is an increasingly important mode of communication for expatriates around the world, according to a new survey from HSBC Expat. E-mail is still the most common form of communication, cited by 52 percent of respondents as being used twice or more per week, while 39 percent said they use Facebook with the same frequency and 36 percent chose Skype. Just 14 percent said they use landlines as frequently and just 16 percent for cell phones. Researchers said the likely reason is that the newer social media technologies are much less expensive to use. Facebook was the most popular technology, used by almost 70 percent of respondents, while in the Middle East just 8 percent of locals use Facebook, and just 21 percent in Latin America. Among expats, 14 percent of respondents use Twitter and MySpace, while 40 percent said they use LinkedIn. British expat Emily Ruck-Keene, who lives in Paris, said social media such as Twitter “can be invaluable for an expatriate. Whether you are looking for accommodation or tips about your adopted country, Twitter gives you instant and direct access to people in the know; people who are likely to be willing to help because they have actively put themselves out into the Twittersphere.” Another survey last month conducted by Skype found that 50 percent of people are now more willing to move abroad because of the advance of technology.
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South Africa
SA Property Value Still Excites Expats
Moneyweb (12/09/11) Geffen, Lew
The real estate market in South Africa is one of the main reasons the country is the fourteenth-most popular destination for expatriates in the new Expat Explorer survey from HSBC. A dollar goes much further in South African real estate than in many other countries, and expatriates are often excited about how much they can afford to buy there. The United States was ranked eleventh, but the average home price is equivalent to R1,4m, compared to an average of R1,1m in South Africa. The average price in the UK is R2m and in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, all of which ranked lower than South Africa, the prices range from R40,000 per square meter to R146,000. The top spot in the survey went to Thailand, which has the same average home price as South Africa.
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United Arab Emirates
Dubai Ties ID Cards to All Visas From April
ArabianBusiness.com (12/14/11) Broomhall, Elizabeth
Starting in April of next year the government of Dubai will require that all foreign workers register for ID cards before taking medical tests to renew or apply for residency visas. Dubai is the last of the seven emirates to require valid ID cards before the visa process is begun, and the rule was intended to be in effect in January but had to be delayed while registration centers are constructed. The goal of the plan is to integrate data from labor cards, visas, and other ID documents and to simplify government transactions. The cards are official identification and will feature name, address, photo, date of birth, and fingerprints. Expatriates who fail to get an ID card will be fined daily.
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United Kingdom
Online UK Visa Checks for Foreign Workers from Early 2012
Migration Expert (12/07/2011) Eliasson, Hanna
United Kingdom Immigration Minister Damian Green recently announced that a new service will be available for use in the spring of 2012. This service will allow employers to check an employee's biometric residence permit to find out if that individual has the right to work in the UK. The service will provide real-time data and ease of use for those wishing to check a foreign employee or potential employee's identity, permits, and right to work in the country.
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United States
U.S. Taxpayers With Overseas Accounts Seethe at Big Penalties Due
Reuters (12/09/11) Feldman, Amy
Now that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is stepping up enforcement for unpaid taxes on foreign accounts, American expatriates are facing enormous fines for failing to file paperwork even when the amount of tax owed is small. Marvin Van Horn, for example, lives in New Zealand and has owned a home there for 10 years. He quickly turned in his paperwork for the first voluntary-disclosure period in 2009 and found he owed a small amount of tax, but the penalty that accompanied it was nearly $90,000. “That eats up retirement savings,” he says. “It hurts." And even worse, he later found out that because he had rented out his house for some time, the value of the house became part of the penalty calculation and it pushed the penalty to $172,000. After contacting the IRS’ Taxpayer Advocate Service, and spending 26 months sending offers and counter-offers, the final penalty was reduced to $5,000 per year or $25,000. "Why the hell couldn't the IRS devise a method to separate the minnows from the whales at the beginning of the process?" Van Horn asks. Scott Michel, president of Caplin & Drysdale, and Mark Matthews, a tax partner at Morgan Lewis & Brockius, say that they have seen few actual tax cheats when dealing with these cases, and more often they are people who inherited foreign assets from foreign-born parents or those who have lived overseas for many years. "They built the program for criminals, and they just can't figure out how to deal with all these innocents who've been caught up in it," says Matthews. "A program that is a pretty good deal for a criminal is devastating for someone who didn't really do anything wrong."
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Demand Rises for Visa Workers
Boston Globe (12/12/11) Bray, Hiawatha
The annual quota of U.S. H-1B visas was met in eight months this year, down from ten months last year, which some say is an indication of an improved economy. It is by no means as robust as the pre-recession days when the quota of 85,000 visas could be filled within two days, but it is an improvement, says Bruce Morrison, former congressman who helped draft the H-1B program. It is intended for use by temporary skilled workers that cannot be found domestically, and has been used to bring in chefs and fashion models but mostly science and technology workers. The program is controversial, though, and U.S. technology workers say employers use it to hire foreign labor that will work more cheaply than U.S. workers. Indeed, a GAO study found that 54 percent of visa recipients between 2009 and 2010 were entry-level and paid less than experienced American workers. Rochester Institute of Technology professor Ron Hira says employers are abusing the program and it is the wrong way to recruit foreign labor. He and other critics prefer the use of permanent U.S. residency visas or green cards that would offer full citizenship within five years, as they say it would not be as likely that foreign workers would be exploited for cheap labor. A bill to expand the green card program and remove per-country quotas on green cards was stalled in the Senate.
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Zambia
Expat Guide to Zambia: Health Care
Telegraph.co.uk (12/14/11) Pallot, Peter
Zambia offers many natural attractions, but it is also a country of extreme poverty and poor infrastructure. Infant mortality is at 86 per 1,000 live births, according to the World Bank, and adult life expectancy is only 46 years. There are about 120,000 expats, many of them from Britain and South Africa, who are largely based in Lusaka and the mining belts. While the health system is available to all, medical staff in Zambia are overworked in under-funded facilities. Available figures on patient-to-doctor ratios average out about 10,000 patients for one practicing doctor, with medical staff particularly limited in the more rural areas. Because of the severe lack of quality health resources, many expats and wealthy Zambians go to South Africa, Europe, or North America to receive treatment for serious medical conditions or sophisticated tests. Top hospitals in Zambia include the CFB Medical Center, Lusaka Trust Hospital, and University Teaching Hospital, all located in Lusaka. Embassies or consulates in Zambia can provide information on the best options for serious medical problems, including recommendations for a particular physician. Patients with money in more populated areas can generally find good primary care with internationally qualified doctors. In the case of a serious injury or illness, however, international medical insurance with a good evacuation benefit is essential. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office suggests, "You should know your blood group and carry a sterile medical kit including needles, dressings, etc." Anyone who plans to purchase local insurance should check the fine print of his or her coverage. Those who intend to bring medication into Zambia should check ingredients and leave non-essential items at home to avoid being questioned by customs. Malaria, rabies, and tuberculosis are common in Zambia, as are cholera and dysentery. Water should be boiled or bottled, and food cooked thoroughly.
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