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Fighting Trend, China Is Luring Scientists Home
New York Times (01/07/10) LaFraniere, Sharon
China is using financial incentives and appeals to national pride to reverse the drain of top science and engineering talent to the West. China's spending on research and development (R&D) has steadily increased over the last 10 years and now amounts to 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The United States spends 2.7 percent of its GDP on R&D, but China's share is much higher than most other developing countries. Although China excels in certain scientific fields, such as nanotechnology, it struggles in other areas and has never had a Nobel Prize winner for research conducted in mainland China and ranked only 10th in the number of patents granted in the United States in 2008. Chinese students have been leaving at an increasing rate for several years. Almost 180,000 scientists left in 2008, nearly 25 percent more than in 2007. Those who obtained science or engineering degrees were among the least likely to return to China. However, China has been able to draw some prominent scientists back. Many scientists are lured by their patriotism, their desire to affect change, and their belief in the Chinese government. "I felt I owed China something," says Shi Yigong, a molecular biologist who left Princeton University and returned to China last year. Many Asian scientists also confronted a glass ceiling in the United States, Shi says. Since his arrival in China, Shi has been actively recruiting more scientists to leave the West. In less than two years, he has recruited about 18 post doctoral fellows, almost all of them coming from the United States.

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Foreigners Can Stay Longer in Shanghai
Xinhua News Agency (01/05/10)
Shanghai has issued new rules to allow expatriates in certain professions to stay in the city for an extended period in order to boost economic growth. The previous rules allowed expats to stay just one year, but under the new rules scientists, top managers, those with specialized skills, celebrities, private investors, and those awarded special status for their contributions to China may stay up to five years. The rules will help business owners who previously had to have US$30 million in capital to get an extended permit, though that amount was also reduced to $3 million recently.

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Dubai Downturn Sends Ripples Throughout Arab World
Associated Press (01/07/10)
The economic downturn in Dubai is having an effect throughout the Arab world, sending expatriates from other Arab countries who had found lucrative employment there back to their home countries unemployed. Most of those countries have few jobs available and low wages, and many families in the Middle East are growing poorer without the money sent home from relatives working in Dubai. Remittances in Arab countries fell by more than 7 percent in 2009, the first decline in 10 years. Arab workers go to many different countries for work, but Dubai was the most popular, with only about ten percent of its population made up of citizens. Some say the ongoing decline may lead to more political instability in the Arab world as young people find no release from ongoing poverty and joblessness and may turn to extremism.

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Foreign Professionals Needed for Finland’s Future
Helsinki Times (01/14/10) Cord, David
Finland is looking to attract more foreign companies and workers, but the small country’s tightly knit networks make it difficult for expatriates to fit in. To address this, the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA is hosting a conference to find solutions to the problem, with participants such as Mohamed El Fatatry, CEO of Muxlim; Arto Nyberg of YLE; Jorma Ollila, Chairman of Nokia and Royal Dutch Shell; Alexander Stubb, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Astrid Thors, Minister of Migration and European Affairs. A few years ago EVA conducted a study of ways to attract foreign talent, and the main problem identified by expats was the lack of a social network in Finland. The report emphasized the need to create meeting places and ways to help expats integrate into the culture, but no one acted upon the report’s findings, says EVA’s Risto E.J. Penttila. For this reason, the Expat Forum was developed. “Everyone should be doing something about this in the future,” Penttila says. “For Finland to succeed it needs to be more international.”

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Should Your Business Axe Overseas Assignments?
Business Week (01/10) Cummins, Siobhan; Hannibal, Ed
Many companies are considering cutting their expensive overseas assignments to reduce costs during the recession, but this is often a mistake, as strategic use of talent around the globe can greatly enhance a company’s profits. Companies should make sure they fully analyze the project’s goals and determine whether a local worker or an expat would be best for the job before worrying about cost. If sending a worker overseas is the best fit, then the cost of things like housing, travel, school tuition, taxes, and hardship premiums should be calculated. Relocating the family of an employee who makes $200,000, for example, would ultimately cost the company about $800,000 per year, but a very successful assignment will return much more than that investment. The numbers can seem excessive at first glance, though, which leads many companies to back away from such assignments in today’s economy. Learning what is most important to the employee—financial gain, career advancement, exposure to other cultures, etc.—is important to helping companies determine which perks are vital to boosting productivity and which may be eliminated.

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Some Parents Opt for a Global Education
Nashua Telegraph (NH) (01/05/10) Ball, Linda Stewart
Traveling the world with young children may sound crazy to some people, but a growing number of American parents are doing just that in order to give their children an international experience that will make them better global citizens. The former expat model involved corporate transfers and diplomats, but increasingly families are moving abroad independently and setting up their own work. Christopher Holtby works in Dallas but commutes from Mexico every day where his family lives temporarily so that his children will be bilingual. “You always want your kids to be ahead of the crowd,” he says. “My wife and I understand that if we can give our kids some exposure, they’ll have more options.” Technology and homeschooling has also made it easier for parents to travel with their kids for a year or more, and more American families are making that choice. Many are former Peace Corps volunteers, children of immigrants, those who have adopted a child from a foreign country, and some are simply people with wanderlust. School officials suggest that families create an education plan before leaving, and some schools will require students to take grade-level placement tests when they return.

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25,000 Britain-Trained Doctors to Leave for India
Agence France Presse (01/04/10)
As many as 25,000 doctors of Indian origin trained in Britain will return to India within the next four years to work in the country’s seven new elite medical centers. According to Ramesh Mehta, president of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, that total will include 15,000 young doctors currently training and another 10,000 senior doctors who are retiring from their current jobs in Britain. The new medical centers where they will work are modeled after the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and will be located in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

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Indonesian Government May Unlock Real Estate for Expats
Jakarta Globe (01/08/10) Ariffahmi, Dian
Indonesia's State Ministry of Public Housing announced on Jan. 7 that it is planning to revise the law so that expatriates could own homes in cities and special economic zones. In zones such as Batam and Kalimantan, where overseas companies receive incentives to operate factories, expats would be allowed to purchase houses, according to Housing Minister Suharso Monoarfa. Expats based in cities would be able to own apartments only. The current law on foreign property ownership dictates that foreigners can only hold fixed-term housing leases of no more than 25 years, although they are allowed one extension for another 25 years. The proposed amendments come amid property developers' urging to ease limits on foreign property ownership, which has spurred expats to take advantage of legal loopholes to own homes indirectly. "We have been asking the government to extend foreigners the right to hold leases to apartments and houses for a minimum of 75 years," said Indonesian Real Estate Developers Association Chairman Teguh Satria. "But if they be allowed to purchase property outright, that will be definitely good." Satria also said that easing foreign ownership regulations would increase the competitiveness of the Indonesian property market.

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NIS Begins Biometric Registration of Foreigners
allAfrica.com (01/06/10) Nwezeh, Kingsley
The Nigerian Immigration Service plans to require bio-metric registration of expatriates in Nigeria to build a database of foreigners living in the country. The equipment has been purchased and configured for use, and the government says it will begin with Africans because it already has a database on non-Africans. The effort is not intended to be used to remove illegal aliens, officials say, but to benefit aliens by keeping official records that will help them get government protection and other benefits of being a resident. Officials do admit, though, that the information will improve monitoring and control and that those who are found to be residing in Nigeria “irregularly” will be encouraged “to regularize their stay.” The government is also updating its 1963 Immigration Act to bring it up to date since the introduction of e-passports in 2007, under which 1.7 million e-passports have been issued.

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High-Skilled Migrant Workers Protected From Foreign Labor Cuts
Russia Today (Russia) (01/11/10)
High-skilled foreign workers will be exempt from the Russian government’s recent decision to cut migrant quotas by nearly 50 percent, which will now apply only to visa-free workers from former Soviet and CIS countries like Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. But high-skilled business managers, bankers, and journalists from the West will be granted privileges. The government plans to charge 1000 rubles a month for work permits as part of an effort to reduce illegal immigration and protect the Russian labor market and reduce unemployment for locals.

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Singapore's Expat Surge Fuels Economic Fears
Wall Street Journal (01/12/10) Barta, Patrick; Wright, Tom
Singapore’s policies that make it easy for foreigners to establish residency succeeded in attracting bankers and other expatriates as well as low-skilled laborers from developing countries, helping the country to post annual growth of 6.8 percent between 2003 and 2008. But it has also kept low-skilled wages low while inflating real estate and other prices, widening the gap between rich and poor. There is no minimum wage and foreign workers often live for free in company housing, but native Singaporeans must pay for housing, making them poorer than foreigners who work for the same wage. A local website warns that Singaporeans could be turned into third-class citizens and that immigration will be the biggest issue in the 2011 elections. Some experts recommend the country limit immigration and behave more like a mature economy such as the U.S. or Europe. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has promised to cut immigration and the government is conducting a study of the effect of immigration and ways to reduce the country’s reliance on exports, but insiders say it is unlikely this will produce much change because the government still wants to boost the population to 6.5 million and will not want to hurt factory owners and real estate developers that fuel the economy.

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More Jobs and Better Pay Likely Next Year
Straits Times (12/13/09) Rekhi, Shafali
Some experts say the job and compensation outlook in Singapore is very positive for next year thanks to the government’s improved economic forecasts projecting growth of between 3 percent and 5 percent. Private forecasts are even more optimistic, projecting growth of 5.5 percent compared to this year’s 2 percent contraction. Employers are becoming more optimistic and have higher expectations for next year, as multinationals are likely to turn to Asian markets because they expect limited opportunities in slower-growing Europe and the United States, says Mike Game, CEO-Asia for recruitment firm Hudson. Indeed, Manpower Inc.’s employment outlook for the first quarter of 2010 is 9 percentage points higher than the fourth quarter level of 17 percent. The banking and finance sector look especially bullish for hiring, many surveys show, though they also indicate employers still prefer contract or temporary workers. Some analysts expect employers to raise salaries by about 2.6 percent this year, which is far from the 2008 highs of 5.3 percent but a significant improvement from the post-crisis salary freezes. Just 12.8 percent of companies will continue with freezes in 2010 compared to 60.3 percent this year.

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Highly Skilled South African Visa Holders to Receive Generous Allowance
Global Visas (01/07/10) Clifford, Liam
Skilled workers willing to come to South Africa on a work visa will be given a generous allowance from the country’s government, which is looking to fill a shortage of skilled labor. Companies that hire skilled expatriates can offer them a 30 percent “commencing salary notch,” as an incentive, which will initially be offered to those working in the public sector or as part of exchange programs. The government plans to soon offer similar incentives to bring South African doctors working overseas back home.

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Skilled Foreigners Must Get U.K. Identity Cards
Business Week (01/10)
Britain is requiring skilled foreign workers to have identity cards with biometric data if they wish to extend their stay in the country past six months, under new rules that took effect this month. The cards will contain finger prints and photographs and must be obtained by April 2011. Only those from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland must obtain the card, and officials say it is intended to cut down on illegal immigration and give legal residents easier access to the benefits they are entitled to receive.

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Foreigners in Yemen See Terrorism Worries as Overblown
Los Angeles Times (01/06/10) Edwards, Haley Sweetland
News reports of terrorism in Yemen have exaggerated the dangers there, according to foreigners living in the city. “It's pretty much completely normal around here," said Ramon Scoble, a water management engineer for German company GTZ. “It's not that the problems aren't real. It's that they aren't new.” Terrorism in Yemen has been in the news since a Nigerian man who had studied Arabic in Yemen attempted to detonate an explosive device on a plane bound for the U.S. on Christmas Day, and several embassies in Yemen have closed in recent days due to threats. There have also been some attacks on tourists in recent years, but overall aid and relief organizations are operating normally in the country. Many come here to study and to work and are attracted by the architecture and the country’s famous hospitality. “It's like landing in the 16th century,” said one student. “I feel like I'm not only in a different country, but on a whole different planet.” Scoble said there have always been pockets of terrorism in Yemen and today this is no different, but he worries that the publicity will draw more foreign militants and make matters worse. Expatriates are currently advised to avoid places where other foreigners travel, such as fancy hotels, and to vary their routines.

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