Global Immigration News
January 2011
Czech Republic
Legislation Introduces New Visa Requirements
New Czech legislation requires foreign nationals to register in person for certain long-term stays, shortens the validity period and requires a personal interview for certain long-stay visas, introduces a biometric residence permit and tightens housing and health insurance requirements for long-term foreign residents. The new law also introduces a Czech version of the European Union Blue Card for highly skilled foreign workers.
Switzerland
Work Permit Quotas Increased in 2011
Switzerland’s overall work permit quota will be increased to 12,000 for 2011. In a new development, 3,500 of these quota numbers will be reserved for service providers from European Union or European Free Trade Association member countries.
The Swiss Federal Council has announced that the total work permit quota for 2011 will be 12,000, an increase of 1,000 over the quota for each of the past three years. Within the overall quota of 12,000, B-Permits for long-term assignments will be capped at 4,000 and L-Permits for stays of an initial period of up to one year will be set at 8,000.
Canada
Independent Contractors Can Now Qualify as Intra-company Transferees
Independent contractors can now qualify to work in Canada as intra-company transferees provided that they have worked exclusively for the employer abroad as a contractor for at least one year in the preceding three years in an executive, senior managerial or specialized knowledge capacity, according to a January 20, 2011 policy clarification from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). The new policy took effect immediately.
Hungary
The National Tax and Customs Administration
The former Hungarian Tax and Financial Control Administration (APEH) and Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard (VP) have merged and become the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV). This will be come into force as of January 1, 2011.
The NAV maintains the functions of its predecessors and will continue to carry out customs, financial and taxation control. It also intends to put higher emphasis on law enforcement, and is determined to improve the quality of customer service, including the task of keeping tax payers informed and up-to-date on important issues and current changes in taxation.
Bonheur understands that the procedures and regulations of taxation will not be affected by this administrative change.
Please note however that the NAV has still not resumed issuing tax ID cards. Tax card distribution has been on hold since August 2010 due to a lack of the fraud-proof material necessary to make the cards. This means that the NAV will continue to issue temporary certificates as a substitute for the cards. The certificates are valid from their issuance for a period of 60 days, and must be accepted everywhere as an official document. After the 60 days have expired, the certificates can be re-issued again upon request.
US
Cap for H-1B petitions reached
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on 27 January 2011 that it received enough H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2011 to reach the annual cap of 65,000 visas.
Applications are considered to have been received on the date that USCIS physically receives the petition. Any petitions received after 26 January 2011 will not be considered for an H-1B visa.
USCIS will continue to accept and process applications filed to:
- extend a current H-1B worker’s visa so they may remain in the U.S.
- change the terms of employment for current H-1B visa workers
- allow current H-1B workers to switch employers
- allow current H-1B workers to work in a second H-1B job
US employers can hire foreign workers in technical or specialty occupations that require “theoretical or technical expertise”. These include occupations in research, engineering, and software development.