Immigration

The Dominican Republic will begin constructing a fence along its 376-kilometre border with Haiti later this year to curb unauthorized migration and illicit trade, President Luis Abinader announced on Saturday. Abinader said the barrier would help curb illegal immigration, drugs and the flow of stolen vehicles between the two countries, which share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

"In a period of two years, we want to put an end to the serious problems of illegal immigration, drug trafficking and the movement of stolen vehicles," Abinader said in a presentation to Congress.

It is estimated that about 500,000 Haitian migrants are living in the country - many of them there illegally.

President Joe Biden has signed 17 executive orders, memorandums and proclamations shortly after his inauguration, including revoking Trump's Muslim ban, rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, extending federal eviction moratorium, rescinding Census orders to exclude non-citizens, preserving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and a federal mask mandate.

920 migrants at the Bosnian-Croatian border had to spend nights in a burned and unheated refugee camp. A total of 2,000 refugees have been holding out for days without shelter on the border with Croatia because the authorities cannot find room for them in existing refugee camps. A fire destroyed the Lipa camp, which was intended as a transitional camp, shortly before Christmas.

Hours earlier, after a dispute with the authorities, the International Organization for Migration had decided to have the camp evacuated because it was not winterized anyway. The organization could no longer guarantee the safety of the refugees. Many of the migrants in Lipa have already made numerous attempts to cross the border. The IOM head of mission speaks of a "desperate" situation. The condition of the refugees is rapidly deteriorating, he says. Overnight, he fears further frostbite and respiratory diseases.

The French government has fast-tracked hundreds of citizenship applications from migrant frontline workers. Over 700 healthcare professionals, cleaners and shop workers have already been granted citizenship or will receive it soon.

The office of Marlene Schiappa, junior minister for citizenship: "Health professionals, cleaning ladies, childcare workers, checkout staff: They all proved their commitment to the nation, and it is now the turn of the republic to take a step towards them."

A migrant boat with 45 people sank off the Tunisia coast on Thursday. At least 20 people died, five people were rescued by the coastguard and the coastguard is still looking for about 20 people.

"The boat sank about six miles from the coast of Sfax. Twenty bodies were recovered, five others were rescued, and all are from sub-Saharan Africa," the security official, Ali Ayari, said.

A huge fire has broken out in a temporary migrant camp in northern Bosnia, near the Croatian border. 1,200 people have been living under "seriously substandard conditions" in the camp since this summer. Thick black smoke has been seen rising from the camp.

The fire was allegedly started by residents who set a tent alight, IOMs Peter Van der Auweraert said.

A United States federal judge has ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must accept new applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as Daca, which protects some young immigrants from deportation. During the 2016 election, Trump promised to rip up Daca immediately, triggering a legal battle that continued throughout his presidency, winding up in the supreme court this year. The supreme court in June blocked Trump's bid to end Daca, calling it "arbitrary and capricious" and saying that it violated federal law.

The Spanish Ministry of Migration announces the plan to urgently create refugee camps with 6,000 places on Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and Fuerteventura to accommodate the immigrants who are now spread over 17 tourist complexes.

Minister José Luis Escrivá's plan includes using Gran Canaria as a place where refugees will arrive in the style of Lesbos or Lampedusa. New arrivals are won't be transferred to the mainland but await deportation in a center set up for this purpose.

As reported yesterday, today the Swedish Government ('Riksdag') debated and voted on bill 2020/21: SfU5 that was put forward by The Social Insurance Committee.

Confirming the decision, the Swedish Migration Agency ('Migrationsverket') detail that it will be called 'residence status', and will be available to obtain between 01 December 2020 and 30 September 2021.

The new residence status will be treated as any other residence permit, expiring after 5 years, where residents will be able to apply to renew it, or if they meet requirements, apply for permanent residence.

When applying, the agency suggest making the application online where it is easiest as the system will ask all questions required to ensure you get the application correct first time.

The Swedish Migration Agency will detail more information regarding the new status on their website in due course.

Today, 10 November 2020, the Swedish Government 'Riksdag' will onboard their supplementary provisions to the Article 50 Withdrawal Agreement that was initiated when the United Kingdom left the European Union.

The main supplementary provision is a new visa for British Expats who are legally residing in Sweden by the last day of the transition period. British people (who don't already have residence status) would be able to apply to the Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) for the new visa for a period of 10 months from 01 December 2020.

Once granted, the visa will enable the holder to continue to travel freely within the EU without visas.

The Riksdag are poised to confirm and accept the provisions in their vote tomorrow (11/11/20) on the recommendation from The Social Insurance Committee.

Since September 1, descendants of victims of the Nazi regime with foreign citizenship have been able to obtain Austrian citizenship by means of a so-called notification. As of Thursday, Austrian representations abroad have already received almost 8,800 inquiries via the online questionnaire provided for this purpose, as the Foreign Ministry informed the Austrian Press Agency upon request.

The European Commission has presented plans for faster asylum procedures at the external borders, more deportations and the appointment of a "repatriation coordinator".

In case of high refugee numbers, all member states are to be obliged to show "solidarity" with the countries of arrival - be it through the reception of refugees or through assistance with deportations. At the same time, the Commission is planning more legal possibilities for immigration.

At least six Mexican woman may have had unwanted hysterectomies at the Irwin County Detention Center. Mexico’s government is demanding U.S. authorities to investigate allegations.

The Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) has been ruled invalid by a federal court in Canada. Under the agreement asylum seekers trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border are sent back to the respective country to apply in the first country they have arrived in for asylum.

Canadian federal court judge Ann Marie McDonald has now ruled that the United States do not qualify as "safe" anymore but has suspended her ruling for six months to give the legislative branch of the government time to respond. In her ruling, she points out that the agreement violates parts of Canada’s Charter of Rights which state that principles of fundamental justice need to be conformed to regarding laws and state actions that influence life, liberty and security.

The criminologist Tobias Singelnstein criticizes the collection of the "family tree" among the identified perpetrators of the riots in Stuttgart. In juvenile criminal law - which will probably be used these cases - due to the educational concept, it is necessary to find out about family backgrounds, but the immigration background demonstrably does not say anything about the crime.

He is facing headwind from CDU politicians who justify this investigative approach by the fact that it could initiate preventive measures.

In a move that was considered to pressure universities to reopen, the Trump administration announced a directive on Monday that would force international students to return to their home countries if all of their classes and coursework were taken remotely.

"It appears that it was designed purposefully to place pressure on colleges and universities to open their on-campus classrooms for in-person instruction this fall, without regard to concerns for the health and safety of students, instructors, and others," so Lawrence S. Bacow, President of Harvard University.

In response to the directive, Harvard and M.I.T have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking "a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief preventing Defendants from enforcing the policy announced in ICE’s July 6 Directive, or promulgating it as a Final Rule" and "a declaration that the policy announced in the July 6 Directive is unlawful."

On Monday, Donald Trump signed an executive order to temporarily suspend new nonimmigrant work visas through 2020, barring foreigners to seek employment in the United States. The order freezes many different work visas, including H1-B (foreign workers in special occupations), H-2B (seasonal nonagricultural workers), J-1 (scholars and professors participating in cultural exchange programs) and L-1 (used to transfer existing employees to offices in the US).

Officials have announced that the US President Donald Trump is about to sign an executive order that will suspend the issuance of H-1B visas, H-2B visas, H-4 visas, L-1 visas and certain J-1 visas through 2020. Affected groups are skilled workers working in fields such as the technology sector, seasonal workers and spouses of H-1B visa holders. According to an official, the measures would affect half a million jobs.

The prime minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson has urged EU workers to come to the United Kingdom once the retail sector will re-open. This comes after Johnson campaigned before the Brexit referendum vote to reduce the number of as he phrased it "low-skilled workers" in the country. Him now saying "but we want you back" marks a change in policy.

The British Prime Minister has announced that the new security law imposed by China on Hong Kong "would curtail freedoms and dramatically erode its autonomy" and that the United Kingdom, in case that the law passes, will make "one of the biggest changes in our visa system in British history" in order to enable holders of the British National (Overseas) passports longer stays without a visa and easier access on the path to citizenship.

In order to allow migrants and asylum seekers, that are currently living in Portugal, access to the public services of the country during the coronavirus pandemic, the government has announced to treat them as residents. Being treated as such they can use social security services such as healthcare or welfare, but also open bank accounts, close rental contracts and work. The only requirement is an ongoing request for residency.