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Most European Union citizens who wish to visit Canada do not require visas. However, there are some exceptions.
Nationals of six Member States that joined to form the EU-25 in 2004 still require visas, and persons from the two newest States that joined to form the EU-27 on 01 January this year require visas.
Under changes to Australia's subclass 457 visa announced this week, employers who are determined to be exploiting foreigners working in Australia will face new tough financial penalties.
In a recent interview, Romanian President Traian Basescu said that he expects a potentially large wave of immigration from neighboring Moldova because of Romania's recent accession to the European Union. He said the only way to avoid such a trend was to give Moldovan citizens "a European perspective," meaning hope of EU membership for their country in the future.
Last week, United States immigration authorities presented their plans to raise fees for visas and citizenship documents by an average of 66%. Hefty fee hikes for citizenship and permanent residency applications are being justified to raise revenue to help pay for shortening processing time and to improve service.
The last vestige of discrimination against gay couples has been removed from Ottawa law and a person applying for immigration can now sponsor a same-sex spouse. The controversial policy was in place since 2004, after legalized gay marriage laws started to gain a foothold in Canadian provinces.
A man who formerly worked for the KGB is to be deported from Canada for his past espionage activities. He has been living in Vancouver for the last ten years.
Mikhail Alexander Lennikov, 46, was a Communist youth league leader who spied on Soviet university students and Japanese business men on behalf of the KGB, according to the Federal Court of Canada, which recently upheld the decision to deport him and his family by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). He was employed by the KGB from 1981 to 1988.