Immigration news

Amid a record number of Cubans arriving at the US southern border with Mexico, Washington and Havana have entered into tentative US visa talks for the first time in four years. Cuban officials visited Washington recently for the highest-level migration talks since Joe Biden took office.

 

US and Cuban officials had been meeting bi-annually since 1990 to discuss Cuba’s access to US visas. However, four years ago under the Trump administration, talks ceased and US immigration operations in Havana came to a grinding halt. 

UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has hinted at UK visa concessions for Indian nationals as he attempts to secure a trade deal with India. Johnson has signalled that he is ready to ease visa restrictions for Indians in an effort to bring forward the target date for a trade deal agreement from the end of 2022 to the autumn.

 

The Biden administration will launch a program enabling US citizens and groups to financially sponsor Ukrainians forced to flee their homeland following the Russian invasion. Ukrainians selected for entry to the US will be granted ‘humanitarian parole’, which will enable them to bypass US visa and refugee programs that can take years to complete.

 

A leading online bank has urged the UK government to introduce skilled refugee visas to tackle skills shortages across the tech sector. Zopa Bank, which recently pledged to hire 50 professionals from Ukraine, has spoken to ministers about launching a skilled refugee visa, arguing that it will help address Britain’s technical skills shortage.

 

Sources close to the talks say that the aim of the skilled refugee visa is to ‘attract talent with strong tech backgrounds’, including coding, engineering or data science, who are currently in a country suffering a humanitarian crisis or armed conflict.

Anti-corruption campaigner, Bill Browder, has called for a total US visa ban for British lawyers who he alleges to be ‘enabling’ Russian oligarchs. A long-time critic of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, US-born financier Browder said a US visa ban would ‘strike at the heart of what has become a persistent problem of using the UK legal system against reporters and whistleblowers’.

 

The cost of a UK tourist visa has increased to £100, sparking outrage across the British tourism sector. The London Tourism Recovery Board said: “Anything that makes the UK less affordable than our near neighbours is a barrier to recovery.” The increase represents a 5.3% rise and comes at time when Britain’s tourism sector is still recovering from the impact of COVID-19.