Worldwide Passport & Visa News and Updates

//Worldwide Passport & Visa News and Updates

Over Half-A-Million Indians Visited UK in Last 12 Months

11 percent more Indian travelers have visited the United Kingdom from July 2018 to June 2019, compared to the same previous 12-month period. According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics latest quarterly report on Migration Statistics over 503,000 Indian passport holder were granted with visitor visas for the year ending June 2019. British High Commissioner to India, Dominic Asquith asserts that the new figures are good news for the relationship between the UK and India. He [...]

By | 2019-08-23T15:00:08+00:00 August 23rd, 2019|UK Visa/Passport News|
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Home Office Passport and Visa Chief to Step Down in March

The head of two Home Office sections, Mark Thomson,  director general of HM Passport Office (HMPO) and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), will leave his office in March next year. Thompson's decision was made known through a leaked email that he sent to his staff. “The sharp-eyed amongst you may notice that my job has been advertised today. I wanted to let you all know that after five years in the Home Office I have decided the [...]

By | 2019-08-23T12:27:11+00:00 August 23rd, 2019|UK Visa/Passport News|
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China Rejects Visas to German MPs Over Human Rights Criticism

Critical statements over China's human rights issues have cost to two groups of German lawmakers with their visas. According to the Bundestag, the German Parliament, its human rights committee has been denied entry to Beijing, Tibet and the western region of Xinjiang. At the same time the digital affairs committee has annulled a scheduled trip to China after another MP, Margarete Bause, is barred for speaking out on China’s rights record. “The message is plain and simple: [...]

By | 2019-08-22T10:02:05+00:00 August 21st, 2019|China Visa/Passport News, Germany Visa/Passport News|
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Non-Official eTA Sites Ripping off Travelers to New Zealand

A few weeks after the New Zealand government announced it would soon launch an electronic system to grant e-visas to nationals of sticker visa-free countries, non-official eTA websites started popping all over the internet. Many of them, though not directly claiming they are the official eTA website, try to look like that. Others claim they offer “expert” application assistance, when in fact the travelers can easily complete the whole procedure on their own. The NZeTA is an [...]

By | 2019-08-21T15:05:09+00:00 August 21st, 2019|New Zealand Visa/Passport News|
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US to Triple Farm Visas for Guatemalans in a Bid to Boost Asylum Deal

The US wants to offer Guatemala more farm visas for its citizens, in a bid to convince the incoming president, Alejandro Giammattei, to support the asylum deal reached in July between Guatemala’s outgoing president and the United States. White House Latin America adviser Mauricio Claver-Carone, during a trip to Guatemala has proposed the US could grant three times more H-2A visas for Guatemalans, in exchange for the legislation to back the asylum deal. “We could help Guatemala [...]

By | 2019-08-21T12:45:24+00:00 August 21st, 2019|US Visa/Passport News|
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State Deparment Bans Americans from Traveling to N.Korea for Another Year

The US Department of State has decided to extend for another year the ban on United States citizens traveling to North Korea, due to the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of US nationals. In a recent statement, the State Department announced that the Secretary has reauthorized the existing Geographic Travel Restriction on the use of a US passport to travel in, through, or to North Korea. “The restriction is effective as of September 1, 2019, [...]

By | 2019-08-20T14:57:23+00:00 August 20th, 2019|US Visa/Passport News|
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Israel Agrees to Solve Issue of Mass Entry Refusals for Ukrainians

The ongoing issue of Ukrainians being denied visa-free entry to Israel may have come to an end. In a meeting of officials from the governments of both countries, led by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, an agreement was reached regarding the of mass denial of Israel border crossing for Ukrainians. According to a press release of the Ukrainian presidency press office, President Zelensky confirmed that a deal had [...]

By | 2019-08-20T13:05:41+00:00 August 20th, 2019|Ukraine Visa/ Passport News|
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UK Plans to End Free Movement of EU Citizens on First Day of a No-Deal Brexit

A no-deal Brexit scenario could now mean no more visa-free traveling to the UK for citizens of the EU countries as of 31 October, the day on which Brexit has been scheduled to take place. The new Home Office Secretary of the Boris Johnson Government, Priti Patel, allegedly wants to toughen the Home Office's stance when it comes to freedom of travel. Senior officials from the Home Office have traveled to Singapore, on Patel's orders, to study [...]

By | 2019-08-20T10:33:58+00:00 August 20th, 2019|UK Visa/Passport News|
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Punching Incident Will Make It Harder for McGregor to Get a US Visa

The Irish professional boxer Conor McGregor will have it harder to get a US visa after a months-old incident in a Dublin Pub surfaced recently. Last week, footages of the former featherweight and lightweight UFC champion punching an elderly man at a pub in Drimnagh, Dublin were published, after the latter apparently refused a drink of McGregor's Proper Twelve brand of whiskey. According to Gardaí - the Irish police, the incident took place on 6th of April [...]

By | 2019-08-19T15:28:30+00:00 August 19th, 2019|US Visa/Passport News|
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Crimea and Donbass Residents with Russian Passports Can No Longer Apply for Schengen Visas

The European Union has made another move to show that it does not intend to support Crimea’s annexation by Russia, and the Donbass armed conflict. In its most recent move, the EU has decided to no longer grant Schengen visas to residents of the Crimean peninsula and the region of Donbass with passports issued by the Russian Federation after March 2014. The new measure was announced by the Ambassador of the European Union to the Russian Federation, [...]

By | 2019-08-16T16:28:53+00:00 August 16th, 2019|Schengen Visa News|
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