Ukrainians will be able to work in Poland even longer
Poland's Ministry of Labor has prepared a draft decree according to which from January 1, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians will be able to work in this country for six months instead of three without a special work permit, Deutsche Welle reports.
Special hopes are placed on the new decree by leaders of the construction and agricultural sectors. Edward Schwartz, deputy chairman of the Polish Union of Builders, believes that extending the period for foreigners to work without a separate permit could be a kind of salvation for Polish construction firms, which currently lack 100,000 workers. Poland's Ministry of Labor expects that the new decree will facilitate an inflow of labor from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. In August and September of this year alone, Polish firms lacked 250,000 workers.
This project was proposed specifically by entrepreneurs, Interfax-Ukraine reports. Representatives of the agricultural sector also lobbied for a six-month period, since that is the length of the working season. At the same time, some entrepreneurs complain about the high cost of social insurance and taxes when hiring foreigners – this could lead to legal employment of foreigners being unprofitable for both employers and workers.
Recall that due to Poland's accession to the Schengen Area, from December 1 of this year it introduced a new visa regime with Ukraine. Poland also changed the requirements for the amount of money foreigners entering the country must have.
700,000 Ukrainians will be able to visit Hungary without visas
About 700,000 Ukrainians living in the Zakarpattia Oblast will be able to visit Hungary without visas, despite the fact that from December 21 this country will become a member of the Schengen Agreement.
"All Ukrainians who live in the 50-kilometer zone on the border of Ukraine with Hungary have the right to visa-free travel to Hungary," said Ukraine's ambassador to Hungary, Dmytro Tkach. To do this, one must obtain a corresponding document at the consulate general, which is an insert in the passport. The cost of such a document will be €20. The permit insert will be valid for five years.
Recall that this month nine states will join the Schengen Area: Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Estonia. Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Göncz signed an Agreement on Rules for Local Border Traffic, which provides for visa-free border crossing for residents of the border zone. Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga said that Poland will not block the entry of Ukrainians into its territory after joining the Schengen Area, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
Number of asylum seekers in Germany decreased
In 2007, the number of asylum seekers in Germany will fall to its lowest level since 1983. This was reported by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Berlin.
According to data as of the end of November, the number of new applications for refugee status amounted to 17,871, which is 8.2% lower than the level of the same period last year. As Deutsche Welle notes, a record number of refugees in Germany was recorded in 1992, when there were 438,000 applications.
Italian Senate passes law on immigrants
Last week, the Italian Senate voted for the government's proposed bill on immigrants, France Presse reports. Thus, the danger of another government crisis in Italy was averted.
160 senators voted for the law easing deportation of European Union citizens from Italy, 156 against. As Lenta.ru notes, the new rules actually came into force at the beginning of November, but the approval of the upper house was required for procedural compliance. If the majority had voted against, Prodi's cabinet would have had to resign.
The law on facilitated deportation of EU citizens who pose a threat to national security was prepared after a 47-year-old Italian woman was killed at the end of October, the agency recalls. According to the investigation, the crime was committed by a young Roma from Romania.
With two passports, you won't be taken into intelligence
From December 6, persons with dual citizenship will not be able to serve in Russian special services. This ban, which de facto has been in effect in recent years, is now de jure enshrined in the law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation regarding Military Service by Foreign Citizens and Persons with Dual Citizenship," signed by President Vladimir Putin.
Now, as Gzt.ru reports, persons with dual citizenship are deprived of the opportunity to perform military service in the bodies of the Federal Security Service, federal state protection agencies, foreign intelligence agencies, and the federal body for ensuring mobilization training of state authorities. Additionally, in the event of loss of Russian citizenship, one cannot remain in the army either.
Thus, the legislation on military service is brought into full compliance with the laws on the mentioned agencies and services. Since 1991, no foreign citizen has signed a contract to serve in the FSO or SVR. Foreigners served and continue to serve only in the armed forces. Their last refuge in the special services was the FSB border troops - until Russian border guards were withdrawn from Tajikistan in August 2005.
Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Viktor Ozerov explained that the law only concerns a ban on recruiting foreigners into special services. And contract soldiers with foreign passports in the Armed Forces, according to him, will remain in service.
The rich are leaving Britain
About 3,000 wealthy foreigners could leave the United Kingdom due to a tightening of the tax regime, writes The Financial Times citing sources in the Treasury (Ministry of Finance) of Great Britain.
British officials have long been concerned about a legal loophole in UK legislation, according to which so-called 'non-domiciled individuals' could avoid paying British taxes on income earned abroad. According to British media estimates, over 100,000 foreign citizens living in the UK take advantage of this 'black hole' in the law. But the exact amount of revenue potentially lost to the Treasury has not yet been precisely calculated by anyone.
The need for such measures against wealthy foreigners who have found a tax haven in the UK was also stated by representatives of the opposition Conservative Party. As reported by RIA Novosti, in October of this year the British government finally decided to impose a special tax of 30,000 pounds sterling per year for those 'non-domiciled' individuals who have lived in the country for more than seven years. The Ministry of Finance also intends to close the legal loophole that exempts these individuals from capital gains tax.
'The plan, which is due to take effect in April next year, is politically popular but has already been criticized for damaging London as a financial center and forcing super-rich people to leave the country,' notes The Financial Times.
Travel to the ends of the earth is becoming popular
Every year the number of people who have already visited all the main tourist destinations, consider themselves experienced travelers, and dream of seeing places where their neighbors or colleagues have rarely been, is increasing. In this regard, the Argentine city of Ushuaia, the southernmost on the planet, is experiencing a tourist boom. Beyond it lies only Antarctica. Interest in the region is driven both by constant talk of global warming and melting ice, and by the films 'March of the Penguins' and 'Surf's Up!'.
The main flow of tourists to the farthest corners of the earth consists of 'baby boomers' and eco-tourists: they seek proximity to untouched nature combined with physically active recreation. Researchers at Euromonitor International note that, despite the desire to get as far away from civilization as possible, travelers, undoubtedly wealthy, prefer to stay in expensive hotels, eat high-quality and exquisite food, and travel in comfortable transport. Up to 25% of Argentina's guests stay in four- and five-star hotels. Catching this trend, in the next three years hotel chains Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Hilton Hotel Corp, and Carlson Companies plan to open their hotels in Ushuaia.
Cruise tourism in the region of South America and Antarctica is also gaining momentum. According to Travel.ru, Royal Caribbean Cruises routes are gradually including remote cities in South America. Carnival Cruise will launch the first cruise around South America in 2009. Regent Seven Seas Cruise will start sailing to Antarctica from Ushuaia as early as the end of 2007.
In 2006, among tourists who reached the southern point of Argentina, the majority were Americans - 52%, British - 8%, Canadians and Germans - 4% each. And the increasing number of trips to southern Argentina and Antarctica in turn fuels interest in neighboring countries - Chile and Brazil.