Global Mobility News from VisaHQ

The Home Office will grant refugees only 30-month permits reviewed every 2½ years and require 20 years’ residence for permanent settlement. Accommodation and cash support will become discretionary. HR teams must prepare for rolling right-to-work checks and potential talent-attraction fallout.

• On 14 Nov 2025 IRCC invited 3,500 healthcare and social-services workers to apply for permanent residence under a category-based Express Entry draw, with a record-low CRS cut-off of 462. • The draw supports Canada’s bid to ease critical labour shortages in hospitals, clinics and community-care agencies. • Employers gain faster access to foreign talent, while qualified candidates benefit from improved odds of selection and quicker permanent-residence processing.

Australia has introduced Ministerial Direction 115, a new traffic-light system that reprioritises all offshore Student Visa (subclass 500) applications. Tier placement is now determined by each education provider’s compliance record and enrolment utilisation, with waits ranging from one to twelve weeks. The directive aims to curb rapid enrolment growth in major cities, channel students to regional campuses and tighten on-shore visa switching, creating new planning challenges for universities, education agents and corporate mobility teams.

The Home Secretary will introduce legislation that scraps automatic permanent residence for most refugees and replaces it with renewable 30-month permits. The move aims to deter irregular arrivals but will create major operational and integration challenges for employers and local authorities.

On 15 November, Beijing issued a rare travel advisory urging Chinese citizens to stay away from Japan after Tokyo’s new prime minister suggested Japan could intervene in a Taiwan conflict. The move, which drew an immediate protest from Tokyo, threatens to hit Japan’s tourism-dependent sectors and complicates business travel just ahead of the peak winter season.

The Ministry of the Interior’s Q3 bulletin shows 1.107 million foreign nationals legally living in Czechia, up 1.5 % since June. More than half are Ukrainians under temporary protection, while Prague hosts one-third of all foreigners. The data highlight Czech firms’ dependence on non-EU labour and strengthen the government’s case for EU migration-cost exemptions.

Effective 15 Nov 2025, Nepalese nationals in direct air transit through Hong Kong can remain in the airport without a visa. The move cuts costs and processing time for travellers and airlines, and signals Hong Kong’s intent to deepen Belt-and-Road connectivity.

Shabana Mahmood will outline Danish-style asylum and deportation reforms next week, aiming to cut small-boat arrivals and speed removals. The plan would tighten human-rights tests, restrict family reunification, and make refugee status temporary—changes that could also lengthen the wait for settlement for legal migrants. Businesses should expect faster removals and stricter compliance rules if the measures pass.

China has prolonged its 30-day unilateral visa-free entry scheme for nationals of 45 countries until 31 Dec 2026 and has added Sweden to the roster. The move locks in planning certainty for business travel and short assignments over the next year, although longer or work-related stays still require full visas.

A government advisory report says Spain’s online system for immigration and asylum appointments is so dysfunctional that a lucrative grey market has emerged. Bots snap up slots, which intermediaries then sell to migrants and expats for hefty fees, causing permit delays that jeopardise legal status and employment. The CES calls for urgent reforms to prevent ‘technological borders’ from undermining orderly migration and business mobility.

A newly leaked State Department cable instructs consular officers to consider obesity and other chronic illnesses as grounds for visa refusal under the ‘public-charge’ test. The policy, effective immediately, affects all non-immigrant and immigrant categories and could bar applicants who might incur high U.S. healthcare costs. Employers should brace for tougher medical RFEs and advise transferees to document private insurance.

A Rubio-signed cable released 13 Nov instructs U.S. consular officers to treat obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and some mental-health conditions as potential public-charge grounds for refusing visas. The policy, effective immediately, applies to tourists and employment-based applicants alike and could lengthen processing and raise refusal rates for corporate travelers.

Ministerial Direction 115 creates three priority lanes for offshore student-visa applications, rewarding institutions that stay within 80 % of their enrolment quota and slowing processing for those above 115 %. The policy, effective 14 November 2025, is designed to manage growth, improve sector integrity and push more students toward regional providers. Businesses that hire student dependants or graduates will need to watch processing times closely.

IRCC will fast-track and uncap study-permit applications for master’s and PhD students at public universities starting 1 January 2026. The change, part of Canada’s new immigration plan, prioritises high-calibre research talent while keeping overall student numbers in check. Universities see a boost to competitiveness; employers gain a larger pool of PGWP-eligible graduates.

A software defect has derailed Deutsche Bahn’s plan to cut over to a new digital signal box at Cologne Central Station. The hub will still close for 10 days from 14–24 November, but a second full closure is now unavoidable once the fault is fixed, disrupting up to 1,300 daily trains. Business travellers should prepare for detours, longer journey times and overcrowding.

From 14 November 2025, every offshore student-visa application will enter a three-tier queuing system that speeds decisions for providers under quota and slows them for institutions that over-enrol or breach compliance rules. The Albanese Government says the change will balance international student numbers and strengthen visa integrity; employers should see more reliable timelines for graduates coming through compliant universities.

The European Commission named Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain as the first countries eligible for aid from a new EU ‘solidarity pool’ once the migration pact starts in 2026. The pool lets other states relocate migrants, contribute funds or provide operational support, while a €250-million drone tender will bolster external-border surveillance. The measures aim to relieve pressure on Italy’s reception system and tighten security at Mediterranean entry points—developments with direct ramifications for corporate mobility and supply-chain planning.

With federal pay on hold, air-traffic-controller staffing has plunged, prompting the FAA to order airlines to cut up to 10 % of flights through 14 November. Cancellations and delays have already affected more than one million passengers and are disrupting corporate travel, cargo flows, and holiday plans.

IRCC will cut new study-permit approvals by 50 % over the next three years, starting with immediate provincial caps. Ottawa says the measure will relieve housing and service pressures, but campuses and employers that rely on foreign students face funding gaps and talent-pipeline disruptions.