Global Mobility News from VisaHQ

Temporary air-space restrictions and rolling police checkpoints around COP30 have lengthened flight block times and doubled airport-city transfer times in Belém. Non-scheduled flights face strict slot controls, while business travellers should expect ID checks and possible route closures through 21 November. Only accredited delegates benefit from Brazil’s fee-free COP30 e-Visa, so non-participants must follow normal visa procedures and allow generous buffers in their itineraries.

The Home Office has opened a consultation on an “earned settlement” system that would double the qualifying period for most migrants from five to ten years and impose up to a 30-year wait on illegal entrants or long-term benefit claimants. High earners and NHS staff keep faster routes, while low-paid workers face the longest waits. The change would radically alter talent-planning for UK employers and could affect almost two million recent arrivals.

Ministerial Direction 115 switches Australia’s student-visa program to a real-time traffic-light model that rewards education providers who stay within government-set enrolment caps with faster visa decisions. The move supports the Albanese Government’s goal of slowing net-overseas migration without shutting the door on high-value research students. Providers and corporate mobility teams will need new forecasting tools to stay in the green zone and keep processing times short.