Global Mobility News from VisaHQ

As of 13 February, Indians can enter Thailand visa-free for up to 60 days and extend once for 30 days, replacing the earlier 30-day visa-on-arrival. The change simplifies paperwork, removes airport fees and is expected to boost leisure and MICE traffic. Airlines and tour operators have already reported a jump in bookings, signalling stronger India–Thailand travel ties.

EU ambassadors approved a comprehensive update of Switzerland’s bilateral accords, restoring full single-market access and adding new cooperation areas. The package secures free movement, accelerates cross-border work-permit processing and reduces regulatory risk for companies that shuttle staff between Switzerland and the EU – a major win for corporate mobility planners.

A leaked National Police assessment suggests Spain’s extraordinary regularisation scheme could grant residency and work rights to up to 1.35 million migrants, far above the government’s 500,000 estimate. Analysts warn of secondary movements from other EU states and administrative bottlenecks, raising operational concerns for employers that depend on Spain’s immigration system.

From 25 February 2026, airlines must refuse boarding to British dual nationals who present only a foreign passport. The Liberal Democrats and travel bodies want a grace period, warning of family disruption, high costs for certificates of entitlement and carrier fines. Employers should check that travelling staff with British citizenship hold a current UK (or Irish) passport before departure.

Ottawa has added four new occupational groupings to the 2026 Express Entry system—doctors, researchers/senior managers, transport workers and foreign military specialists—while retaining last year’s French-language, healthcare, trades and transport streams. The changes signal a shift toward attracting leadership and innovation skills and give employers faster access to permanent residency pathways for critical talent already in Canada.

Warsaw has published a regulation that prolongs the no-go buffer zone along the Belarusian border until 3 June 2026. Officials cite ongoing irregular-migration pressure and an uptick in smuggling via unmanned balloons. The move keeps tourists and most locals out of a 78-km strip and continues to affect freight routes, cross-border commuting and NGO access.

Fresh State-Department figures show Chennai offering B1/B2 interview slots in about one month, while Mumbai applicants wait ten months; Delhi and Hyderabad sit at eight. Student and work-visa categories are far quicker. Applicants prepared to travel domestically can gain months, underscoring the value of monitoring wait-time dashboards and rescheduling aggressively.

Australia has issued its first Temporary Exclusion Order, barring an IS-linked woman in Syria from returning for up to two years. The move underscores the government’s hard line on security risks and signals to airlines and employers that listed individuals can be prevented from entering despite holding valid passports.

Brazil’s Tourism Ministry expects 65 million revellers this Carnival, driving 98 percent hotel occupancy in Rio and record airline load factors. International ticket sales to Brazil are up nine percent and remaining inventory is scarce, forcing late-booking travellers into higher fares and secondary airports. Mobility managers should secure cancellable rooms immediately, pad itineraries by 24–48 hours and reconfirm visa or e-visa documentation to avoid boarding denials.

Brussels has provisionally applied the long-awaited EU–UK Gibraltar treaty to avert border chaos when the EU’s new Entry/Exit System launches on 10 April 2026. The deal removes physical frontier controls, places Schengen checks at Gibraltar’s port and airport, and safeguards the daily commute of 15,000 cross-border workers. For companies, it eliminates the risk of severe delays for staff and goods moving between Spain and the Rock, while still requiring travellers to complete initial EES biometric enrolment.

The Airport Authority has confirmed that HKIA’s rebuilt Terminal 2 departure facilities will open on 27 May 2026, introducing more self-service and biometric clearance capacity and allowing 15 airlines to relocate. The move will relieve congestion at Terminal 1 ahead of the summer peak and support Hong Kong’s aviation-hub ambitions.

IRCC’s latest inventory data show 1,014,700 applications now outside service standards, with permanent-residence files driving the growth. The backlog complicates workforce planning for employers relying on immigration to fill skills gaps and may erode Canada’s attractiveness for global talent if wait-times remain elevated.

A Bundesagentur für Arbeit report released on 18 February 2026 shows that employment-based residence permits in Germany have more than doubled since the Skilled-Worker Immigration Act took effect in 2020. Lower Blue-Card salary thresholds, a higher Western Balkans quota and expanded digital counselling drove the growth. The data confirm that Germany’s labour market is opening faster than at any time in the past decade, offering companies wider access to international talent.

Poland, Germany and France have signed a Weimar-Triangle declaration to develop a Warsaw–Berlin–Paris high-speed rail axis. State railways PKP, DB and SNCF will align investments and seek EU funding, aiming to cut Warsaw-to-Paris journey times below eight hours and boost both passenger and military mobility across central Europe.

The Austrian cabinet has approved a March kick-off for a Skilled-Labour Strategy built around training, apprenticeships and easier access to foreign talent via an overhauled Red-White-Red Card. The reforms promise faster, fully digital permit processing and new pathways for labour-leasing firms and non-EU apprentices, addressing a 200,000-worker shortfall. Businesses should anticipate streamlined immigration procedures and begin mapping head-count needs now.

Effective 17 February 2026, Belgium increased its naturalisation fee from €150 to €1,000 and imposed stricter income, timing and age conditions on family-reunification visas. The changes raise the cost of becoming Belgian and make it harder for recent refugees and lower-salary sponsors to bring dependants, affecting talent retention and workforce planning for multinational employers.

From 17 February 2026, citizens of the UK and Canada can enter mainland China visa-free for up to 30 days. The policy—valid until 31 December 2026—aims to revive business travel and tourism and further normalise China’s borders after COVID-19. Mobility teams should revise travel procedures but remember that long-term work and study visas are still required.

Switzerland has kicked off the domestic rule-making needed to plug into the EU’s next-generation Eurodac database. From mid-2026, Swiss visa sections will cross-check applicants’ biometric and migration records across the entire Schengen zone, raising the bar for work-permit approvals and reinforcing border security.

The Deputy Ministry of Research announced that residence-permit applications and renewals will go fully online this year as part of Cyprus’ plan to launch 100 additional e-government services. A revamped Digital Citizen app will let employers and assignees book biometrics, upload documents and receive real-time status alerts, dovetailing with forthcoming EU EES/ETIAS border systems. Shorter processing times and better compliance oversight will benefit companies relocating staff to Cyprus.