Immigration Update: October 19, 2022

In case you missed The View From The Top, here is the Immigration update for the week of October 19, 2022 from Fragomen's Julia Onslow Cole.

In this show Julia discussed immigration in Asia Pacific.

China
There is still a zero COVID policy in China and the expectation of a big announcement regarding this did not happen. However, it does appear that things are moving. The Government has relaxed the number of flights you can now get into China — all flights are being increased by multiple airlines. You don't need approval letters to go to China but people are quite concerned in case they get COVID and can't leave or have to go into quarantine.

Singapore
The new One Pass Visa will be available in January. This is a personalized employment pass. You are likely to get a lot of senior people asking about this. To qualify You have to earn 30K Singapore dollars per month from the same institution. If you are a leading figure in business or the Arts they could possibly wave these requirements.

There is also a new points-based system in Singapore that will take effect in September 2023. There are 4 main criteria for this, two of which are individual related — salary and qualification. The other two are on the company side in terms of the make up of employees — here they are looking at diversity and nationality, and the ratio of national to foreign talent.

Japan
Since October 11, it has opened up a lot and no approval is necessary to come into the country — no visa requirement if you are a visa waiver national.

Thailand
There is a new long-term residence pass. Top talent may start asking for this, however the process is very onerous. We need to see how this program will evolve.

Listen to Julia's complete update for more information on Asia Pac.