Special Visas Research Articles

Moving with and against the state: digital nomads and frictional mobility regimes

The mobile lifestyle of digital nomads mingles remote work, international travel, and multi-local living in ways that both submit to and resist state-based mobility regimes. In this article, we examine this apparent paradox by asking how digital nomads move both with the state and against it. Employing the metaphor of ‘friction’, the analytical lens of ‘governmobility’ and ethnographic fieldwork with digital nomads, the article illustrates how nomads leverage state-imposed constraints into creative forms of ‘border artistry’ that allow them to achieve their lifestyle goals in the shadow of the state. At the same time, however, the article suggests that states are also border artists, an argument developed through an analysis of governments’ recently established special visa programs. The findings suggest that mobility regimes do not merely determine who can or cannot move, enter, or stay, but rather exercise a kind of governmobility that encourages mobile individuals to discipline themselves according to desirable qualities such as self-sufficiency, consumer citizenship, and depoliticised mobility. In this sense, mobility regimes emerge as the mutual interface between digital nomads’ individual strategies to stay on the move and states’ institutional strategies to codify and commodify their legal status.

Analysis Of Human Resources And Foreign Labor In Japan (Situation And Problems Related To Foreign Workers)

The number of foreign workers in Japan has been steadily increasing in recent years, especially in urban areas. Among them are international students working part-time and foreigners staying to work in Japan. In this article, we will discuss the actual situation of foreign workers and social conditions in Japan based on official data released by the government. Japan is currently experiencing a declining birth rate. It is estimated that by 2030, 1/3 of the country's population will be aged 65, resulting in a significant shortage of productive labor. Moreover, strong international competition due to rapid globalization could create problems for Japan, unless the Japanese government expands the acceptance of foreign workers. That is why the Amendments to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (April 2019) introduced new residence visas namely, “Special Skill 1” and “Special Skill 2”. The introduction of these two special visas is an effort by the state to assist 14 specific industrial sectors that find it difficult to obtain human resources and require special skills but are not too technical and specialized. The goal is for foreign workers to be part of the progress of Japan's manufacturing and service industries. However, these efforts still have not overcome the mountain of problems surrounding foreign workers in Japan. For example, the complexity of the procedure for applying for a work visa, fraudulent companies employing foreigners with low wages, problems arising from differences in culture and values, and various other problems.

“Home office is the here and now.” Digital nomad visa systems and remote work-focused leisure policies

ABSTRACT To attract highly qualified remote workers to their cities and countries, governments have implemented mechanisms for the stay of digital nomads, thereby promoting local economic development. To manage the entry and stay of this professional class in these regions, future residents are required to obtain special visas for digital nomads. However, the guidelines and regulations for these visas are not clearly established, and the policy frameworks that apply have not been studied extensively. Thus, this paper explores how countries develop policies to attract digital nomads, support business development and position themselves as ideal territories for these knowledge workers. The study uses an interpretative policy analysis approach to examine and comprehend the purpose behind leisure policies and digital nomad visa systems from 24 countries that have introduced them over the past decade. Findings reveal that digital nomadic visas are framed as an engagement experience with the destination and its leisure facilities. Also, facilitating these policies are government strategies to promote a business environment and strengthen a high-level entrepreneurial ecosystem. The primary research contribution has been to outline the relevant policy mechanisms that support the attraction of highly skilled mobile workers to a specific area or region and debate their intended efficiency.

Внутренние и внешние факторы миграции населения в Республике Корея

The migration of the population in the Republic of Korea as one of the demographic indicators, along with the birth rate, mortality, natural increase, life expectancy, has undergone great changes during the twentieth century and, especially, in the last decades. The article is devoted to the study of various factors influencing the migration processes taking place in the Republic of Korea - these are historical, political, and socio-economic factors that determined the migration situation, a change in the direction of migration flows occurring in the country. The work focuses on both external migration processes, reflecting interstate relations, and internal migration processes, which reflect the level of government attention to the state as a whole, as well as the socio-economic development of individual regions, improving ties between provinces, central regions and capital cities of the country. When regulating external migration, it is taken into account that migrants can be citizens of both Korean origin and from other countries, therefore, special visas are provided for citizens of different categories to enter the country: for work, study, marriage, etc. Regulating internal migration, the government seeks to maintain a balance in the resettlement of the population throughout the country.

Hanging On by a Thread: The Case of Migrant Teachers Holding Zimbabwean Exemption Permits in South Africa

This paper drew from a qualitative study on the experiences of Zimbabwean migrant teachers in South Africa. Using the interpretivist paradigm, the author interrogates the experiences of Zimbabwean migrant teachers who hold the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit. The author relies on the theory of migration by seminal scholar Everett Lee for a theoretical lens. The study was carried out within the context of respite1 for Zimbabwe Exemption Permits holders. The respite for Zimbabwe Exemption Permit holders was to terminate on 31 December 2022. Narrative interviews were carried out with ten purposively selected participants. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study suggested that Zimbabwean migrant teachers were struggling to transfer to mainstream visas after the non-extension of the special visas they were holding (critical skill visas, general work visas). Due to these struggles, there was a shared view among the participants that after 31 December 2022 they would become undocumented. This was expected to change the lives of previously documented migrants. The impending fate of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit holders led to the conclusion that their lives were hanging on by a thread. The author recommends that the fate of the documentation for Zimbabwean migrant teachers in South Africa be reassessed in terms of permanent residency status.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) on #Kristengray Hashtag: Understanding Gentrification Side Effects Behind the Digital Nomad Phenomenon

Indonesia is one of the destinations countries for digital nomads in South East Asia. Digital Nomad can be described by the person who combining work and leisure activities, without geographical border. The digital nomad lifestyle is becoming trends after an American tourist, Kristen Gray becoming viral on the Twitter Platform, she promoting Bali as a heaven for the digital nomad because of the low cost of living and cultural openness by selling eBook and open consultation services for the people who live in the America and European continents, but then she deported by the Indonesian Immigration Authorities, charged with the misuse of visas (she was used tourism visa for business purposes). Then, the research question arises, Are there potential gentrification effects of digital nomad lifestyle to the local people? And what the government should do to tackle this issue? This research is conducted by analyzing tweets using #kristengray and #digitalnomad hashtag, obtained from 12 January to 12 March 2021. The results are more than 49 percent of users, which dominated by the foreigner is defending Kristen Gray, and forcing the Indonesian Government to open Bali as digital nomad living places, but 51 percent of users, who dominated by Indonesian is refusing what the Kristen Gray doing, by arguing if Bali is purely just for tourism places. The results are the gentrification potentially happening between the digital nomad and local people, because of the difference in economic level, culture and value. Then, the government should consider making a policy to minimize the effects of gentrification resulted in digital nomad activities, suggested opening special visas with the restriction and tax policy for the digital nomad.

To move or not to move? Immigration and natives’ neighborhood choices in Seoul, Korea

Abstract We investigate the impact of an increase in immigrant inflows on natives’ residential choices in a large metropolitan city. We utilize an administrative dataset containing information about residential address changes and self-reported reasons for relocation. Exploiting the expansion of a special visa program as an exogenous shock, we find that immigration inflows are both a push and a pull factor for natives. While neighborhoods in Seoul lost more than 6 natives for every 10 additional immigrants between 2006 and 2015, certain native workers were drawn to areas with immigrant inflows for job-related reasons.

¡Viva George! Celebrating Washington's Birthday at the US–Mexico Border by Elaine A. Peña

Reviewed by: ¡Viva George! Celebrating Washington's Birthday at the US–Mexico Border by Elaine A. Peña Elliott Young ¡Viva George! Celebrating Washington's Birthday at the US–Mexico Border. By Elaine A. Peña. ( Austin: University of Texas Press, 2020. Pp. 199. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.) Elaine Peña's ¡Viva George! is a much-needed academic analysis of the history and meaning of the binational celebration of George Washington's birthday sponsored by Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, the most significant fete of the first U.S. president's birthday. Peña employs a performance studies lens, using the frameworks of border enactments and border scaffolding to examine the celebration. In addition to using archival research to examine the origins of the event and its ensuing development, Peña conducted ethnographic work on both sides of the border with a variety of celebration actors, including politicians, participants, and observers. The birthday celebration began in 1898 as an effort to Americanize the "dos Laredos" area, which was and still is inhabited overwhelmingly by people of Mexican descent. Peña notes that Mexican American elite (the so-called gente decente) participated in the early years of the celebration and were not antagonistic to its Americanizing goals. The celebration was started by a local branch of a national fraternal organization, the International Order of Red Men, and Peña explains that "playing Indian" was central to the celebration. Elite Laredoans, dressed as Indians, enacted an attack on city hall, engaging in a ritual of inversion in which the actors playing Indians vanquished the building's Anglo and Mexican defenders. The book does not address the role of "playing Black," which was also central to the celebration in the early years, including minstrel performances and the song Dixie. The first two chapters focus on this ethnic cross-dressing, showing how the celebration offered Laredoans a chance to play Indian, colonial, and Mexican. A Mexican-inspired Noche Mexicana event began in 1925 to foster cross-border trade, shopping, and goodwill, but ambivalence about celebrating [End Page 116] Mexican heritage in the Washington celebration led to a behindthe-scenes backlash that suspended Noche Mexicana for another decade. In 1954, Hurricane Alice destroyed the international bridge that served as a vital link between the two cities. Rebuilding efforts led to a dispute when the Laredo construction group announced a new, higher bridge toll. The Nuevo Laredo group simply stopped construction, halting progress for several months. Peña shows how negotiations over the toll ultimately allowed Mexicans to cross into Texas during the Washington Birthday festivities without special visas. This so-called paso libre, beginning in 1957, was all the more surprising because it happened in the wake of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service's Operation Wetback (1954), in which more than a million undocumented Mexicans were rounded up and sent back to Mexico. The final chapter addresses the increasing securitization of the border following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and especially after drug cartel violence spiked in 2006. Even so, one of the birthday celebration's prime rituals of binational friendship, the abrazo (embrace) of figures representing George Washington and Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, along with children representing each country, continued throughout this period. By 2015, following the traditional embrace on the bridge, U.S. law enforcement formed a human chain to prevent Mexicans from slipping across the border. Peña ends by suggesting that Laredo never needed a literal border wall because the children's embrace "differentiates American and Mexican populations symbolically but effectively enough to avoid having to compromise trade and security relationships that actually produce quantifiable benefits" (128). Are the cross-border cooperation strategies inspired by Washington's birthday celebrations a solution to immigration restrictions or are they a sophisticated articulation of a longer history of exclusion on the border? This book provokes these and other important questions. Elliott Young Lewis & Clark College Copyright © 2021 The Texas State Historical Association

No. of Seniors Matching Into Psychiatry Takes Large Leap

No. of Seniors Matching Into Psychiatry Takes Large Leap

HOW THE 1978 FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS LAW INCREASED THE LABOR SUPPLY OF SINGAPOREAN WOMEN

In 1978, Singapore became the first country to introduce legislation allowing foreign domestic workers to work in the country under special visas. Although Singapore is often cited in the literature as a success story, no studies have quantified the impact of this legislation. In this paper, we use data derived from the Singapore Yearbook of Manpower Statistics between 1974 and 1985 to determine the influence of the 1978 legislation on the labor supply of Singaporean women. We find that the labor supply of women affected by this policy increased by between 3.1% and 6.2%.

Immigrants and entrepreneurship

Immigrants are widely perceived to be highly entrepreneurial, contributing to economic growth and innovation, and self-employment is often viewed as a means of enhancing labor market integration and success among immigrants. Accordingly, many countries have established special visas and entry requirements to attract immigrant entrepreneurs. Research supports some of these stances, but expectations may be too high. There is no strong evidence that self-employment is an effective tool of upward economic mobility among low-skilled immigrants. More broadly prioritizing high-skilled immigrants may prove to be more successful than focusing on entrepreneurship.

How the 1978 Changes to the Foreign Domestic Workers Law in Singapore Increased the Female Labour Supply

In 1978, Singapore was the rst country to introduce legislation allowing foreign domestic workers (e.g. maids) to work in the country with special visas. Though Singapore is often cited in the literature as a success story, there are no studies quantifying the impact of this legislation. In this paper, we use data from Singapore's Yearbook of Manpower Statistics between 1974 and 1985, to determine the impact of the 1978 legislation on the labour supply of Singaporean women. We nd that the labour supply of women a ected by this policy increased by between 3.8% and 6.2%.

Immigration and Entrepreneurship

Immigrants are widely perceived as being highly entrepreneurial and important for economic growth and innovation. This is reflected in immigration policies and many developed countries have created special visas and entry requirements in an attempt to attract immigrant entrepreneurs. Not surprisingly, a large body of research on immigrant entrepreneurship has developed over the years. In this chapter we provide an overview of the economics literature with respect to some of the most fundamental immigrant entrepreneurship issues as well as the empirical methods and data used. The main themes we address are immigrant entrepreneurs' contributions to the economy, entrepreneurship differences across groups and group differences in entrepreneurial success.

International Research Collaborations: Ethical and Regulatory Considerations

International Research Collaborations: Ethical and Regulatory Considerations

Building better schools to harvest better minds

The average public school education is far too slow, easy, and boring for young students who are aiming for a career in science and technology. When I was placed in New York City’s public Stuyvesant High School for academically gifted students, I was shocked and awakened by the challenge facing me. Without that challenge, which came mainly from a critical mass of bright, intensely curious students, I would never have become an engineer and a PhD physicist. I propose that the US government fund and build 435 new free public high schools of science, like my Stuyvesant and the Bronx High School of Science, that would be locally controlled. The schools could be built over seven years at the rate of 63 per year, 1 in each congressional district, plus 6 for the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. High-tech industries would help in many ways.The cost would be roughly $4 billion per year for seven years. We can afford it. There are bright, creative minds inside youngsters of every skin color, ethnicity, and religion imaginable. Instead of Congress reluctantly granting up to 120 000 special visas each year for talented foreigners to work in our hightech industries, why not harvest the best minds from among young people born in America? China and India, with a combined population of 2.4 billion, are doing this now.© 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Home Office considers special visa to support overseas nurses

Home Office considers special visa to support overseas nurses

Remembrance of Ching Chun Li, 1912–2003

Remembrance of Ching Chun Li, 1912–2003

Working group 4: International medical graduates and the cardiology workforce

International medical graduates (IMGs) are physicians in practice or in post-graduate training in the U.S. who graduated from medical school outside the U.S., Puerto Rico, or Canada. Although many IMGs are foreign-born and are here on special visas (e.g., J-1 or H), a significant number are U.S.-born citizens and permanent residents who graduated from medical school in another country. Over the years, IMGs have been very important contributors to the science and practice of medicine in the U.S. During the past quarter-century they have filled the large gap between the number of U.S. medical graduates and the number of residency positions and subsequent opportunities in private practice and academic medicine. Several changes in licensing examinations and immigration laws have occurred over the past few years, however, that have potential impact on the contribution of IMGs to our nation's physician workforce. The present document examines the current status and future prospects of IMGs in cardiology training and practice in the U.S.

International Regional Organizations and their Travel Documents

Functional independence of international institutions is a sine qua non to their effective operation. Current international law reveals that international organizations have a legal capacity and certain privileges and immunities bestowed upon them by their member states to ensure their independence and that of their staffs. One vital component of functional independence is the freedom of travel for all members of the international staff. In examining the features of freedom of travel necessary for international organizations to discharge their responsibilities effectively, C. W. Jenks wrote:The freedom of movement which is necessary comprises more than the absence of any special restrictions; it includes the usual facilities for official travel, such as diplomatic or other special visas, priorities where these are necessary, exemption from immigration regulations and formalities, and similar measures; taken cumulatively these facilities involve a considerable saving of time and energy and are therefore an important element in securing the expeditious and unhindered travel necessary to the prompt discharge of international responsibilities.

American Visa Policy: A Report

AbstractSince the publication of the Special Visa Issue in October 1952, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has published each year a summary of the problems facing the foreign scientist who applies for a visitor's permit to the U.S. The Federation of American Scientists sponsors a Visa Committee which follows not only the legislative and administrative developments in this area but also maintains contact with individuals and organizations who have experienced difficulties. Their evaluation of the present visa situation is presented in two sections—the first is a general survey of the year 1954–55 and the second is a selection of case histories.