Work Visas Research Articles

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.

Challenges of Brexit for a medical fellowship in the United Kingdom

: Brexit is expected to have a negative impact on the National Health Service (NHS) and the healthcare workforce. As a result, international medical graduates who consider migrating to the United Kingdom (UK) may encounter challenges and uncertainty. Here, we describe the process required to be followed by overseas-qualified doctors who wish to complete fellowship training in the UK, including registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) and application for a Health and Care Worker visa. We subsequently discuss negative consequences of Brexit on medical staff, such as legal barriers for international doctors, understaffing, and potentially less opportunities for research, as well as how these may deter them from working in the NHS. To mitigate the negative effects of Brexit on doctors, the UK medical system and health policy makers must take early measures. Such measures may include continued recognition of medical qualifications from the European Economic Area, preservation of the quality of NHS employment, continued UK participation in research programmes funded by the European Union, eradication of ethnic intolerance and discrimination, as well as provision of equal opportunities for career progression. Ensuring that the NHS remains an attractive destination for international medical practitioners is closely related with maintaining high standards of patient care.

Book Review: Engaging International Alumni as Strategic Partners.

About 1.1 million international students were enrolled in U.S. institutions in the 2019–2020 academic year (Institute of International Education, 2021). Given limited work visas and the ever-changing political climates that impact migration, most international students will return to their home countries and will be unable to remain connected with alumni activities in their former host countries. A few institutions have attempted to maintain relationships with these former international students through their alumni relations office. The book <em>Engaging International Alumni as Strategic Partner</em>s offers innovative ideas and approaches on how institutions can effectively develop, grow, and sustain such programs of engagement and why institutions should be strategic in their engagement with international alumni.

Did DACA Harm US-Born Workers? Temporary Work Visas and Labor Market Competition

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals granted more than 900,000 temporary work permits to eligible immigrants. I estimate the impact of the policy on the labor market outcomes of natives and immigrants ineligible to take up the policy using ACS data and a continuous difference-in-differences strategy to compare individuals who are more and less exposed to the eligible population. I find that DACA does not depress labor market outcomes for natives, and possibly increases the fraction working. I also find that the policy likely had no impact on ineligible immigrants.

Health equity and worker justice: the food supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into stark relief the health, safety and security threats facing people in the US and around the globe. As stay-at-home orders were instituted, most economic activities closed or required work from home; however, companies in the Food Supply Chain (FSC) continued to operate, considered “essential businesses.” The meatpacking and agriculture sectors in Illinois - 79,000 and 55,000 workers, respectively - are largely populated by (im)migrant workers, some on short-term work visas and many of whom are part of the informal (cash) economy. Only a tiny percentage of meatpacking and no agriculture businesses are unionized in Illinois or most of the USA. Initially, FSC workplaces were not re-configured for social distancing; sanitation and entry procedures were not instituted; workers were not offered personal protective equipment (PPE); and no plans were made for quarantine of infected workers or isolation of COVID-exposed workers. Lack of paid sick leave for these workers, who earn subsistence wages and whose employment is extremely precarious due to immigration status, added pressure for them to continue to work while infectious. Investigation and enforcement of health and safety was taken on by local health departments rather than the occupational safety and health enforcement agency. Finally, these workers, who live in congregate housing and share transportation, carried the virus from work to community and community to work. We review US laws related to immigration, labor, and occupational health and safety before and during the pandemic, as well as epidemiological data. We will highlight the changes required to address “work” in the web of contagion during an infectious disease epidemic. Protection of workers’ rights, as well as a clearer understanding of the integral connection between workplace and community, will be a likely “side effect” of these efforts.

A note on KiwiSaver and migrants on temporary visas

New Zealand’s (NZ) current policy setting excludes migrants on work or student temporary visas from joining KiwiSaver (KS). Migrants on temporary visas, therefore, cannot access a savings vehicle that makes saving for retirement convenient and provides financial incentives to save. This research note estimates the extent of this migrant KS ineligibility issue. We use linked administrative data to create a cohort of 70,000 NZ migrants on temporary work or student visas in 2009 and follow them for ten years. Results show that after five years, over half of the cohort live overseas and about 10,000 remain on temporary visas and hence are still ineligible for KS. Using KS enrolment of a comparison group of resident-class migrants over the same time period, we estimate that just over half of employed temporary migrants might have potentially joined KS if eligible. The lost individual KS contributions range between $36,000 and $51,000 by time the migrant reaches 65 years old. Our findings contribute to the policy debate of whether the eligibility criteria of NZ’s KS scheme should be revised to allow temporary visa holders to join.

Stuck in India: Punjabi temporary migrants of New Zealand

Our paper reflects on creating a short documentary in 2021 centred around an online discussion, which the second author recorded with three Punjabi migrants. At the time of being interviewed, these migrants had New Zealand temporary work and study visas and were stuck in Punjab, India, for more than a year since the New Zealand government announced on 19 March 2020 the international border would be closed indefinitely due to Covid-19. The documentary research found that Punjabis stranded in their country of origin were imploring Punjabis in New Zealand to lobby to the New Zealand state to let them return. As a result, Auckland migrant groups were advocating for temporary migrants to be allowed back.

New Zealand border restrictions amidst COVID-19 and their impacts on temporary migrant workers.

In September 2021, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) announced the offer of a one-off residence visa category – the 2021 Resident Visa, to over 165,000 temporary migrant workers and their family members living in the country. The offer was a response to the backlog and growing numbers of applications that INZ was unable to attend to largely because of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on relevant statistical data, news media reports and available academic publications, this research note examines how New Zealand’s sanitization policies during the pandemic affected the lives of temporary migrant workers who hold various work visas.

The UK Seasonal Worker Visa

AbstractThis article discusses the United Kingdom (UK) 2019 Seasonal Worker Visa, which was adopted to address labour shortages in horticulture. It explains the challenges faced by workers in agriculture more broadly, and the particular issues raised by seasonal visas. It argues that the UK scheme contains significant restrictions on workers’ rights. The article situates this scheme in a framework of ‘state-mediated structures of injustice’, namely instances where legal rules with an appearance of legitimacy create or increase vulnerability and are connected to widespread structures of exploitation. This theoretical framework focuses on the role and responsibility of the state for workers’ exploitation. The authorities have political responsibility to change these rules, and may also have legal responsibility to do so under human rights law.

‘Ways to stick around’: im/mobility strategies of ageing, temporary migrants in Dubai

ABSTRACT In spite of the strict migration regimes that prevent permanent settlement and naturalisation, migrants have, for decades, made the UAE their unofficial home, something that has led to the existence of subsequent generations of non-citizens who are born there. However, reaching the age of 65 marks retirement for migrants, who can no longer receive work visas in the UAE. Prolonging residency is possible, yet without social security and pensions, maintaining a decent life requires significant financial investment and reliance on family and social networks. Based on interviews with the adult children of first-generation migrants from the ‘Global South’, this paper provides insights into a number of strategies their parents develop in order to navigate restrictive immigration regimes upon retirement in the UAE. Most migrants prefer to stay put in the UAE upon retirement, where their children continue to live. Drawing on ‘immobility’ debates, this paper argues that immobility is an active – and relatively privileged – response to restrictive immigration policies in the UAE that enforce mobility upon retirement. Whilst a preference for ‘ageing in the UAE’ is often costly and precarious, older migrants’ social and emotional attachments often outweigh economic reasons to leave, as this paper shows.

UK visas for nationals of the former Soviet Union: Main issues and potential solutions

The relevance of the stated research topic is determined by the fact that in the globalisation era, the migration rate worldwide is increasing every year influenced by political and economic factors. However, there are democratic countries on the world map that, due to various circumstances, implement strict migration policies. Among these countries is the United Kingdom, which frequently refuses to grant foreigners either tourist or work visas. The purpose of the study is to examine the difficulties in obtaining British visas by citizens of the former Soviet Union and to formulate prospects for addressing them. The author used a range of general scientific and specialised research methods. The comparative method was used to compare the UK’s visa restrictions on citizens of different post-Soviet states. Structural-functional, historical, systemic, and institutional methods were also applied. The findings of the study include the identification of the key elements of the UK’s migration policy towards citizens of the former Soviet Union and an analysis of the prospects for visa liberalisation. Special attention was paid to changes in migration legislation after the United Kingdom left the European Union. The results of this study can be used in research and applied fields. It can also be applied by the state authorities of the former Soviet Union to build mechanisms for cooperation on migration issues with government structures in the UK. Furthermore, the paper will be of interest to researchers specialising in the study of migration and the British experience in this area

Меры государственной поддержки обеспечения занятости населения в Латвии, Литве и Эстонии

According to the EU Eurostat data, for a long period of time, the Baltic countries have been leading the list of countries with high unemployment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these indicators have become critical in their scale, so the national governments of these countries, with the help of the EU, are trying to change the situation for the better with the help of various measures of state support in the field of employment, stabilize these indicators and bring them to the level of pre-crisis 2019. The purpose of the study is a comprehensive analysis of state support measures of the Governments of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia aimed at providing employment and combating unemployment as one of the factors affecting their socio-economic development. The methodology of the study includes a method of statistical analysis, with the help of which statistical data on the number of unemployed citizens in these countries (for the period 2014-2021) are compared, the dynamics of the population in the period under review is considered. Along with the statistical method, a SWOT analysis was used, on the basis of which the strengths and weaknesses of state support measures of the governments of the Baltic countries in order to support employment, potential threats from their application and new opportunities for supporting unemployed persons were identified. The authors of the study made proposals on the need for structural reforms aimed at improving the labor market in the Baltic states, such as: retraining citizens who lost their jobs during the pandemic, for state account, the introduction of stricter quotas for the entry of citizens from the territory of the former Soviet Union and obtaining a work visa, the provision of additional subsidies to small and medium-sized businesses, the release of their from paying taxes for the period of emerging pandemics.

The Need for Speed: The Role of Employers in Immigrant Work Visa Acceleration and Approval

Why are some immigrant work visa applications processed and approved in a matter of days, while others languish for months before receiving a decision? We contend that the relative dissimilarity between a focal visa application and an employer’s past work visa filings is a key, yet unstudied, strategic value consideration affecting the sponsoring firm’s engagement with the regulatory bureaucracy. Using U.S. CIS administrative records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act detailing all H-1B visa applications from 2006 to 2015, we analyze employers’ acceleration of select applications through the “premium processing” program, which guarantees an initial visa decision in 15 days in exchange for a $1,225 per-application payment. We find that employers are more likely to use premium processing for immigrants whose countries of birth, prospective jobs, and educational experiences are dissimilar relative to the applications previously filed by that employer. Further, employers less frequently withdraw or abandon dissimilar applications, and request longer employment durations in these dissimilar applications. In contrast to prior arguments regarding immigrants’ regulatory and employment success, we argue that immigrants identical on observables and migration inclination may fare differently in the U.S. immigration system depending on their dissimilarity within the context of their sponsoring employer.

The New System of Mexican Migration: The Role of Entry Mode-Specific Human and Social Capital.

Between 2000 and 2020, undocumented migration declined, temporary labor migration rose, and legal permanent residents arrived at a steady pace-together creating a new system of Mexico-U.S. migration based on the circulation of legal temporary workers and permanent residents. Drawing on data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Mexican Migration Project, we specify multinomial event-history models to predict the likelihood of departure on first and later trips via four entry categories: no documents, noncompliant tourist visas, temporary work visas, and legal residence visas. The models reveal how the accumulation of entry mode-specific social and human capital powered a system of undocumented migration that emerged between 1965 and 1985, and how that system deteriorated from 1985 to 2000. After 2000, employers took advantage of new visa categories to recruit legal temporary workers, leading to the accumulation of migration-related human and social capital specific to that mode of entry and the emergence of a new system of Mexico-U.S. migration.

Post-Graduation Work Visas and Loopholes: Insights into Support Provision for International Graduates from the Perspectives of Migration Agents, Universities, and International Graduates.

Background: Major host countries of international students such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US have introduced post-study work rights as a strategic policy to both enhance their destination attraction and support international students' post-graduation work experiences. While this policy is generally welcomed by both host institutions and international students, little is known about the support mechanism for the growing cohort of international student graduates who stay in their countries of study on temporary graduate visas, especially in relation to major concerns such as post-graduation work, visa application, and migration pathways. Objective: This article fills an important gap in the existing literature. It aims to assess the role of universities in supporting their international alumni on temporary visas. Research Design: It is derived from a study that includes 50 interviews with university staff, agents, and international graduates. It uses positioning theory as a conceptual framework. Results: The findings of the study raise concerns about the scope of university advice. It reports loopholes which legitimize the practices of migration agents to the conditions that enable them to exercise their exclusive rights in providing work-migration nexus advice to international students and graduates, making this cohort vulnerable to exploitation of unethical agents. The study provides the evidence base to develop recommendations for related stakeholders in improving the post-graduation experiences of international student graduates who remain in the host countries on temporary visas.

Immigrant workers' movements in the U.S.: Where are high‐skilled ‘nonimmigrants’?

AbstractImmigrant workers in the U.S. mobilize through labor unions, worker centers and even autonomously for their rights. But existing literature on immigrant workers' movements mentions only low‐wage, low‐skilled and undocumented immigrants, who represent the majority of non‐citizens in the country. There is no discussion on how high‐skilled ‘nonimmigrant’ workers (or immigrants on temporary work visas) mobilize. A relatively small section of migration literature pays attention to high‐skilled nonimmigrants' challenges. But scholars in this group, too, are silent about these workers' organizing capacities. In this critical review, I draw attention to this mutual silence in two groups of literature. I also refer to some empirical instances of mobilization by high‐skilled nonimmigrants. I suggest that this is a potential field of research, which may contribute to social movement, migration and labor scholarship. Additionally, it may identify possibilities of solidarity across immigrant groups.

A Nation of Immigrants Reconsidered: US Society in An Age of Restriction, 1924–1965

A Nation of Immigrants Reconsidered: US Society in An Age of Restriction, 1924–1965

Cormac McCarthy: A Complexity Theory of Literature

Cormac McCarthy: A Complexity Theory of Literature

Short Stay Visa Holders and Occupational Trainees in Australia’s Labour Migration Program: Regulatory Challenges at The Apex of Temporariness

This article addresses a gap in the scholarly literature on the legal regulation of temporary labour migration by tracing the legislative history and regulation of work visas for short stay specialists and occupational trainees. By reason of their acute temporariness, both short stay workers and occupational trainees could be regarded as having a migration status that makes them vulnerable in their work relations. In addition, this vulnerability means they may accept terms and conditions that undercut domestic labour standards. Although the detailed legislative tracing of both visas reveals various attempts to re-regulate both visas in favour of greater scrutiny of employer requests for overseas labour, tightening access requirements and increasing enforcement and monitoring capacity, these have been largely incapable of preventing instances of egregious exploitation. These case studies on two little-known visas mirror the growing concerns around the integrity of Australia’s temporary labour migration program more generally and point to the myriad tensions, challenges and complexities inherent in the regulation of temporary labour migration programs around the globe.

Pelaksanaan Ketentuan Penggunaan Tenaga Kerja Asing pada Hotel Area Sanur di Kota Denpasar

Based on observations at the hotel in the Sanur area, there were several foreign workers working at the hotel before the permit was approved. This study aims to examine the implementation of the provisions on the use of foreign workers and examine the obstacles in implementing the provisions on the use of foreign workers at hotels in the Sanur area. This research method is empirical legal research with a statutory approach. There are two sources of data used, namely primary and secondary legal materials. To obtain valid data, the researchers used observation and interview techniques. Research data that has been collected, processed and analyzed qualitatively descriptive. The results show that special requirements such as foreign workers must have specific skills, companies that guarantee foreign workers must have a permit to employ foreign workers and foreign workers must meet immigration requirements such as passports, visas and KITAS. The use of foreign workers in hotels in the Sanur area of ​​Denpasar City is quite good, but there are obstacles in implementing the provisions for the use of foreign workers in hotels in the Sanur area when foreign workers are needed urgently so that they take a shortcut by extending a Visit Visa when the work visa has expired. The suggestion is that companies in Indonesia should prioritize competent local workers and follow the rules regarding the use of foreign workers.