Immigration News: Foreigners can apply for Irish citizenship online; Portugal to expedite recognition of foreign medical degrees; US proposes to modernise H-1B program

Online applications for Irish Citizenship will allow the Immigration Service to more efficiently and effectively manage these applications which have increased in recent years. (Photo: Tommy Bond via Unsplash)

Foreigners can now apply for Irish Citizenship online: Ireland’s Department of Justice has announced that foreigners can now apply for Irish Citizenship online at www.irishimmigration.ie. The paper-based application will remain available to those who cannot access an online service.

The online Citizenship application service will allow potential new Irish citizens to complete their application form, upload necessary supporting documentation and pay fees online, making the application process easier and more efficient.

It will also allow the Immigration Service to more efficiently and effectively manage applications for Citizenship, which have increased in recent years.

The digitisation of the citizenship application process is a key milestone in the Department of Justice’s Immigration Service Delivery Modernisation Programme that, over the coming years, will digitise a number of currently paper-based immigration processes and introduce a portal system where individuals will be able to manage and view all aspects of their interaction with immigration services.

Portugal to expedite recognition of foreign medical degrees: Reeling under severe shortage of medical professionals, the Portuguese government has decided to expedite the recognition of medical degrees of foreign higher education institutions.

Medical professionals who have degrees from non-Portuguese institutions will not have access to ‘special recognition scheme’ that is aimed at hiring doctors for the country’s National Health Services (NHS).

According to an official statement, the measure is set in the decree law published in the Government Gazette, which amends the legal scheme to recognise academic degrees and higher education diplomas from foreign institutions.

“The recognition of the academic degree will be via an ordinance by the members of Government charged with science, technology, higher education, and health. This recognition confers on the doctor the same rights as the Portuguese academic master’s degree, given after an integrated master’s degree medical course and is also enough for enrolment in the professional association,” the notification reads.

The process is limited to the numbers to be defined by ordinance of both ministries and is for doctors who will work with the NHS for preset periods of time. The recognition of the degree does not waive the doctor from meeting with the required legal obligations to access a medical specialty.

US proposes to modernise H-1B specialty occupation worker program: The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it would modernise the H-1B specialty occupation worker program by streamlining eligibility requirements, improving program efficiency, providing greater benefits and flexibilities for employers and workers, and strengthening integrity measures.

The H-1B nonimmigrant visa program allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations, defined by statute as occupations that require highly specialised knowledge and a bachelor’s or higher degree in the specific specialty, or its equivalent.

The proposed rule would change how USCIS conducts the H-1B registration selection process to reduce the possibility of misuse and fraud. Under the current process, the more registrations that are submitted on behalf of an individual, the higher chance that individual will be selected in a lottery.  Under the new proposal, each unique individual who has a registration submitted on their behalf would be entered into the selection process once, regardless of the number of registrations submitted on their behalf. This would improve the chances that a legitimate registration would be selected by significantly reducing or eliminating the advantage of submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary solely to increase the chances of selection. Furthermore, it could also give beneficiaries more choice between legitimate job offers because each registrant who submitted a registration for a selected beneficiary would have the ability to file an H-1B petition on behalf of the beneficiary.

New Zealand’s new strategy to respond to false information in visa applications: New Zealand has announced changes to how the government will respond to false information in the visa application process.

Now, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) will:

• begin using the Immigration Act for visa applications that include false or misleading information, or in which relevant information is withheld. These applications will not be declined before an immigration officer considers the circumstances of the application
• continue using immigration instructions related to character to assess whether applicants who have previously provided false information, and who are not granted a character wavier, should be declined
• clarify that there is no need for an immigration officer to establish a visa applicant acted deliberately and dishonestly before an application containing false information can be declined
• consider the visa applicant’s intentions and involvement with respect to the false information when deciding whether to grant a character waiver and a visa