Immigration News: South Korea to introduce K-culture & Digital Nomad visas; US reaches fiscal year 2024 H-1B cap; El Salvador introduces Bitcoin Freedom Visa

In 2024, South Korea will introduce a K-culture & workcation (Digital Nomad Visa) aiming to attract 20 million foreign tourists and create $24.5 billion in tourism revenue next year, the government has announced. (Photo: Rawkkim via Unsplash)

South Korea to introduce K-culture & work action visa: In 2024, South Korea will introduce a K-culture & workcation  (Digital Nomad Visa) aiming to attract 20 million foreign tourists and create $24.5 billion in tourism revenue next year, the government has announced.

The K-culture training visa targets young foreign nationals who are interested in Korean content and willing to learn about the country’s entertainment industry. The Digital Nomad Visa will allow residence in Korea for one to two years while the holder maintains a job back home, to promote a workcation culture, which refers to a system of combining remote work with tourism.

Among other moves to push inbound tourism, South Korea is also planning to expand electronic visa fee waivers for tour groups. To make shopping and travel easier for foreigners, foreign mobile payment systems will be introduced in stores to allow inbound travellers to use payment methods from their home countries. A foreign traveller-exclusive mobility application that makes reservations for trains, buses and taxis is bring developed; an English version of the existing navigation service is also in the pipeline.

The US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reaches fiscal year 2024 H-1B cap: USCIS has received a sufficient number of petitions needed to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2024.

The US businesses use the H1-B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.

USCIS will send non-selection notices to registrants through their online accounts. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, are exempt from the FY 2024 H-1B cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

• Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;
• Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
• Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
• Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in additional H-1B positions

If wealthy investors fill in all the 1,000 available spaces, El Salvador will raise US$ 1 billion. The country has pro-crypto policies that includes recognising Bitcoin as legal tender and scrapping income and capital gains taxes for tech companies investing in El Salvador for the next 15 years.

However, immigration pundits believe that El Salvador’s program with a minimum investment of US$ 1 million is not ‘competitive’ in the market wherein Citizenship by Investment (CBI) is available for much less investment. For example, Malta offers a $810,000 CBI that comes with perks such as visa-free entry to Schengen Area comprising 23 countries. The Caribbean nations of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St. Lucia, offer CBI in exchange for a $100,000 contribution to sovereign development funds while Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis have similar programs, with contributions starting at $150,000 and $250,000, respectively.

Finland’s labour migration numbers stay high: According to latest statistics, Finland’s labour migration figures are still on a high level compared to past years. The number of applications from students and family members continues to rise.

By the end of October 2023, Finland received a total of 14,710 applications for a first residence permit on the basis of work. The number of applications submitted this year will be lower than last year. Last year, foreign nationals submitted more than 20,000 applications for a first residence permit on the basis of work, which was a record-high number. Even though the number of applications has dropped from last year, it still continues to be higher than in 2018–2021.

By the end of October this year, the number of students’ residence permits applications for a first permit was 11,401. Nearly 70% of this year’s applications have been submitted by citizens of Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Until October 2023, a total of 14,853 persons have applied for Finnish citizenship. The number of citizenship applications is the highest ever recorded and is already at this point higher than in the previous record year, 2021. The total number of citizenship applications submitted in 2021 was 14,366.

In the European Union, the number of asylum applications is currently the highest since 2015–2016. The number of applications will likely exceed one million this year. In addition to asylum seekers, the reception capacity of the EU Member States is affected by refugees fleeing due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Because of the war in Ukraine, over 4 million people have applied for temporary protection in the European Union area, according to Finnish Immigration Service.