Immigration News: Switzerland tops 2023 Global Talent Competitiveness List; New Zealand Immigration warns of phone scams; Sweden's stringent citizenship requirements

Switzerland has retained its first-place position in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) this year, followed by Singapore, and the US. (Photo: Dino Reichmuth via Unsplash)

Switzerland tops the 2023 Global Talent Competitiveness List: Switzerland has retained its first-place position in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) this year, followed by Singapore, and the United States. European countries continue to dominate the GTCI rankings, taking 17 of the top 25 positions. The other countries in the Top 10 list include Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Australia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

India was ranked 103 out of the 134 countries that were rated in the assessment of what countries do to produce and acquire talent and the kind of skills that are available to them as a result. India scored an overall 30.37 points (compare it with 78.96 score of top-ranked Switzerland) and was ranked 5th in the Central & Southern Asia sub-category followed by Nepal in the 6th and Pakistan in the 7th place.

In the context of the GTCI, talent competitiveness refers to the set of policies and practices that enable a country to develop, attract, and empower the human capital that contributes to productivity and prosperity.

New Zealand Immigration warns people of phone scams: Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has warned people of recent targeted phone scams coming from various New Zealand mobile numbers. One example of these scams states the call is coming from 'The Immigration Bureau' saying there is a 'serious problem with your visa'. The call then prompts recipients to press different numbers for English or Chinese services, INZ said in a press release.

According to INZ, such calls are not genuine calls from Immigration New Zealand and are intended to identify people for further scams. In the future they may attempt to manipulate or trick people into giving away their personal details, financial details, or money.

If anyone receives this call or a similar one, report it to CERT NZ and do not engage further.

If you are a visa holder and you receive a scam call, and you would like reassurance on your current visa situation, call the Service Centre and they can discuss any visa matters with directly.

More stringent requirements for Swedish citizenship: The Swedish Government has tasked an inquiry chair with submitting proposals for more stringent requirements for Swedish citizenship. The aim is to enhance the status of citizenship and promote an inclusive society of empowered individuals with improved opportunities to actively participate in society.

“Citizenship represents a formal membership of Swedish society and is very important, both legally and symbolically. By imposing more stringent requirements for acquiring citizenship, the value of it also increases. The inquiry that we are appointing is therefore an important part of the Government’s efforts to strengthen Swedish citizenship. The changes are also an important aspect of the Government’s efforts to promote integration,” Minister for Migration Maria Malmer Stenergard said.

The inquiry is to:

• propose a requirement of longer habitual residence in Sweden to acquire citizenship;
• propose what additional knowledge about Swedish society and Swedish culture should be required to acquire citizenship;
• propose a self-support requirement to acquire citizenship;
• propose a more stringent requirement of an ‘honest lifestyle’ to acquire citizenship;
• determine whether a requirement of a citizenship interview, an oath of loyalty or some similar ceremonial element to conclude the process of acquiring citizenship should be introduced;
• determine whether the examination procedures for releasing a child’s citizenship should be changed; and
• present necessary legislative proposals

But passengers will still require their passport for boarding and landing in other countries.

Other international airports are also dabbling in biometrics as well. Hong Kong International Airport has a self-service biometric identification system called Flight Token. Passengers with which passengers can pass through various departure checkpoints - from check-in and bag drop to security checks and boarding - simply through facial recognition and they do not have to present their travel documents and boarding passes again.

Passengers departing from Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports using some airlines can now register their facial data and then pass through self-service bag drops, security checks and boarding with just their facial profile.