Comparison of Immigration Visa Categories By Country
The most important decision for immigrant is to choose a country to move to. It is based on current and past immigration regulations of the considered country and a number of life conditions there. It is important to make sure that immigration legislation of chosen country will allow achieving a settlement and/or citizenship within certain period of time. This article is an attempt to classify and bring together the information about immigration legislation on a number of most popular countries.
| Country | Employer Sponsored Work Visa | Independent Work Visa | Businessman, Self-employed or Entrepreneur | Investor | Ph.D. or Scientist | Spouse | Asylum Seeker | By birth while both of parents are foreign nationals | Studying as a migration route | Illegal Migrant | Citizenship | Special arrangements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IND | No restrictions | After 12 years of residence (of which 1 year should be continuous) | ||||||||||
| USA | Through H1B lottery, many applicants failed to receive a settlement after 6 years and had to leave the country. | EB-1 Extraordinary Ability - for internationally recognized scientists, sportsman etc. | EB-5: you need to invest $500.000 | Ph.D. allows to apply for EB2 visa which makes it possible to avoid H1B lottery and get a green card faster than those on H1B | Available | After 5 years of permanent residence known as Green Card | Green Card Lottery | |||||
| United Kingdom British nationality law | Tier 2 - settlement (ILR) after 5 years. A limit on number of Tier 2 migrants per year introduced by new government which makes it very difficult to find an employer willing to sponsor the visa. Tier 2 Intra-company transfers do not lead to settlement (ILR). | (practically not available since April 2011) Tier 1 General - settlement (ILR) after 5 years. A limit on 1000 Tier 1 migrants per year introduced by new government. Besides that the migration legislation changes on average every six months which makes Britain not attractive for skilled migrants looking for a second nationality. | Tier 1 Entrepreneur | Tier 1 Investor | There is no specific category here but it is easier for universities (as opposed to businesses) to acquire a Tier 2 visa | ILR is provided after 2 years in marriage or partnership. | UK is a popular destination for asylum seekers. Due to high number of asylum seekers, the Asylum Tribunal seems to be very unlikely to recognize even very irresistible proofs for asylum grounds. | British citizenship can be obtained as a right for anybody who was born in Britain before 1994. After 1994, it can only be obtained by birth if at least one parent was settled there. It is also available as of right for people of whom one parent is a British citizen otherwise than by descent". All other classes of British Nationality do not confer right of abode in the UK to the holder. | Tier4 Full-time students used to be are allowed to work up to 20 hours a week, which is now changed to 10 hours. After 10 years of continuous presence in the country on residential visas ILR is provided (this is probably not valid any more). For those who graduated in the UK there is | After 15 years of continuous illegal but proven presence in the country ILR is provided. | Citizenship is provided after 1 year of Permanent residency. Permanent residency in the UK is known as settlement or "Indefinite Leave to Remain" (ILR). | EU citizens (temporary except Bulgaria and Romania), as created by the Treaty of Rome at 17 have the right to work, provide services or self-employment in the UK
See also: Citizenship of the European Union
Some commonwealth citizens have right of abode in the UK, which for most practical purposes gives them the same rights as British Citizens in the UK. |
| Canada | Official information | Available but Canada reduced the number of jobs in demands. E.g. software engineers are now unable to use this route. | ||||||||||
| Australia | Available | |||||||||||
| New Zealand | Available | |||||||||||
| South Africa | ||||||||||||
| Guernsey | ||||||||||||
| Jersey | ||||||||||||
| Gibraltar | ||||||||||||
| Isle of Man | Similar to British Tier1 General, but does not lead to EU nationality | Similar to British Tier1 Entrepreneur, but does not lead to EU nationality | ||||||||||
| Hong Kong | General Employment Policy (GEP); will receive Right of Abode (ROA) in Hong Kong, after 7 years continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong. | General Points Test (GPT) | Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES); you need to invest HK$10 million except on real estate; will receive Right of Abode (ROA) in Hong Kong, after 7 years continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong. | passing General Points Test (GPT) within Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) | Person under 21 years of age born in Hong Kong of foreigner with HK Permanent ID Card, will receive Right of Abode (ROA) in Hong Kong, but not Chinese nationality. | Foreigner who is a Hong Kong Permanent ID Card holder may naturalise as Chinese national with HKSAR Passport, if applicant has settle in Hong Kong or Chinese territory, has near relatives of Chinese nationals, and other legitimate reasons. | Mainland China issued a daily quota of 150 One Way Permits to mainland Chinese for Hong Kong settlement; will receive Right of Abode (ROA) in Hong Kong, after 7 years continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong; plus the right to apply for a HKSAR Passport. | |||||
| Israel | Not available | Law of Return | ||||||||||
| European Union | Varies by member state | Blue Card: will be available in 2012, except UK and Denmark | ||||||||||
| Austria | May be available in the future, called Rot-Weiß-Rot-Card | |||||||||||
| Belgium | ||||||||||||
| Bulgaria | ||||||||||||
| Cyprus | It is considered to be very unlikely to get nationality through work route | Not available | ||||||||||
| Czech Republic | Not available | |||||||||||
| Denmark | Available: Danish Green Card | |||||||||||
| Estonia | ||||||||||||
| Finland | ||||||||||||
| France | Not available | |||||||||||
| Germany | Not available | There are programs for Continental Refugees and Repatriates but the rules are severely tightened to prevent as little new migrants as possible to benefit from them. | ||||||||||
| Greece | ||||||||||||
| Hungary | ||||||||||||
| Ireland | Not available | Available | ||||||||||
| Italy | ||||||||||||
| Latvia | ||||||||||||
| Lithuania | ||||||||||||
| Luxembourg Luxembourgian nationality law | ||||||||||||
| Malta | ||||||||||||
| Netherlands | ||||||||||||
| Poland | ||||||||||||
| Portugal | ||||||||||||
| Romania | Special arrangements for citizens of Moldova | |||||||||||
| Slovakia | ||||||||||||
| Slovenia | ||||||||||||
| Spain | Not available | |||||||||||
| Sweden | ||||||||||||
| Singapore | ||||||||||||
| NorwayNorwegian nationality law | Min 4 years, see Norwegian nationality law#Naturalisation as a Norwegian citizen for more details. | Min 7 years, see Norwegian nationality law#Naturalisation as a Norwegian citizen for more details. | Citizens of other Nordic Council countries may naturalise after a two-year residence | |||||||||
| Country | Employer Sponsored Work Visa | Independent Work Visa | Businessman, Self-employed or Entrepreneur | Investor | Ph.D. or Scientist | Spouse | Asylum Seeker | By birth | Studying as a migration route | Illegal Migrant | Citizenship | Special arrangements |
Read more about this topic: Immigration Law
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