The Brazilian government has approved the requirement that visiting Americans must be fingerprinted and photographed.  The requirement was initially an act of revenge by a judge who was offended by the new US-VISIT program, which he called “Nazi-like.”

While American visitors to Brazil will have to go through the same processing that Brazilian visitors face when they enter the United States, the new Brazilian rules call for the immediate installation of electronic fingerprinting equipment and Web cameras to speed up the screening process, which Brazilian authorities had dragged out.   In a concession to US diplomatic objections, American visitors will no longer be called out of lines and made to stand separately and slowly processed.  The new rules also allow Brazil’s Federal Police to waive the fingerprinting and photographing of US cruise-ship passengers if authorities as Brazilian ports of entry cannot handle their processing.

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Over 2,000 asylum seekers from Iraq have arrived in Great Britain since last May – about 200 a month – despite the fall of Saddam Hussein and the liberation of Iraq last year.  Home Secretary David Blunkett has said that he would like those asylees to return home to assist in the rebuilding of Iraq since they are no longer threatened.  The British Home Office is contemplating offering Iraqis £3,000 in grants to get them to voluntarily return home.

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For Jews leaving Eastern Europe, Germany has become a more popular immigration goal than Israel.  In 2002, 19,200 Jewish Eastern European immigrants arrived in Germany, compared with the 18,000 who went to Israel.  Reasons cited for this trend are the difficult Hebrew language, the harsh climate in Israel and the ongoing Middle East conflict.

Since 1989, Germany’s Jewish population has increased from 30,000 to 100,000.  A 1990 German law allows Jews from Eastern Europe and the former USSR to settle in Germany.

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Russia has recently passed new visa and registration regulations in order to keep closer track of foreigners, particularly those from former Soviet republics who live and work illegally in the country. 

One of the changes in registrations was prompted by a number of cases of people being registered in apartments where they never lived and without the knowledge of those registered to live there.  Expatriates and tourists staying in a private apartment now need a letter of permission from their landlord and anyone else registered in the apartment.  The landlord has to get the document officially stamped by the local maintenance department.

Another new registration rule requires that the registration be stamped on the migration card people complete when arriving in Russia.  This will mean that those with business visas will have to re-register each time they enter the country because border officials collect the migration card when foreigners leave the country.

A foreigner working in Russia must now have a work visa and not a one-year multi-entry visa as in the past. Those with one-year multi-entry visas, which are for business travelers, can no longer stay in the country for more than 180 days at a time.  This will mean that foreigners will now have to leave and then re-enter the country at least every six months. The visa is also single entry, meaning a foreigner cannot leave the country and return later on the same visa.  Also, the visa requires that the holder to apply for an exit permit 45 days in advance of his planned departure.

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China and the EU have ratified an agreement that could lead to a significant increase in the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Europe.  In the agreement, the EU provides simplified visa procedures, especially for Chinese tourist groups, and China grants, “approved destination status” to EU member states, allowing tour groups to travel to China.

The agreement is trying to prevent the problem of Chinese overstays in countries Chinese citizens visit in search of illegal employment.  This issue has arisen in other countries accepting Chinese tour groups.  In the agreement with the EU, China agreed to take back the overstays.