In an effort to boost Singapore’s falling population, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority announced legal changes to their citizenship laws.  The following revisions will be effective Saturday, May 22, 2004:

§       A woman married to a foreigner can pass on citizenship to a child born overseas.

§       Permanent residents seeking citizenship and calculating their residency requirements are allowed to be out of the country for business or pleasure for 12 months.

§       Transmission of citizenship by descent is no longer limited to one generation. 

Increasing the country’s population is a top priority after the fertility rate of Singapore fell to a record low of 1.26 children per woman in 2003. The generally accepted standard fertility rate to replenish a population is 2.1 children per woman.  More incentives to increase the population are expected in the coming months.

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The Belgium Foreign Ministry has redesigned the country’s passport in an effort to combat fraud.  In response to widespread criticism that the prior Belgian passports were easy to forge or copy, a special microchip containing biometric information will be implanted in the document to ensure validity.  Biometric chips contain unique information about the holder’s face, iris scans and fingerprints. Civil rights activists claim that the new measure gives the Belgian government too much access to the personal data of its citizens.  The Belgian Foreign Ministry maintains that such chips will make their passports impossible to duplicate. 

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A former Winnipeg immigration lawyer was convicted last week of helping to smuggle a man into the United States in 1999.  She was given a one-year conditional sentence, under which she must abide by a curfew that will allow her to leave home only to go to work.  Additionally, she will have to repay about $3,800 she received in the smuggling incident.

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According to the website of Czech Republic’s embassy in Canada, the country has dropped its visa requirement for Canadian visitors.  In April 2001, the Czech Republic imposed a visa requirement on Canadians as a reciprocal response to the requirements set on Czech citizens entering Canada.  However, Czech officials have determined a decline in tourists traveling to the country and have therefore lifted the requirement.

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In England, the health minister announced plans to exclude overseas visitors and failed asylum seekers from eligibility for NHS GP services.  The announcement appeared to be in response to media reporting of supposed abuses, and comes with no evidence that there is currently any abuse and with no projected savings from the new policy.

As the policy now stands, GPs have discretion over whether or not to register overseas visitors as NHS patients.  The new policy will take away any ambiguity, and according to the health minister will better watch over taxpayer money.  GP practices will still be permitted to provide emergency treatment and some other services for free to all comers.