The Dominican Republic’s immigration agency announced that it will not grant permits for the hiring of new groups of Haitian laborers due to the fact that sugar mills do not need to hire additional personnel, according to The Dominican Today. Immigration Director Carlos Amarante said that there is sufficient Haitian manual labor in the national territory to be used for that work.

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According to The Daily Journal (Caracas), the Argentine government is set to give residence papers in March to a million foreign workers from nine countries in the region.

The immigrants from Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay will thus be able to legally work in and travel freely into and out of the country. The initiative comes within the framework of the National Program to Normalize Immigration Documentation. 

Spokesmen told the press that the aim of the strategy is to reduce off-the-books employment in Argentina, a situation currently engaged in – to one degree or another – by 47.5 percent of the country’s workers. To begin the process of regularizing one’s immigration status, a person must go to sites set up by the Immigration Directorate, present identification and fill out a form, after which one may receive a “temporary residence” permit.

With the permit, a foreign worker may “remain in, leave and re-enter the national territory, work and study during the period” in which the temporary residence is in force.  If an immigrant has no criminal record and is earning money legally, he or she may receive temporary residence for a period of not less than two years and then may apply for permanent residence. If the immigrant has parents, a spouse, children less than 21 years of age or disabled relatives, he or she may apply directly for permanent residence.

The plan to give residency to a million foreigners does not include all the immigrants currently living in Argentina since, for instance, about two million persons in the country – half of them undocumented – come from Bolivia alone. 

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According to Expatica News in Germany, the number of people who are pursuing asylum has dropped significantly in the year 2005 compared to the past 22 years.  Information from the Ministry of the Interior showed that 28,914 refugees requested asylum in Germany last year, a 18.8 percent decrease from 2004.  0.9 percent of requests for asylum in Germany were granted.  The downward trened in asylum seekers follows reform of Germany’s asylum laws in 1993.  Although overall numbers are down in Germany, asylum seekers from Iraq and Serbia and Montenegro have increased.  Last year, 1983 Iraqis applied for asylum in Germany, which is a 53.4 percent increase in applications.  Asylum applications from Serbia and Montenegro rose by 43.2 percent to 5522.

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According to Lifesite.net, Spain has introduced changes to its immigration policy that would allow asylum to refugees who claim discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.  The draft law will grant asylum to homosexuals who claim that the exercise of their sexual preference is curtailed in their native country. In addition, women who claim discrimination based on gender would now also be granted refuge.