Blog · 2024-11-30

Relocation news digest - November 30, 2024

Montenegro: visas for Russians

Montenegro will introduce visas for citizens of 11 countries, including Russia and Belarus, by 2027.

UAE: golden visa opens to education workers

The emirate of Ras Al Khaimah has expanded eligibility for the golden visa to private-sector education professionals who can demonstrate outstanding performance and a significant contribution to the development of private education in Ras Al Khaimah.

The route is open only to professionals in the private education sector. Applicants must have lived and worked in Ras Al Khaimah for at least three years. An applicant's family members are also eligible for the golden visa.

Romania: crypto income to be exempt from tax

In Romania, income from cryptocurrencies will be exempt from personal income tax.

"Individual taxpayers are exempt from income tax on gains derived from the difference between income from investments in virtual currencies purchased for resale and income received in virtual currencies, through 31 July 2025 inclusive," the official statement reads.

Indonesia: amendments to immigration law

The Indonesian government has passed a new law introducing several changes to the country's immigration legislation, aimed at tightening the regulation of residence permits for foreign nationals.

The changes include:

• Re-entry permits for holders of limited-stay permits (ITAS) and permanent-stay permits (ITAP) are now issued with the same validity as the permit itself - one year for ITAS holders and five years for ITAP holders. Previously, re-entry permits were issued for two years and could be renewed every two years.
• Immigration officers now have the authority to bar foreign nationals from leaving Indonesia if they have unresolved legal obligations, such as ongoing criminal cases.
• Foreign nationals - for example, those facing criminal charges - may now be barred from re-entering Indonesia for up to 10 years, with the possibility of a further 10-year extension. Previously, re-entry bans were limited to six-month intervals with no defined maximum duration.

Italy: St. Petersburg visa centre shortens the filing window

The Italian visa centre in St. Petersburg has shortened the window for submitting visa applications to 15 days before the intended departure. The departure date itself should not be counted within those 15 days, the centre notes on its website. Previously, documents were accepted no earlier than 60 days before the start of a trip.

The Bahamas: minimum investment for permanent residency to rise

The government of the Bahamas is raising the minimum investment required for permanent residency to 1,000,000 Bahamian dollars (about 1,000,000 US dollars), up from the previous 750,000 Bahamian dollars.

Foreign nationals must invest this minimum amount in Bahamian real estate or in zero-coupon bonds issued by the Central Bank of the Bahamas.

In addition, from 1 January 2025 permanent-residency holders will be required to maintain their investment for at least 10 years; otherwise, the Immigration Board may revoke their resident status.

VTB launches instant transfers to Kazakhstan

Transfers will be converted automatically, with funds credited in tenge.

The transfer fee is 0.5% (minimum 50 roubles), and the transfer amount ranges from 100 roubles to 200,000 roubles per transaction.

Czechia: authorities may ban dual citizenship for Russians

Members of the Czech parliament have put forward an initiative requiring applicants to renounce Russian citizenship before receiving a Czech passport. It is tied primarily to Russia's actions in Ukraine. The initiative has already been approved by the parliamentary security committee and, once formalised, will be submitted to the country's highest legislative body for approval on 3 December.

Those who already hold both Russian and Czech citizenship will not be required to renounce their Russian citizenship.

Vanuatu loses visa-free access to the Schengen zone

The European Parliament voted almost unanimously to permanently revoke Vanuatu's visa-free access to the Schengen zone.

Back in March 2022, the European Commission had already suspended the visa-free agreement with Vanuatu, citing "risks associated with citizenship-by-investment programmes." At the time, the suspension applied only to Vanuatu citizens who had obtained their passport after May 2015 - the date the citizenship programme launched.

In response, the Vanuatu government set up a task force to address the EU's concerns. The reforms, however, fell short of the bloc's expectations.

"Shortcomings in the programme's due diligence, the absence of physical-presence requirements and insufficient information sharing create vulnerabilities that could be exploited by individuals with criminal intent," the European Parliament's report states.

The report also criticises the continued issuance of "golden passports" to Russian nationals amid the conflict in Ukraine, which it says "undermines the EU's ongoing international efforts."

Turkey: old-series $50 and $100 notes no longer accepted in the capital

Following reports in the media and on social networks that counterfeit banknotes are in circulation, currency-exchange offices in Turkey's capital have stopped accepting old-series 50- and 100-dollar notes.

Earlier, media reports claimed that counterfeit currency worth 600 million dollars had been released onto the local market. The forgeries were said to be of such high quality that even specialised counting machines and ATMs could not detect them. Officials have so far offered no comment on the matter.

Thailand: new rules for renewing work permits

The Board of Investment has cut the validity of renewed work permits to one year (down from two) for foreign nationals employed by companies working in e-commerce, software, digital services and digital-content development.

For the next renewal of their work permit and visa, these employees' BOI companies must file a request to cancel the existing designated position and obtain approval for a new position and job. Foreign nationals who hold technology-expert roles and meet the current salary requirements may still renew their work permits for up to two years.

China to keep expanding its list of visa-free countries

This was announced at a press conference by Lin Jian, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to him, between 30 November 2024 and 31 December 2025, visa-free entry will be introduced for citizens of Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Japan.

As a reminder, visa-free entry to China is already available to citizens of 38 countries, who may stay in the country for up to 30 days.

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