Immigration law

Legal status of persons
Concepts
Administrative detention Citizenship Immigration (illegal) Leave to remain Nationality Naturalization Statelessness
Designations
Administrative detainee Alien Citizen (dual / multiple native-born naturalized) Illegal immigrant Migrant worker Political prisoner Refugee Stateless person
Social politics
Illegal immigration Immigration law Nationalism Nationality law Nativism

Immigration law refers to national government policies control the phenomenon of immigration and deportation to their the legal status of people, in matters such as citizenship. Immigration laws vary from country to country, as well as according to the political climate of the times, as sentiments may sway from the widely inclusive to the deeply exclusive of new immigrants.

Immigration law regarding the citizens of a country is regulated by international law. The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights^[1] mandates that all countries allow entry to its own citizens.

Certain countries may maintain rather strict laws which regulate both the right of entry and internal rights, such as the duration of stay and the right to participate in government. Most countries have laws which designate a process for naturalization, by which immigrants may become citizens.

Immigration law in the USA

The immigration laws in the United States have experienced uneven progress. During colonial times independent colonies created their immigration laws.^[2] The first law governing the naturalization of foreigners was the Naturalization Act of 1790. However many years later the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed to stop the immigration of Chinese people. The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 put a quota on how many immigrants were permitted, based on nationality and previous influx years. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 led to the creation of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Department of State, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Of the five, the Department of Homeland Security, which replaced the Immigration and Naturalization Service, enforces immigration laws and bestows benefits on illegal immigrants.^[3] Immigration and Customs Enforcement,^[4] and Customs and Border Protection.^[5] The United States allows more than 1 million illegal immigrants to become Legal Permanent Residents every year, which is more than any other country in the world.^[6] The United States also issues more Visas than any country in the world.^[7]

Visas in the United States can be broadly separated into two categories: one for people seeking to live in the US; termed Immigrant Visas, and the other for people coming for limited durations, termed Non-Immigrant Visas. The former visa has "per country-caps", and the latter does not. Most non-immigrant visas are for work purposes, and usually require an offer of employment from a US business. Such immigration may involve restriction such as a labor certification to ensure that no American workers are able to fill the role of the job, hence designed to protect wages and conditions.^[8] Other categories include student, family and tourist visas.^[9] Each visa category is further divided into numerous subcategories; the large number of specific categories has been recommended as a main area for comprehensive immigration reform.^[10]

Control measures

To control immigration, many countries set up customs at entry points. Some common location for entry points are airports and roads near the border. At the customs department, travel documents are inspected. Some required documents are a passport, an international certificate of vaccination and an onward ticket. Sometimes travelers are also required to declare or register the amount of money they are carrying.

Comparison of immigration visa categories by country

Country	Separate article on Country's Immigration Law	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
USA	United States nationality law	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	PhDs are generally allowed to apply for an employer-independent EB2 visa			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".[11] 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 [Tier 1 Post Study Work]	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 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	Canadian nationality law	Official information[12]	Available but Canada reduced the number of jobs in demands. E.g. software engineers are now unable to use this route.[13]			Federal skilled worker
Australia	Australian nationality law		Available[14]			Skilled Independent visa (Subclass 189)and Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190)[15]
New Zealand	New Zealand nationality law			Available
South Africa	South African nationality law	Corporate worker permit. [16]	General work permit, Quota work permit, exceptional skills work permit and Intra-company transfer work permit.[17]	Business permit. Minimum foreign capital investment ZAR 2,5 Million into book value of business which may be reduced on application. Minimum of 5 South African citizens/residents to be employed. [18]	See Business permit. [19]	No specific category. May fall under Exceptional Skills or Quota work permit.[20]	Spousal visa. Proof of cohabitation and shared finances. [21]	Asylum seeker temporary residence pending decision whether applicant qualifies for refugee status. After 5 years recognised refugee status may request permission to apply for permanent residence. [22]	Not applicable. Children born in South Africa to foreign nationals will obtain the same status as their parents.	Study is viewed in isolation in relation to the course of study. No benefits obtained promoting continued stay.	Arrest, detention, court to decide on outcome. [23]	Citizenship may be applied for after 5 years of permanent residence. [24]
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;[25] 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)[26]			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.[27]			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.[28]	Mainland China issued a daily quota of 150 One Way Permits to mainland Chinese for Hong Kong settlement;[29] 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.
India	Indian nationality law											After 12 years of residence (of which 1 year should be continuous)
Israel	Israeli nationality law		Not available										Law of Return
European Union	Citizenship of the European Union	Varies by member state	See Blue Card (European Union)
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[30]
Malta
Netherlands	Dutch nationality law
Poland												[31]
Portugal
Romania													Special arrangements for citizens of Moldova
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain		Not available
Sweden		[32]		[33]				[34]
Singapore
Norway	Norwegian 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

Details on immigration law of different countries

Countries where dual citizenship is allowed (green) and prohibited (red)

Country	Requirements and restrictions before settlement	Requirements and restrictions after settlement	Will resident visa holder dependant be allowed to work as well?	Is it possible to bring old parents once got settlement?	Is it guaranteed that immigration legislation would not be changed retrospectively and were there retrospective changes of immigration law previously?	Access to social benefits before settlement	Access to social benefits after settlement	Is it possible to deprive of earned citizenship? (apart from obvious reasons like proven deception in application to citizenship or terrorism)	Would the country require to surrender a previous citizenship(s) to apply for a citizenship of this country?	Would the country require to surrender its citizenship if its citizen applied for a citizenship of other country?
USA			No						No	No, but you will be required to pay taxes to US government regardless where the income is earned
United Kingdom	No more than 180 days spent overseas within 5 years, no more than 90 days per trip.	Settlement would be cancelled after certain number of days spent abroad	Yes, dependants will have a right to work	Theoretically you can bring a single parent if you are the only supporter. Many people had to do it through a court.	It has been changed retrospectively in the past and likely to change retrospectively in the future	No access to public funds.	Yes	Yes, for potentially unlimited number of reasons British nationality law#Deprivation of British nationality	No British nationality law#Dual nationality and dual citizenship	No British nationality law#Dual nationality and dual citizenship
Canada									No
Australia
New Zealand
Israel								[35]	Yes, unless citizenship obtained by Law of Return
Germany									Yes
Ukraine										Yes
Norway Norwegian nationality law								Yes Norwegian nationality law#Loss of Norwegian citizenship	Yes Norwegian nationality law#Dual citizenship	Yes Norwegian nationality law#Dual citizenship
Russia									Yes	No
Azerbaijan										Yes
China										Yes
Denmark										Yes
Japan										Yes
India										Yes

Immigration regulation is the control of the people, and their numbers, who may enter a nation's sovereign territory. It applies both to persons seeking to live and work in a particular nation (or part of it) and tourists, persons on layover due to travel issues, and those wishing to study or otherwise make use of a country's facilities.

Immigration control of one form or another is imposed by most countries. It is an inherent right of a sovereign state.

See also

• Asylum shopping
• Immigration regulations of New Zealand

References

External links

• U.S. Immigration Law, Business Law, Commercial Litigation, Employment Law, Admiralty & Maritime Law and Personal Injury.
• Citizenship Laws of the World - the most comprehensive although a little bit outdated report by United States Office of Personnel Management Investigations Service PDF, copy: PDF
• American Immigration Law Foundation
• Immigration Equality's Immigration Law Glossary
• Inmigracion Inmigración
• US Citizen and Immigration Services
• Siskind's Immigration Bulletin
• Comparative Citizenship Analyses by European Union Observatory on Democracy (EUDO)
• Immigration Attorney

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