The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is warning international students to beware of spoofing calls attempting to get money or sensitive personal information. The callers are using Homeland Security phone numbers to convince their victims. According to Carissa Cutrell of Homeland Security Investigations Norfolk, scammers often target vulnerable populations such as those with non-immigrant visas. She says federal authorities rarely initiate calls and will never ask for personal information or payment over the phone, especially in the form of Bitcoins. Cutrell urges victims to report such incidents to the authorities to help crack down on scammers.

The Canadian government has eased travel restrictions for fully vaccinated inbound travelers, including international students, particularly in terms of vaccination. Travelers with full jabs are allowed to enter Canada and may be exempted from federal quarantine plus eighth-day testing starting July 5. As of this writing, the approved vaccines for Canada are Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Astra Zeneca/Covishield, and Johnson & Johnson, while Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin or Russia’s Sputnik V remains unapproved.

The UK Home Office has recently opened a new post-study work visa for international students. This will allow graduates from an accredited UK higher education institution to stay on for another couple of years to gain work experience in their chosen degree. Dubbed the Graduate route visa, this visa was announced last year, and applications were immediately opened. This move can benefit Indian students who are known to pursue degree courses in the hopes of gaining work experience.

Although the exclusion of Covishield and Covaxin from the European Union’s ‘Green Pass’ for COVID-19 remains, EU member-states are given the discretion to extend the ‘Green Pass’ to inbound travelers who have received vaccines that are yet to be EMA-approved. These member-states that are accepting Covishield-inoculated travelers include Austria, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, and Spain. Meanwhile, Estonia has confirmed that it will recognize all vaccines authorized by the Indian government.

Australia’s permanent Migration Program for 2021-2022 has put the ceiling at 160,000 applicants per year but will focus more on fast-tracking onshore applicants. This includes skilled migrants in the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List, international students, and permanent residents already in the country. While the program details released on June 22 may evolve as circumstances change, migration experts believe it will not benefit people stranded outside Australia as it is likely that the borders will remain closed until early 2022. The program takes effect on July 1.

The hospitality industry in New Zealand is again in danger of closure, this time from the lack of skilled workers to run the business. Staff shortages are further exacerbated by the lockdown, preventing international students from entering the country. One school reports that restaurants and hotels are snapping up students. Advocates are petitioning the government for support by extending student working hours and visas for onshore students and workers to help mitigate the situation.  

International students are once again applying for Exchange Visitor or J-1 visas to work in the US. The J-1 visa is part of a program providing foreigners a chance to experience life in the US and is only open to international students. The numbers dropped during the pandemic, and while it has since risen, it is not yet at pre-COVID levels. Part of the problem is the continuing backlog in visa processing. Among those affected are establishments along the Jersey Shore where staff shortages are becoming a serious problem.

As Nova Scotia experiences labor shortages in industries like continuing care and the early childhood education sector, a pilot provincial immigration stream has been announced by Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab Wednesday. The eligible international students are those who have recently graduated from programs offered by private career colleges, community colleges, or universities in Nova Scotia. Applicants to the new stream must also receive a full-time permanent job offer from a Nova Scotia employer in a position related to the eligible categories before application.

Indian students physically studying in the UK face difficult decisions as the summer holiday approaches. Leaving the country for the holiday means they will face a huge travel dilemma when they return for the next semester as India remains on the red list in the UK's travel signal system due to the high number of COVID-19 cases there. For the bulk of the students, returning to India is tempting but will certainly come with an extremely expensive cost and the risk of not being able to return to the UK. Currently, about 55,000 Indian students are enrolled in the UK.

The UAE’s Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) has started issuing work permits to holders of gold residency visas. The permits are being issued to three categories of people in the private sector: those who were not working at the time they obtained the gold visa, those whose work permits are up for renewal, and those who will join new employers. All holders of doctorate degrees, medical doctors, and also those with degrees in computer, electronics, programming, electrical, and biotechnology are eligible.

Most Chinese students studying in universities overseas or planning to do so remain keen on foreign study despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the annual Report on Chinese Students' Overseas Study, 91 percent of prospective Chinese overseas students said they still plan to study abroad, while 92 percent of existing overseas students plan to return to their schools abroad soon. The report also found that 79 percent of existing Chinese international students had stayed in China due to the pandemic, with 54 percent taking online courses and 25 percent taking a gap year.

Germany's national disease control center announced that the United Kingdom, Portugal, Russia, India, and Nepal were no longer in the “virus variant area” list. This announcement signifies the reduction of travel restrictions for people arriving in Germany from those countries starting July 7. Accordingly, exemptions apply to students whose courses of study are not fully possible from abroad. Quarantine rules will still apply for people traveling from areas with COVID-19 variants of concern.

Established in 1990, the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) is a small, research-intensive university with its main campus in Prince George, British Columbia, and other regional campuses in northern British Columbia in Prince Rupert, Terrace, Quesnel, and Fort St. George. UNBC offers more than 122 undergraduate and graduate degrees and also a wide range of graduate programs. in the domains of health, economies, sciences, environment, and culture. Currently, the university serves 3,570 students, of which 11 percent are international students from more than 40 countries.

In 2017, UNBC was named among the top 5% worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and was a Top 5 university in Canada for 15 years according to Maclean’s magazine. It adopted the tagline “Canada’s Green University” as a sign of its commitment to environmental sustainability in education.