Openers

by Greg Siskind, Siskind Susser, United States

Dear Readers:

As world economies ride a wave of bad economic news, questions will inevitably arise regarding the impact of the crisis on immigration law in countries around the world. In tough economic times, many countries react with protectionism which, ironically, often makes the situation worse. And protectionism includes protecting labor markets and limiting immigration. While it is early to say that this will happen, it is probably a safer bet that immigrant investor programs will become even more popular. Investors whose capital leads to job creation already find a lot of countries with open arms and the competition for these immigrants will likely intensify.

In this month’s issue, we focus on the topic of investor immigration and include articles outlining these programs in a variety of countries. If you are a prospective immigrant investor, we welcome you to contact any of our members. Just go to www.visalawint.com for our contact details.

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Many of our members will be speakers at the annual meeting of the International Bar Association being held this month in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Gunther Maevers of Germany and Graeme Kirk will be speaking on a panel on employment and discrimination issues in the workplace that affect immigrants. New Zealand member David Ryken, China member Ed Lehman and Canadian member Sergio Karas, Australian member Michael Thornton, Dutch member Jelle Kroes, and I (representing the US) will all be on a panel entitled “Global business immigration update”.  Mexican member Enrique Arellano and Brazil member Carolina Garutti will present on a panel on work permit and visa options in Latin America.

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With this issue we welcome new Visalaw International member David Ryken from Auckland, New Zealand. You can learn more about David’s practice at http://www.visalawint.com/index.aspx?page=Country_NewZealand .  David has been practicing in New Zealand for nearly two decades and has held a number of leadership roles in immigration law bodies in his home country and the region. Welcome David!

Finally, we welcome folks to visit our web site at www.visalawint.com or our blog at visalawint.blogspot.com to learn more about the Alliance and about global immigration law.

Regards,

Greg Siskind 

Gregory Siskind, Attorney at Law
Siskind Susser - Immigration Lawyers
Telephone: 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455
Fax: 800-684-1267 or 901-339-9604
Email: gsiskind@visalaw.com
Web: www.visalaw.com