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Angola’s Luanda Beats Tokyo as Priciest Expat City Reuters (06/29/10) Casciato, Paul The new Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living Survey puts Angola’s capital city of Luanda at the top of the list as most expensive city for expatriates, knocking Tokyo out of the top spot and into second place. Several other developing African and Asian cities rounded out the top of the list, with the survey finding them even more expensive than Western cities like New York or Washington, DC. Violence in areas like Chad’s capital Ndjamena, which takes third place on the list, make secure accommodation very expensive, according to Mercer researchers. Rankings are based on the cost of more than 200 items, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment. Libreville in Gabon took seventh place while seven Chinese cities also appeared on the list. Among Asian cities Osaka took sixth place, and Hong Kong tied with Zurich for eighth, and in Europe Oslo took eleventh place while Milan was 15 and London and Paris tied for 17. New York was the most expensive U.S. city, but it was ranked only at 27, followed by Los Angeles at 55 and Washington D.C. at 111. (http://af.reuters.com/article/ commoditiesNews/idAFSGE65S0D420100629) Russia Passes Legislation to Attract ‘Highly Qualified Professionals’ From Abroad Telegraph.co.uk (06/25/10) Hyslop, Leah Russia has passed legislation designed to streamline the morass of regulations governing the hiring of foreign professionals in the country, and make it less difficult for Russian businesses to hire proficient expatriates. The Federal Law on the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens, which will come into effect on July 1, inserts the term “high qualified foreign professional,” which applies to foreign citizens with key skills in a specific discipline and whose salary in Russia will be a minimum of 43,000 pounds annually. Previous rules made work permits for foreign employees valid for up to 12 months and could take up to a year to obtain; under the new legislation, companies will be able to obtain work permits for foreign professionals for up to three years, which can be renewed on a three-year basis if a contract is agreed upon by both parties. “Russia has had many problems with illegal immigration in the
past, particularly from countries belonging to the former Soviet Union, and strict legislation was brought in to restrict immigration in the beginning of this decade,” notes Olga Chislova with the Moscow office of law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s. “However, these rules failed to differentiate between migrant untrained workers from former Soviet states, and qualified professionals from overseas. It was the companies who wanted to go about hiring skilled foreign employees in a transparent way that suffered, because it could take up to a year before a foreign employee had all their necessary permissions.” Baker and McKenzie legal counsel Evgeny Reyzman speculates that the Russian economy will benefit from the new legislation. He also points out that “a working permit will automatically qualify skilled foreign workers for residency permits, which did not happen before.” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7851908/Russia-passes-legislation-toattract-highly-qualified-professionals-fromabroad.html) Chinese Influx Poses Profound Policy Changes Asahi News Service (Japan) (06/22/10) Isogawa, Tomoyoshi Japan is increasingly depending on Chinese workers to fuel its economy as its population ages and birthrates continue to be low, and many Japanese are concerned about the sharp increase in foreign workers. Chinese are flowing in to many sectors, including rural and farming communities, universities, and the IT industry, and soon the number of Chinese in Japan is expected to hit one million. Most of the workers are highly skilled, as those in unskilled jobs are only allowed to stay for a limited time. This has made some Japanese uneasy, and even some Chinese themselves are worried about the influx, saying it could turn an anti-foreigner movement into an antiChinese movement. But businesses say they need more talented workers, and competition with other countries is stiff. Many Chinese are choosing Europe or America over Japan, while some skilled Chinese in Japan are looking to return home. (http://www.asahi.com/english/ TKY201006210316.html)
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