The APAC Visa Changes You Need to Know About

Will these new changes in APAC visa policy affect your strategy?

Alex Schulte | 11 November 2024

In 2014, a moment came that removed any doubt that the Earth’s economic gravity had shifted east. That year, China overtook the US as the world’s largest economy as measured by purchasing power parity.

Ten years later, global companies’ exposure to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is complex and textured than offshoring manufacturing in Shenzhen. Indeed, household names like Ford, Apple and Samsung have already shifted their supply chain focus from China to Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Indonesia. Further south, Australasia’s abundant natural resources draw huge investment into mining and quarrying.

Even the UK, not typically regarded as an Asian Tiger economy, is shortly to accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This will bring it into an enormous trade agreement spanning both sides of the ocean.

Increasingly, APAC is where the world does business. And when money moves, people follow. As a result of this high demand, immigration policies in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Australasia change frequently.

As we head towards 2025, let’s recap the most significant APAC visa changes from the last year that companies need to know about.

Australia visa changes

• Skills In Demand Visa: Australia’s forthcoming Skills in Demand visa is set to replace the Temporary Skill Shortage visa by late 2024, introducing a streamlined approach to skilled migration. Its three-tiered system provides pathways for workers across the salary scale. The new visa addresses labour shortages by offering faster processing times, enhanced worker mobility, and clearer routes to permanent residency. In the meantime, before the new visa’s introduction, the existing Temporary Skill Shortage visa will see its work experience requirements reduced from two years to one year, effective November 23, 2024.
• Work and Holiday Visa process: Australia has introduced a pre-application ballot process for the Work and Holiday visa program for applicants from China, Vietnam, and India. This should manage demand and streamline processing times by selecting applicants through an electronic random selection process.
• Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme (MATES): 3,000 Indian graduates and young professionals will soon be able to live and work in Australia for up to two years through the MATES pathway.
• National Innovation Visa: The new National Innovation Visa is set to replace the Global Talent Visa and Business Innovation and Investment Visa Program by late 2024. The National Innovation visa will offer permanent residency for individuals with internationally recognised achievements in strategic sectors.
• Temporary Skill Shortage Visa: The work experience requirement for the Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) visa will be reduced from two years to one year, effective November 23, 2024. This change is designed to address skills shortages in certain industries.

Why Australia’s visa changes matter: While many other countries are shutting the gates to overseas talent, Australia is bucking the trend with a more liberal approach to high-value migration. Companies with a presence in Australia will have readier access to a skilled talent pool.

China visa changes

• Visa-Free entry expansion: China has expanded its 15-day visa-free entry policy to include nine additional countries, including Andorra, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, Slovakia, and South Korea. This will facilitate tourism and economic exchanges
• 144-hour visa-free policy: A new policy allows tourist groups from Hong Kong and Macau to enter Hainan province without a visa for up to 144 hours. This initiative is part of China’s efforts to enhance regional tourism5.
• No fingerprints collection for short-term UK visa applicants: From September 2, 2024 to December 31, 2025, the Chinese Embassy in the UK will not collect fingerprints from applicants for single or double entry visas.

Why China’s visa changes matter: China’s visa changes are more geared at opening up short-term touristic and business-related travel, rather than creating work opportunities for foreign nationals. Nonetheless, citizens from a swath of countries will find it easier to travel to the PRC to attend conferences and meetings.

South Korea visa changes

• Digital Nomad Visa: South Korea introduced a digital nomad visa allowing remote workers to stay in the country for up to two years while maintaining employment with foreign companies. This initiative is part of efforts to attract skilled professionals and boost the local economy.
• Science and Technology Talent Visa Expansion: As of July, South Korea has relaxed visa rules for researchers and research students in science and technology fields. Previously limited to a few institutions like KAIST and UNIST, now all universities ranked in the top 200 of Times Higher Education or top 500 of QS World University Rankings can invite international students and researchers on Research visas. PhD graduates in science and engineering with recommendations from their universities can obtain a residence visa without employment conditions, and the highest-achieving researchers may qualify for permanent residency (F-5) or naturalisation.

Why South Korea’s visa changes matter: The Republic of Korea wants to bring the brightest and best to its shores to boost strategic industries. By creating more generous options for foreign remote workers and gifted STEM academics, the country clearly seeks to build a competitive advantage in critical sectors. Companies in cutting-edge fields will have fewer problems finding staff with very specialised skillsets.

Thailand visa changes

• 60-Day Visa-Free Stay: As of July 15, 2024, Thailand extended its visa-free stay from 30 to 60 days for citizens from 93 countries. This policy aims to boost tourism and economic activity by making it easier for visitors to stay longer without a visa.
• Destination Thailand Visa: This new visa category has swiftly become known colloquially as Thailand’s ‘digital nomad’ visa. It allows individuals wishing to combine work and travel in Thailand to stay to up to 180 days per entry, and is valid for five years.

Why Thailand’s visa changes matter: Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy has become a hotspot for remote workers. With a pan-ASEAN visa still some way away, Thailand seeks to double down on the economic gains it has seen from peripatetic working patterns. The DT visa will allow companies to facilitate relocation requests from staff looking to sample life in this colourful country, without worrying that they’re breaching national immigration laws.

New Zealand visa changes

• Changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV): New applicants to New Zealand’s main temporary work visa will need to meet new minimum skill requirements, including:
  • Showing evidence of work experience or qualifications
  • Demonstrating a minimum standard of English
  • Meeting a shorter visa length for some jobs
  • Employers must take steps to ensure migrants are suitably skilled before sending them a job token
  • New AEWVs will be issued with a condition requiring employers to employ migrants for at least 30 hours per week
• Increased immigration fees: Effective October 1, 2024, New Zealand significantly increased application fees for various visa routes.

Why New Zealand’s visa changes matter: New Zealand’s government deems the levels of migration seen over recent years ‘unsustainable’. The island nation is trying to ensure that new arrivals have the skills to contribute to the economy holistically. This will raise the costs of hiring overseas nationals for companies with a presence in New Zealand, as well as the duration companies can sponsor them for. Employers will also have less access to lower-skilled migrant labour.

Singapore visa changes

• Employment pass salary requirements: Starting January 1, 2025, companies hiring foreign professionals in Singapore must pay at least SGD5,600 per month for an employment pass. The salary threshold for foreign professionals in the financial sector will be SGD6,200. Employment pass applicants in their mid-40s must earn over SGD10,700 a month.
• COMPASS verification: New and renewed employment pass applications must now include verification proof for post-secondary diploma and above qualifications, declared to the Ministry of Manpower (MoM).
• Points-based system: As of September 2024, foreign employees on a work visa must earn a minimum salary threshold and meet the city-state’s new points-based system to stay in their jobs. The points system considers a candidate’s salary, education, skills, and nationality.
• EOR sponsorship ban: MoM has proscribed the use of Employer of Record (EOR) services to sponsor work permits for expatriates who do not hold Singaporean citizenship or permanent residency.

Why Singapore’s visa changes matter: Singapore has been a multicultural melting pot since its inception. But the public increasingly favours strict limits to immigration, and the government is following suit. Companies with a presence in Singapore will face new hurdles when hiring international labour. The EOR sponsorship ban also closes a route through which foreign companies could hire overseas nationals based in the country without going through the obligations of setting up a formal presence in Singapore. Businesses who want to operate in the city-state will have to play by tougher rules.

Japan visa changes

• Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) Visa numbers doubling: The Japanese government has doubled the number of foreigners eligible for SSW visas, looking to attract 820,000 workers in total by 2029. This follows the number of foreign workers on such visas surpassing 250,000 this year for the first time; an over 20% increase in six months.
• Digital Nomad Visa: Japan is the latest country to implement a Digital Nomad Visa scheme. The new visa route lets remote workers work for six months of the year, with no extensions possible.

Why Japan’s visa changes matter: Unfairly perceived by many as an insualr country, Japan embraced blue-collar migration in 2019 in the form of the Specified Skilled Worker visa. The scheme’s popularity, reflected in its recent expansion, should help Japanese companies overcome long-standing labour shortages. The Digital Nomad Visa will also increase the supply of digitally adept freelancers available in the country, raising access to talent and increasing the potential for valuable skills exchanges with the native population. The days of Japan as a closed shop for foreign talent have finally come to an end.

How to Grow into APAC

Every year, countless Western companies set up in APAC, drawn by business-friendly regulatory regimes and a fast-growing middle class with serious money to spend. And every year, many of those companies find that they didn’t do enough to prepare.

Household names in the Western countries like Marks & Spencer have misread the market in Asian countries so badly that they’ve had to exit them altogether. Poor market fit is usually possible to come back from. But legal troubles caused by compliance violations can doom companies’ overseas plans for good.

APAC countries enforce their labour and immigration laws very strictly. Japanese visa policy liberalisation has been matched by a marked increase in deportations. Between May and October 2020 alone, Malaysia detained more than 18,000 undocumented migrant workers. Companies making inroads in the region must run the tightest of compliance operations, particularly when it comes to verifying employees’ eligibility to work.

At Centuro Global, we specialise in helping businesses succeed overseas. That’s why hundreds of companies use our groundbreaking, AI-enabled Immigration & Visa services to move people across the globe. Find out how it works here.