Human migration

The United States introduces visa restrictions for pregnant women. The measure aims at restricting "birth tourism," in which women travel to the United States to give birth so their children can have U.S. citizenship. 

Women applying for a tourist visa will be denied if consular officials deem that they want to go to the US to give birth.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Saturday, European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas insisted that "Europe cannot allow itself to fail again with migration."

He added that there is an imperative need for a new agreement that "will cover all aspects of migration policies."

A total of 1,471 irregular migrants were held off Turkey's Aegean and Mediterranean coasts over the last one week, the Turkish Coast Guard said on Jan 17.

A boat carrying 101 Syrian nationals was detained by the Cyprus's coastguard, Kathimerini reported. This is the highest number of refugees detained in the last month.

The Syrians were transferred to a coastguard ship and taken to a port on the southeast part of the island.

A police spokesman said there were minors onboard and the refugees were likely traveling to Turkey.

Greece's Golden Visa program has fetched some 2 billion euros into the country's property market since the launch in 2014 of the scheme for the concession of five-year residence permits to non-European Union investors who spend at least 250,000 on local realty.

Cyprus intercepted a vessel carrying 101 Syrians off its coast on Tuesday, police said, one of the largest arrivals of refugees from the neighboring country in recent months.

The Syrians were loaded at sea onto a coastguard vessel and from there led to a harbour in the south-east of the island.

An amendment facilitating investments by foreign entrepreneurs from non-EU countries was tabled in parliament on Tuesday.

The amendment is attached to the foreign ministry's draft law entitled "Regulations for the UK's withdrawal from the European Union" and introduces a new type of entry visa, the Airport Transit Visa (ATV).

The number of irregular migration recorded on the European Union's external borders fell last year to the lowest level since 2013, due to a drop in the number of people reaching European shores via the Central and Western Mediterranean routes, the European Union's border control agency Frontex said Wednesday.

The Bulgarian passport continues to be one of the most attractive in the world. his is shown by the passport index data, which is compiled by the Swiss consulting company Henley & Partners.

A special handout of 2,000 euros for every child born in Greece will be voted into law after Parliament starts work again in the new year but will apply retroactively as of January 1, 2020.