Easiest place to secure a visa in the EU

Greek lawmakers are proposing new visas that will enable new graduates to live and work in Greece

Author

Moshe Ohana
April 14, 2024

What's inside:

The Markets

Industry layoffs, funding, and c-suite

Layoffs

It’s been widely reported that modern hiring solution, Checkr, has plans to cut 32% of its workforce starting in June. This news comes just days after announcing that the firm has over 100,000 paying customers.

Checkr provides background check solutions to companies of all sizes and recently launched Checkr Pay which enables companies to pay contractors.

Funding

Summer, a benefits platform aimed at tackling the mounting student debt crisis, just raised $9M from Rebalance Capital and SemperVirens.

Summer works with over 800 customers and claims to save their customers $40,000 and reduce turnover by 20%. They’re a certified B Corp and claim to have saved borrowers over $1.5B.

CEO News

Speaking of impressive B Corps paving the way for upward mobility in the workplace, Guild, announced the appointment of their new CEO, Bijal Shah.

Guild empowers and upskills workers across the United States by partnering with employers and learning institutions to provide education benefits to workers.

Shah took over as interim CEO in September 2023 after holding multiple roles at Guild including Chief Product Officer, Chief Experience Officer, and Head of Platform since 2018.

Former Guild CEO, Rachel Romer, suffered a stroke just days before she turned 35 in August and has recently stepped into her new role as Executive Chair. 

Visas and Immigration

Can’t move to Spain? Just move to Greece.

Spain

Spain just became the latest EU member to put an end to its Golden Visa program.

According to Investopedia, “a Golden Visa is a type of residency-by-investment program that allows individuals and their famalies to obtain residency or even citizenship in a foreign country by investing in its economy. A minimum investment amount in real estate, government bonds, or other approved investment vehicles is typically required to qualify for the program”.

Simply put - you buy a house in Spain for at least €500,000, you have the right to live and work in Spain for 3 years. Spain is planning to remove this right to increase access to affordable housing for Spanish citizens.

Spain isn’t the first EU member to axe their Golden Visa program. The UK, Ireland, Portugal, and the Netherlands all have done away with their Golden Visa schemes over the last couple of years.

New Zealand

On April 7, 2024, MP Erica Stanford announced changes to the Accredited Employer Worker Visa (AEWV) scheme in New Zealand that include:

  • English language requirements

  • Minimum skills and experience

  • Stay limits

According to Standford, “2023 migration was 173,000 non-New Zealand citizens, a near record”.

Ultimately, these new measures are being taken to ensure that citizens of New Zealand are first in line for roles with no skills shortages while continuing to bring in foreign workers to fill roles with skills shortages.

Greece

Instead of limiting visas, Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis has introduced plans to increase the amount of talent in Greece.

On March 29, 2024, Kairidis introduced a bill that highlight 2 new visas aimed at bringing skilled workers into the Greek market. These 2 visas will be known as the Talent Visa and the Tech Visa.

The Tech Visa is aimed at workers joining Greek startups and the Talent Visa would allow graduates from top global universities to come to Greece without an employment contract to live in Greece for a year without relying on government programs. 

Benefits

Benefits for gig workers (in Pennsylvania)

Food delivery app, Doordash, announced a 6-month pilot benefits program that would give its drivers in Pennsylvania access to support for expenses related to health insurance, retirement, and paid time off.

According to Doordash, “the average Dasher spends less than 4 hours per week on delivery, and the vast majority of Dashers have other sources of income or responsibilities that already provide them with access to benefits like retirement savings or healthcare.”

Here are the program’s details:

  • Pilot will run from April - September in Pennsylvania

  • Earn at least $1,000 USD (pre tip) in the first 3 months of the program

  • Doordash will contribute 4% of earnings to the Dasher’s account

Doordash says that 89% of Dashers in Pennsylvania prefer to remain independent contractors and 90% say that they value the flexibility Doordash provides.

This move, if successful, is going to revolutionize the gig economy. 

Strategic quick hits