France 🇫🇷

1. 2024–2025 reforms culminate on 1 January 2026, with higher French‑language requirements and a formal civic exam becoming mandatory for long‑term residence and nationality procedures

• A2 is now required for multi‑annual cards (carte de séjour pluriannuelle)
• B1 – for resident cards (carte de résident)
• B2 – for nationality (déclaration de nationalité & naturalisation)

2. As of January 2026, the French minimum wage (SMIC) amount has been raised by 1.18%, to €1,823.03 gross per month (€21,876.40 per year). This automatically increases the minimum resource thresholds for visa and residence permit applications, since most applicants must demonstrate personal resources at least equal to the annual SMIC.

United States 🇺🇸

On 14 January, certain media circulated that the U.S. had “stopped all immigration programs and all visa types” for citizens of dozens of countries, including Russia and other CIS states.

• In reality, the measure currently in force is a temporary pause of the Diversity Visa (green card lottery) program and DV visa issuance, combined with tighter screening and delays in some humanitarian and immigrant categories – but it is not a total shutdown of all legal immigration channels.
• Other visa categories (family‑based, work, student, tourist, talent visas such as O‑1, etc.) remain in place, although applicants from certain “high‑risk” countries may face longer processing and additional security checks.
• The government has described the DV pause as temporary and linked primarily to security and program‑integrity concerns; no clear end date has been announced, so the pause could in practice last many months.

UK 🇬🇧

While we await future announcements on permanent settlement reform in the UK, let’s look into the changes that are more certain in the coming months.

• No permission, no travel: UK set to enforce ETA scheme
• From February 2026, visitors will not be able to travel to the UK without advance permission, also known as an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). This will affect 85 nationalities, including the United States, Canada, and France, which currently do not require a visa to enter the UK. Although the ETA was fully rolled out in 2025, it was not strictly enforced. However, from February 2026, it will become mandatory.
• In 2026, UKVI will stop issuing physical visa stickers, and the system will be completely replaced by eVisa, accessible directly through the UKVI account.
• Since 8 January 2026, the Skilled Worker Visa requires a B2 or higher English level for first-time applicants.

Spain 🇪🇸

Spain will legalise up to ~500,000 undocumented migrants according to recently approved immigration reform. To be eligible for this program, applicants must:

• Have resided in Spain for at least 5 months before the end of 2025.
• Have arrived in Spain before the end of 2025.
• Have no criminal record or legal issues.

The programme is expected to come into effect in April 2026, with the application period running from April until June 30, 2026