• Mon - Fri 9.00 - 19.00
Open

Blog

Tamara News  /  Blog
26 Oct 2026
Israel election 2026 Knesset parliament building in Jerusalem

Israel Votes Tomorrow — And the Polls Say Netanyahu’s Coalition Could Lose

Categories World

Israel goes to the polls on October 27, 2026. It is the first national election since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Wars followed in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. The Israel election 2026 vote is widely read as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wartime leadership. Final surveys show his coalition narrowly trailing a rival bloc led by a former military chief.

What’s at Stake in the Israel Election 2026

The Knesset has 120 seats. A governing coalition needs 61 of them for a majority. Parties must also clear 3.25% of the national vote to win any seats at all. Ofir Katz, who heads Netanyahu’s coalition in parliament, confirmed in July that the vote would go ahead on the date set by law. That came after the Knesset voted in May to disband, according to Arab News. Surveys since then have repeatedly found Israelis unhappy with how the government handled the aftermath of the war with Iran. Netanyahu’s security record is still marked by the intelligence failures that preceded October 7.

Israel election 2026 ballot box used for voting

Who’s Challenging Netanyahu in This Election

The clearest challenger is Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli military chief of staff. His new Yashar party has become a leading contender in the campaign’s final days. Eisenkot is running on accountability for the security failures before October 7. He is also campaigning on a more equal split of military service duty and on the cost of living. Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister, is contesting the vote in an alliance with Yair Lapid. Netanyahu’s Likud needs its usual religious and nationalist partners to have any realistic route back into government. Those partners are Shas, United Torah Judaism, Religious Zionism, and Otzma Yehudit, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, according to Business Standard.

What the Final Election Polls Are Showing

Four polls published on October 25, two days before the vote, each put Yashar ahead of Likud. Channel 12 had Yashar on 23 seats to Likud’s 21. Channel 13 put it at 22 to 19. KAN 11 showed 22 to 20. Maariv gave Yashar 21 seats without naming a Likud figure, according to The Jerusalem Post. Averaged across the four polls, Yashar leads Likud by just over two seats.

Why an Election Deadlock Looks Likely

The seat math gets tighter at the bloc level. Averaging the same four polls, the opposition bloc sits at roughly 54 seats. Netanyahu’s coalition averages about 49.5, with Arab-led parties holding the remaining 14 to 16. Neither side reaches the 61 seats needed to govern alone. Two smaller lists sit right at the edge of relevance. The Reservists-Economic list averages just under the 3.25% threshold. Ofer Winter’s People of Israel list falls short in every poll surveyed. If neither bloc can govern alone, coalition talks could drag on for weeks after the ballots are counted.

How Israel’s Coalition System Works

Israel’s parliamentary system makes a single-party majority essentially impossible. With 120 seats split among more than ten parties clearing the 3.25% threshold, no governing coalition has formed without several partners in recent decades. That is why Netanyahu’s bloc counts on Shas, United Torah Judaism, Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit rather than Likud’s own seats alone, and why Eisenkot’s Yashar party would need its own set of allies to reach 61. The arithmetic also explains why Arab-led parties, which neither major bloc has included in government for most of the last decade, could matter more this time if the vote is as close as the final four polls suggest. A bloc that falls just short of 61 seats typically spends weeks negotiating portfolios and policy concessions before a government is sworn in, and sometimes fails to form one at all.

What Happens After the Election Closes

Exit polls are expected shortly after voting ends on October 27. The real seat count follows over the next day or two. Israeli governments rarely finish a full four-year term. Netanyahu is the country’s longest-serving prime minister, and Reuters still calls him an “unmatched political survivor.” Whether that survival continues depends on coalition arithmetic neither side controls outright. A deadlocked result would likely mean weeks of negotiation. It could also mean a repeat election, a scenario Israel has lived through before.

Related Coverage on Tamara News

For more on the region’s shifting conflicts, see our coverage of the fragile Gaza ceasefire, the proposed window for Russia-Ukraine peace talks, and the protests demanding elections in Venezuela.

Israel Election 2026: Common Questions

When is the Israel election 2026 vote held?
Israel holds its national election on October 27, 2026.

Why is this election being called a test for Netanyahu?
It is the first national vote since the October 7, 2023 attack. Polls have repeatedly found Israelis unhappy with his handling of the war’s aftermath.

Who is Gadi Eisenkot?
A former Israeli military chief of staff whose Yashar party leads Likud in final pre-election polls. He is campaigning on accountability for pre-war intelligence failures.

Could the election end in a deadlock?
Yes. Averaged polling puts neither Netanyahu’s coalition nor the opposition bloc at the 61 seats needed for a majority.

What role could Arab-led parties play?
If neither major bloc reaches a majority, parties such as Ra’am could become pivotal to forming a government. Opposition parties are divided on relying on them.

When will the results be known?
Exit polls are expected shortly after voting closes on October 27. Final counts follow over the next day or two.

25 Oct 2026
Bangkok temple scene representing the new Thailand visa exemption rules for travelers

Thailand Quietly Cut Its Famous 60-Day Visa Exemption — Here’s What Travelers Get Now

Categories Visa Updates

Thailand quietly ended its generous 60-day visa exemption on September 15, 2026. It replaced the old rule with a tiered system that gives most Western visitors a shorter 30-day stay instead. The Thailand visa exemption rules now vary sharply by nationality. Travelers who have not checked the update since booking a trip could be in for a surprise at the border.

How the new Thailand visa exemption rules are structured

According to Thailand’s Tourism Authority (TAT), officials replaced the old 60-day blanket exemption with four separate categories. A 30-day visa exemption for tourism now applies to holders of passports from 60 countries and territories. That list includes Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A shorter 15-day exemption applies specifically to Seychelles and Mauritius. Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Serbia now need a visa on arrival instead of any exemption at all. Existing bilateral agreements between Thailand and individual countries still run alongside this system. Those offer stays of 90, 30, or 14 days, depending on the specific agreement in place.

Airport departure board showing international flights, illustrating travel affected by the Thailand visa exemption rules

Travelers from countries not on the 60-country list face a more complicated set of options. Some fall under the 15-day exemption. Others need to apply for a visa on arrival or a standard visa in advance. The absence of one single rule for every nationality is the central difference between this system and the one it replaced. A quick internet search for “Thailand visa” is no longer a reliable way to confirm entry requirements for every traveler.

A new cap on land border crossings

One of the more consequential changes limits how often travelers can use the 30-day or 15-day exemptions at a land border. Land entries now generally cap at two per calendar year, with exceptions for certain nationalities. That is a real blow to the common practice known as a border run. Visitors cross into a neighboring country and immediately return, resetting their permitted stay. That workaround loses most of its usefulness under the new cap.

Travelers who regularly commute across land borders for work or family reasons, not just tourism, are among those most affected by the new two-per-year limit. Thailand shares land borders with Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar, and crossings for day trips, shopping, or visiting relatives were common under the old rules. The new cap applies regardless of the traveler’s purpose for crossing, which has drawn some criticism from border communities that relied on frequent, informal crossings.

Why Thailand made the change now

The TAT summary does not spell out a single official rationale. It does lay out the timeline behind the Cabinet approvals that built the framework in stages. Officials first published the plan on May 21, 2026. They updated it on July 16, 2026. The final version appeared in the Royal Gazette on August 31, 2026, just ahead of the September 15 effective date. Industry coverage from TTG Asia frames the shift as part of a broader regional pattern, not a move aimed at any single country’s relationship with Thailand. Several Southeast Asian destinations have tightened long-stay tourist exemptions recently.

The net effect looks less generous on paper than the old 60-day rule. It still gives the large majority of long-haul visitors a full 30 days to travel without a visa application. That group includes travelers from North America, Europe, and much of Asia-Pacific.

What travelers should check before booking

Anyone planning a Thailand trip longer than 30 days, under the old assumption of a 60-day stay, needs to recheck their nationality’s category under the new rules. The TAT’s full list covers dozens of countries individually. It does not apply one blanket figure to everyone. Travelers planning multiple short visits using land crossings should factor in the new two-per-year cap too. Exceeding it could mean a turn-back at the border, or needing an actual visa instead of relying on the exemption.

The TAT notes its summary is not the Royal Gazette text itself. Travelers with an unusual itinerary or dual nationality should confirm their specific entry conditions directly with Thai immigration authorities or their nearest Thai embassy before departure.

Travel insurance providers have also started updating their own guidance to reflect the new rules. Overstaying a visa exemption, even unintentionally, can affect insurance claims filed during a trip. Travelers should treat the exemption category as part of their standard pre-trip checklist, alongside passport validity and any required vaccinations.

How Thailand’s move fits a wider regional pattern

Thailand is not the only Southeast Asian destination recalibrating its tourist entry rules this year. Several neighboring countries have revisited their own visa-free arrangements too. Visitor numbers are climbing back toward, and in some cases past, pre-pandemic levels across the region. The shared thread is a shift toward shorter default stays paired with narrower, nationality-specific exceptions. That replaces the broad blanket exemptions that were common only a few years ago.

What this means for digital nomads and long-stay visitors

Travelers who previously relied on the 60-day exemption to work remotely from Thailand for extended stretches face the biggest practical adjustment. A 30-day limit, combined with the new land-border cap, changes that calculation. Quietly extending a stay through repeated border runs is far less workable than it used to be. Anyone planning a longer stay should look instead at Thailand’s dedicated long-stay visa categories, which operate separately from the tourist exemption system covered here.

What happens next for Thailand’s tourism rules

The tiered system is now more than a month into effect. Expect Thai immigration authorities to clarify edge cases as more travelers encounter the new rules in practice. One open question is how the land border cap interacts with layover or transit travel. Thailand has adjusted its visa exemption framework more than once already in 2026. Further fine-tuning before the next peak travel season would not be a surprise.

For more on how entry rules are shifting across Asia, see Tamara News’ coverage of South Korea’s K-ETA exemption extension and China’s visa-free entry deadline.

25 Oct 2026
Travelers walking through an airport terminal representing the drop in Canada temporary resident arrivals

Fewer New Arrivals, More People With Work Permits: Canada’s Confusing New Numbers

Categories Canada, Immigration

New data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada shows a sharp divide in what is happening to Canada’s temporary resident population. New arrivals have plunged. At the same time, the total number of people holding a work permit keeps climbing. The Canada temporary resident arrivals figures, published October 20, 2026, show combined new worker and student arrivals down 63% for the first eight months of the year.

What the Canada temporary resident arrivals data actually shows

According to figures reported by Immigration.ca, new worker arrivals from January through August 2026 totaled 130,095. That is down 57% from the same period in 2024. New international student arrivals fell even further, down 71%, to 65,240. Combined, the two categories totaled 195,335 new arrivals this year. That is a drop of 326,900 people compared with the same eight months two years earlier, a 63% decline.

Border crossing checkpoint booths tied to the latest Canada temporary resident arrivals data

Those numbers describe only the flow of brand-new arrivals. They say nothing about how many people are currently in Canada on a temporary permit. That second figure is moving in a very different direction.

The scale of the eight-month drop stands out even against a year that already saw tighter immigration policy throughout 2025. A decline of more than 300,000 new arrivals in a single comparison window stands out sharply. It represents one of the sharpest year-over-year shifts in recent Canadian immigration data. Officials have not published a single explanation for the size of the drop. It does follow a series of policy changes announced across both the student and worker streams over the past two years.

The work permit population is still growing

As of August 31, 2026, 1,550,215 people held a work permit in Canada. That is up 8.2% from 1,432,100 in August 2024, an increase of 118,115 people even as new worker arrivals collapsed. Timing explains the gap. IRCC processes applications under whichever rules applied when someone first submitted them. Permits approved years ago under looser policy keep adding to the total count, long after newer, tighter rules took hold.

Study permit holders moved the opposite way. Their total stock fell nearly 41%, from 1,019,545 in August 2024 to 602,115 in August 2026. That decline moved faster than the work permit population. It also lines up more closely with the sharp drop in new student arrivals.

Provincial breakdowns of the data, when IRCC eventually publishes them, are likely to show uneven effects across the country. Provinces that relied heavily on international students for local labor markets may feel the decline more acutely. That group includes parts of Ontario and British Columbia, compared with provinces that had a smaller temporary resident population to begin with.

Why the government’s own numbers lag its own policy

This gap between new arrivals and total stock is the clearest evidence yet of a slow-moving shift. Shrinking Canada’s temporary resident population will take years, not one policy switch. A work permit issued in 2023 or 2024 can still sit active in 2026. The full effect of newer, tighter rules will only show up in the stock figures once those older permits expire or go unrenewed.

IRCC’s broader data releases point to a system still working through a large volume of older applications. Recent figures on permanent residence and citizenship processing show that backlog clearly. Meanwhile, the front door for brand-new arrivals keeps narrowing fast.

Economists studying labor markets have flagged a related concern. Employers in sectors that depend heavily on temporary foreign workers may face staffing pressure. Agriculture and parts of hospitality are two examples, since new-arrival numbers are shrinking faster than employers can adjust their hiring plans. Whether that pressure shows up broadly in those industries this year is one of the open questions this data raises without yet answering.

What this means for anyone planning to come to Canada

For prospective workers and students, the 57% and 71% drops in new arrivals matter more than the headline stock figures. Those drops reflect the environment someone applying today is actually entering. The legacy population still working through the system does not. Combined with Express Entry’s recent shift toward high-wage job offers, the overall picture turns clear. Canada’s system is narrowing who gets in as a new arrival. At the same time, it keeps processing a large backlog admitted under older rules.

Prospective applicants should also note one thing. Processing times for existing applications have not necessarily sped up just because fewer new applications are arriving. A smaller inflow of new cases does not automatically clear a backlog built up from prior years of higher application volume.

A note on how to read government immigration data

Readers comparing these figures to other coverage should watch one distinction closely. A flow measures new arrivals in a given period. A stock measures the total population holding a permit on a given date. The two can move in opposite directions at the same time, exactly as they are doing here. Mixing the two up is one of the most common ways immigration statistics get misread in public debate.

How Canada’s numbers compare with past targets

The federal government set out a multi-year plan in recent years. Its goal is to shrink temporary resident numbers as a share of Canada’s total population. This data offers an early checkpoint on that plan rather than a final verdict. The sharp drop in new arrivals suggests the front-end levers, like tighter study and work permit approvals, are working as designed. Whether the back-end stock numbers follow at the pace officials originally promised remains the open question heading into next year.

What happens next with Canada’s temporary resident numbers

Expect the work permit and study permit stock figures to keep converging with the new-arrival trend over the next year or two. Permits issued under older rules will expire without being replaced at the same volume. IRCC has not announced further changes to arrival volumes. What already shows up in this data, and in the Express Entry reforms taking effect November 3, stands as the latest word for now.

For more on Canada’s shifting immigration rules, see Tamara News’ coverage of the new Express Entry high-wage points system and the Quebec worker selection program.

25 Oct 2026
Saudi property ownership

Saudi Arabia Sets Property Rules for Foreign Companies

Categories Business, Immigration

Saudi Arabia’s Investor Guide 2026 adds a dedicated chapter on Saudi property ownership for foreign companies, setting out the documents a non-resident foreign company must provide. Gulf News reported the document list, which it attributes to the Okaz newspaper, with its page last updated on 6 June 2026. This is an explainer rather than breaking news, and the effective date is not stated in the report we read.

Contents

What the guide adds

According to Gulf News, the Ministry of Investment says the new chapter gives “greater clarity for foreign entities”. The rules are published on the ministry’s electronic platform, and the report does not give fees, thresholds or statistics. The specific document requirements are attributed to Okaz, not quoted directly from the guide, so read the guide on the Ministry of Investment site before you rely on any detail.

Documents foreign companies must provide

As reported, applicants must provide a commercial registration certificate issued in their home country, and articles of incorporation translated by accredited translators and authenticated through Saudi diplomatic channels. They also need documents authorising a representative to act in Saudi Arabia, and an individual representative appointed through a certified power of attorney. A company without a recognised identification document can obtain a digital identity through Saudi diplomatic missions abroad. For annual renewals, the company must confirm that ownership and management have not changed since registration with the Ministry of Investment.

Who it applies to

The report says the chapter concerns non-resident foreign companies that want to own property in Saudi Arabia without establishing or carrying on economic activity there. It does not describe the rules for a company that sets up an operating branch or subsidiary, which follow a separate licensing route.

A worked example

Consider a hypothetical case. Camila is a Brazilian founder whose holding company wants to buy an office unit in Riyadh as an investment, without hiring staff there. Based on the reported list, she would need her home-country registration certificate, authenticated and translated articles, and a power of attorney naming a representative. Each year she would then confirm that ownership and management had not changed. Whether further approvals apply to the purchase itself is not covered in the report.

What the report does not say

There is no effective date, no fee schedule, and no timeline for processing. The authentication and translation steps can take time in the home country, so allow for them early. Other Gulf markets have been moving on investor rules too, and our coverage of Kuwait’s 15-year investor residency and Oman’s free zone regulations gives context for comparing them. If you are planning a cross-border structure, see our company formation services page.

For founders, the practical lesson is to treat the document chain as a project of its own. Authentication through diplomatic channels depends on the home country, so a missing apostille-style step can delay everything else. Keep certified copies current, make sure the translator is accredited as the report requires, and confirm the power of attorney names the right individual. Gulf News also notes the guide is aimed at clarity for foreign entities, which suggests the ministry expects more such filings, but the report gives no numbers to back that up.

Saudi foreign-company questions

What is new in Saudi Arabia’s Investor Guide 2026?

A dedicated chapter on property ownership by foreign companies, according to Gulf News.

Who must follow these steps?

Non-resident foreign companies seeking to own property without setting up or carrying on economic activity in Saudi Arabia.

What documents are required?

A home-country commercial registration certificate, authenticated and translated articles, authorisation documents and a certified power of attorney for an individual representative.

Do companies need to renew?

Yes, annually, with confirmation that ownership and management have not changed.

When did the rules take effect?

The report we read does not state an effective date.

Where are the official rules?

On the Ministry of Investment’s electronic platform. Check it directly before filing.

Sources

25 Oct 2026
Traveler holding a passport and immigration paperwork representing the new Express Entry high-wage points rules

Canada Just Brought Back Job Offer Points — But Only If You’re a High Earner

Categories Canada, Immigration

Canada is overhauling how Express Entry rewards a job offer. It is introducing Express Entry high-wage points worth up to 100 points for candidates with offers in better-paying occupations. At the same time, it is dropping the Labour Market Impact Assessment requirement that used to gate those points. Immigration Minister Lena Diab announced the change on October 16, 2026. It takes effect November 3.

How the new Express Entry high-wage points work

The reform creates a new scoring factor called the Labour Market Integration Factor. It awards Comprehensive Ranking System points based on job offers or Canadian work experience in 186 higher-paying occupations. According to CIC News, the thresholds work on a sliding scale. A job offer paying at least twice the Canada-wide median wage for that occupation earns 100 points. One paying 1.5 times the median earns 70 points. One paying 1.3 times the median earns 50 points.

Toronto skyline representing candidates affected by the Express Entry high-wage points reform

Candidates can also earn points for Canadian work experience in those same high-wage occupations, up to 70 points. They can add up to 80 more points for the overall length of their Canadian work experience. The combined cap sits at 150 points. IRCC will apply whichever sub-factor, job offer or Canadian experience, produces the higher score for each individual candidate.

Why dropping the LMIA requirement is the bigger change

For years, a job offer only earned Express Entry points if the employer had secured a Labour Market Impact Assessment. That is a government review confirming no Canadian worker was available for the role. The new rules remove that requirement for job offer points under the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trades Program. Candidates updating their profile with a job offer must still follow IRCC’s instructions on confirming their LMIA status. The points themselves, though, no longer depend on it.

That matters for a specific reason. Express Entry stopped awarding job offer points entirely in March 2025, when the government scrapped the previous arranged employment points system. This reform effectively brings job offer points back. This time, though, wage level decides the score, not a labor market test.

Employers, not just candidates, have a stake in this change too. Securing a Labour Market Impact Assessment used to add weeks or months to the hiring process and cost employers legal and administrative fees. Removing that requirement for Express Entry points lowers the practical barrier for Canadian employers trying to recruit skilled workers already living and working in the country.

Who actually benefits from this change

The reform targets higher earners specifically. Candidates with Canadian work experience in a qualifying high-wage occupation will see the new points land automatically in their existing profile. They do not need to do anything to trigger it. Someone with an active job offer carries more homework instead. They need to confirm their occupation falls under the right category in the National Occupational Classification system. IRCC sets wage thresholds using the highest median wage recorded in the past three years. It draws on Job Bank, the Labour Force Survey, and the census to calculate that figure.

Candidates should treat IRCC’s official Express Entry overview page as the authoritative source once the full occupation list and wage thresholds publish in detail. Third-party summaries, including this one, are a starting point, not a substitute for the government’s own numbers.

Candidates working in lower-wage occupations, even those with strong Canadian experience otherwise, will not see the same benefit from this specific reform. The sliding scale rewards wage level directly. Two candidates with similar years of Canadian experience could see very different point totals, depending solely on how their occupation’s wage compares to the national median.

A pause on invitations while scores reset

IRCC has paused Express Entry invitations while it recalculates scores under the new system. The government says that process may take up to two weeks. Candidates who already hold an invitation to apply get assessed differently. IRCC will judge them against whichever occupation list applied on the date they received that invitation. In practice, the new rules will not reach back and change decisions already in motion.

Immigration consultants have advised clients not to make any changes to their profile during the recalculation window unless IRCC specifically instructs them to. Submitting unnecessary updates while the system recalculates scores risks confusion over which rules apply to a given profile, consultants say. IRCC itself has not flagged this as a formal concern.

How this fits into Canada’s wider immigration shift

This reform does not stand alone. Separate IRCC data, released the same month, shows new temporary resident arrivals falling sharply this year. At the same time, the total population holding a work permit keeps growing. Read together, the two trends point in one direction. Canada’s system is trying to be more selective about who it lets in as a new arrival. It is not simply letting in fewer people across every category at once.

What applicants are already saying online

Immigration forums and social media groups focused on Express Entry lit up within hours of the October 16 announcement, with mixed reactions. Candidates already working in high-wage Canadian jobs welcomed the change openly. Others worried the reform narrows their path further. That concern was sharpest among those without a Canadian job offer or local work history, after a string of earlier tightening measures throughout 2025 and 2026.

What happens next for Express Entry candidates

Once invitations resume, expect a noticeable shift in who gets selected. Candidates with high-wage Canadian job offers or work experience should see their relative standing improve. That is a real shift away from candidates relying mainly on language scores or education alone. Anyone currently in the pool should check now whether their profile’s occupation classification matches one of the 186 listed occupations. That single detail could be worth tens of additional points once scores recalculate.

For more on Canada’s recent Express Entry activity, see Tamara News’ coverage of the French-language Express Entry draw and the Canadian Experience Class draw.

1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 262