Immigration newsletter 03 Aug 2005

Are you trying to decide where you would like to immigrate to? According to a recent survey, it seems that many people around the world would chose Australia. Australia came in first, followed by Canada, in a poll of 1000 people from around the world. If Australia sounds appealing, you can try our skilled immigration points calculator to find out if you would qualify for immigration to Australia.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week that nearly 50,000 new H1B petitions have been filed against the fiscal year (FY) 2006 quota. If new H1B petition filings continue at this rate, the quota could be reached within a few weeks. The United States H1B visa is a temporary visa, which allows a US company to employ a foreign individual for up to six years. There are an additional 20,000 visas for people with US masters degrees.

The UK clarified its rules for investor visas. The Home Office had ruled that people in the UK on the investor visa scheme could not leave the UK for more than six months in a four year period in order to qualify for permanent residence. With business trips and vacations, the investors would have difficulty meeting the limit, so this has been increased to 12 months.

An interesting feature in this week's news discusses how some US financial companies are finally starting to cater to immigrants. These companies help many immigrants send money back home to their relatives, provide loans, and also help them invest their money wisely.