Immigration newsletter 11 Jan 2006

As workpermit.com has already reported, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Dec. 16, 2005 that would affect many aspects of US immigration. Among many other things, it would cancel the Diversity Visa program (the so-called Green Card Lottery). The lottery makes available 50,000 immigrant visas each year. Citizens of certain countries, namely those that have not sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the past five years, can apply for the lottery. workpermit.com will continue to keep you up-to-date with this important information.

As Canadian elections draw near, the main political parties are using immigration as a tool for gaining support. Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin is promising to phase out a hated immigration landing fee he imposed in 1995, his latest effort to gather support for his party among new Canadians. Martin now calls the $975 fee a barrier to immigrants entering Canada, particularly immigrant families. In his 1995 budget, Martin imposed the fee to help pay for settlement services for newcomers, although opponents condemned it as a simple money grab. Martin told a rally the fee would be eliminated "over the course of the next mandate" and a party release said it will drop to $600 immediately and to $300 in one year. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper promised a day later to immediately halve the immigration landing fee, then continue reducing it over the course of his government's mandate. The elections will take place on Jan. 23.