Immigration newsletter 06 Sep 2006

Call us for visa advice at our London office: +44 (0) 20 7842 0800.

No decision has yet been made regarding access rights by Romanians and Bulgarians to the UK labor market when they join the EU. Evaluation of the UK's labor market and the impact of the previous EU expansion will affect the decision, which will be made after the date of accession is confirmed.

Romania appealed to Britain to not impose restrictions on Romanian workers in Britain. Bulgaria and Romania have been expecting the same "open-door" policy for the EU-27 as was used during the EU-25 expansion in 2004.

The Business for New Europe Group in Britain (NEGB), comprised of leaders from some of Britain's biggest businesses are pressuring the Government for an "open-door" policy toward Bulgarians and Romanians. The two former Eastern Bloc states are scheduled to join the European Union on January 1st, 2007.

Due to 17 consecutive interest rate increases in recent years, U.S. economic growth will likely remain below previous forecasts of 3.25% during 2007. The slowing U.S. housing market along with rising energy costs is keeping growth down. Unemployment is down slightly, job growth is slightly up, and wage rate increases are up from a year ago.

Meaningful discussion about immigration reform in the U.S. has halted legislation seven weeks prior to the mid-term election. In response, individual States have begun passing their own immigration-related legislation. The move is controversial, since the Federal government has explicit jurisdiction; some, or even many, of the new laws are likely to end up in courtrooms.

In June 2005, New Zealand established the Immigration Profiling Group. Its purpose is national security, which targets a secret list of countries by reviewing visa applications, among other activities. Visa rejections have increased dramatically in the past 16 months, most of which were due to non-security related irregularities in the applications. The group is retroactively examining applications back to 2003.

In the final week of August, Australia welcomed 61 refugee family units, consisting of over 200 individuals. 105 had been waiting in refugee camps for several years. Australia's refugee and humanitarian program is ongoing, with 13,000 places available each year.

Canada has stepped forward to offer refugee status and asylum for persons displaced from Lebanon. In a competitive global market for highly skilled refugees, university researchers, students and professionals in many occupations represent a significant and valued ''brain gain.''