Immigration newsletter 30 Jan 2008

An "Australia Needs Skills Expo" will take place in the United Kingdom on the weekend of 15-16 March 2008. The Expo is being hosted in London by the Australian government. Online registration at the government's immigration website is required; only those selected by the government will be allowed to attend. They will then be told the location and time of the expo.

Those selected will have an opportunity to speak with employers in Australia. Australian State and Territorial government representatives will also be recruiting and be available to help people find out about immigrating to Australia independently.

The concept of 'sponsorship' will play an important role in the UK's new, points-based Tier system coming into effect this year. With the exception of applicants under the highly skilled Tier 1, all potential immigrants will require a sponsor who will have the responsibility to ensure that they comply with their immigration conditions.

In most cases, sponsors will be an employer of a foreign worker or an educational institution where a foreign student will undertake study. Sponsors will have to be certified by the UK's Border and Immigration Agency (BIA). Once certified, sponsors can issue 'certificates of sponsorship' to migrants who must have this document when applying for their entry clearance.

Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship has published the results of the first three months of its new Citizenship Test. Overall, 93% of test participants passed the test, with 82% passing on their first try. Applicants may take the test as many times as needed to pass. The Australian government will review the test in April to decide if any changes are needed to be made to make the test fairer for everyone.

Australia welcomed over 14,000 new citizens on Australia Day during the annual celebration on January 26th. They join more than four million other immigrants who have naturalized as Australian citizens since the first citizenship ceremony was held in February, 1949. Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans said that his country has been "enriched" by the cultures and traditions of immigrants from over 200 nations who have made Australia their new home.

Global demand for foreign scientists and engineers is increasing, according to new research published by the National Science Board of the United States. People trained as scientists and engineers are becoming increasingly more mobile, especially at the doctoral level.

Foreign students often stay on after graduation or immigrate to somewhere other than their home country. These individuals are better equipped to migrate because of experience gained during their studies.

A new study by the Conference Board of Canada projects that the economy of Canada could lose CAD $10 billion if the estimated 90,000 Canadian IT jobs expected to be available in the next five years remain unfilled. The study found that one of the contributing factors to Canada's IT labor shortage is the lack of participation by Canada's immigrant population. The study expressed concerns that, if not addressed, a labor shortage in these professions could force the Canadian IT labor market offshore.

A new study by Statistics Canada finds that immigrants living in small urban centers and rural areas of Canada tend to integrate better economically than immigrants living in large urban areas. In very large urban areas, the initial income gap between new immigrants and native-born Canadians is 37%, which drops to 22% for immigrants who have been in-country for four years and down to 10% after 12 years.

In rural areas, immigrants make about 4% more than their native-born counterparts after only 1 year of permanent residence. Immigrants from the United States, New Zealand, and Australia integrated more quickly into large urban areas than into smaller communities.

Canadian Immigration Minister Diane Finely has announced CAD $830,000 in funding to assist new migrants with settlement and integration into Canadian society in the Peel region of Ontario. The new funding, part of the Canadian-Ontario Immigration Agreement, will go to the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group and will be used to assist new migrants with language training, employment, and access to settlement-related services. The federal government of Canada has increased immigration funding for Ontario by a total of CAD $920,000 over five years.