Immigration newsletter 19 Nov 2008

From 17 November, 2008 citizens of six additional EU countries can travel to the United States without first obtaining a visa. 

The European countries which qualify for travel, under the visa waiver program (VWP), are the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary and the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

The VWP allows travel to the US for business and tourist purposes for a single stay of up to 90 days. Entry for work or study purposes remains subject to existing visa requirements. 

In order to qualify for travel under the VWP, citizens of newly eligible countries must possess a biometric passport and must obtain approval for their trip by first filling out a travel authority form online.

Immigrant rights organizations have planned a major march in Washington on 21 January, the day after Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th US president.

Some 30 organisations, representing  tens of millions of immigrants, will work together to demonstrate their case for immigration reform and remind Obama of one of the policy issues so central to his campaign and which helped secure a large Hispanic vote. 

Angelica Salas, director of the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, explained that the purpose of the demonstration was to ask for reforms and for an end to the raids that have seen illegal immigrants arrested and deported. ‘We ask the president-elect to consider immigration reform one of his 10 domestic priorities,’ she told reporters, adding that reform legislation should begin ‘in the first 100 days’ of Obama’s term.

In a speech in Winnipeg, Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism for Canada, emphasized the government’s continued commitment to maintaining a dynamic immigration program and to the successful integration of newcomers.

‘Just as immigration has played a strong role in our past, it will continue to be important to our future’ he said in his address to the Canadian Club of Winnipeg. ’Canada is respected around the world for the way we’ve managed to bring in people from all over the globe. We have done this with a spirit of openness and tolerance, embracing diversity and becoming stronger for it.’

A federal government-sponsored review has called for a major overhaul of the controversial Australian 457 visa scheme. A significant recommendation is that businesses should pay temporary skilled migrants the appropriate market rates and offer them the same terms and conditions of employment as their other employees. 

Industrial relations expert, Barbara Deegan had been appointed by the government to look into the scheme amid claims that foreign workers were being exploited. Ms Deegan said she had been made aware of numerous examples of exploitation of 457 visa workers. Non-payment of overtime, longer hours of work and limited access to sick leave were widespread practices.

She recommended that the 457 minimum salary level should be abolished in favour of market rates of pay for all temporary visa holders on salaries of less than $100,000. She also recommended an accreditation system be developed to ensure rapid processing of low-risk visa applications so employers can secure necessary workers more quickly.

The UK government has released a list of those jobs available to migrant workers from outside the EU. The shortage occupation list is fundamental to Tier 2 of the government's new points based 5-Tier immigration system, and comes into effect on 27 November. 

Although the government has refused to say how many migrant workers it expects to enter the UK through the Tier 2 shortage occupation route, it has confirmed that about 800,000 people are currently employed in the jobs listed, compared to1 million under the current work permit system. 

The shortage occupation list currently includes engineers, scientists, hospital consultants, specialist nurses, sheep shearers and, in Scotland, filleters of frozen fish. It also includes 100,000 social workers - a job which the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) originally ruled was not in short supply. The MAC will report again in March, 2009 at which time the list will be reviewed.

Sweden is adjusting its immigration policy to allow both high and low skilled workers from outside the EU easier access to the Swedish labour market.

The new policy, which is due to be implemented in December, will place no limit on the amount of workers coming from a single country and will increase the period for which a work permit is valid from one to two years.

According to Tobias Billstrom, Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy, the changes will constitute one of the most profound reforms to immigration policy in several decades. It comes at a time when  Sweden is facing severe labour shortages and has a significant need for doctors, nurses, electricians, engineers, IT professionals and welders.