Immigration newsletter 01 Sep 2010

The UK PEO team in Croydon have announced that “a substantial number of Tier 4 appointment slots” will be made available from 1 September 2010 for legal representatives. This means that it will be possible for workpermit.com to represent you if you need a Tier 4 student visa quickly from within the UK.

If you are interested in this service you should contact the workpermit.com London Office on 0344 991 9222 (calls are free on many payment plans) to make an appointment. If you use this service you and any dependents will need to accompany us to the Public Enquiry Office (PEO) in Croydon.  The PEO will need to capture your biometric data.

Australia did not suffer to the same extent as many other Countries during the recent economic downturn in 2008 and 2009.   The unemployment rate over the last two years has been between 4 percent and 5.8 percent; Very low compared to most Countries.

The Australian economy is in great need of skilled workers. Many industries including the housing and mining industries are worried that as demand picks up, they will be unable to find the skills they need.

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), approximately 31,000 H-1B visas are still available for fiscal year 2011. During the boom years there was always a shortage of H-1B visas and it was very difficult for companies to obtain this visa for their foreign employees.

The US economy has still not fully recovered from the economic downturn and so demand for H-1B petitions remains low; This provides a good opportunity for companies that have had difficulties obtaining H-1B visas in the past to obtain them now. In 2006, all available H-1B visas were snatched up in a single day.

According to an article in the Irish Times, Ireland with its relatively open immigration system is more successful in attracting foreign researchers than other European Union countries.

Conor O'Carroll, research director for the Irish Universities Association, said that about 35 percent of PhD students and 38 percent of researchers at major universities in Ireland are foreign. About half of these are from outside the EU, mostly from India, China, and the United States.