Immigration newsletter 27 Oct 2010

There will be further fee increase in UK Government visa fees from next week on 1 November 2010. This was announced by Damian Green in September 2010. 

UK Visa fees keep on going up and up. UK Government policy means that there are fewer immigrants available to fund the immigration system. This means that the Government needs to charge more money to each migrant to pay for the immigration system. Many groups including the Joint Council for the Welfare of immigrants have criticised these further increases in UK visa fees.

There is little more than a week left if you wish to submit your entry for the Green Card Lottery. The entry period for the Green Card Lottery ends at 12pm EST on Wednesday 3 November 2010. If you are picked for the Green Card Lottery you can then apply for your US Green Card and live in the US indefinitely and work in the US for any employer. It is usually quite difficult to gain US lawful permanent residence. For those lucky enough to win the Green Card Lottery route to a US Green Card is a lot easier.

The UK Government will not issue any more Tier 1 (General) visas for the month of October 2010 to first time applicants from outside the UK. The limit does not affect applications from dependents, applications from people in the UK switching into Tier 1 (General) from another category, or people extending their current Tier 1 (General) visas.

The UK implemented an interim cap on immigration on 19 July, 2010. There is a monthly UK immigration limit on Tier 1 (General) Visas; new visas will start to be issued again on 1 November 2010.

The Western Australia (WA) Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) says that the Australian government must increase skilled immigration so that WA can cope with labour demand in the next mining boom.

According to a report by a leading Australian economic consulting firm, Western Australia will lead the nation in output growth for 2010 and beyond. It is also expected that the Western Australian economy will continue to grow in the next financial year.

Immigrants in Canada are waiting from 15 to 19 months to have their Canadian citizenship applications approved due to a large backlog of applications.

In 2009, changes to the Immigration Act meant that more people were eligible for citizenship, leading to an increase in citizenship applications.

"Really it's just a question of enough resources to process all the applications we receive," said Citizenship and Immigration Canada operations manager Paul Snow in an interview with CBS News.