Immigration newsletter 13 Apr 2011

Firstly, now may be the time to think of new immigration destinations.  Perhaps think of Singapore, Hong Hong, etc.  Countries such as the UK, Canada and Australia have made immigration more difficult in recent years.

The Immigration Minister in the UK Damian Green has said that the changes that have been brought in from 6 April 2011 will reduce levels of new immigration to the tens of thousands per year. 

The number of people allowed into the UK under the Tier 2 visa skilled sponsored route will be 20,700.  It is arguable whether this represents a significant change.  There has anyway been a similar “temporary limit” over the last twelve months.

On 1 April 2011, the United States began accepting Fiscal Year 2012 H-1B petitions from US employers wishing to hire overseas workers in specialty occupations. The overseas workers are mainly in professional level jobs that require you to at least have a bachelors degree. The earliest start date is 1 October 2011. While capped at 65,000 petitions per year, currently only 5,900 have been lodged.

Australia will lower the barriers for entry for many people who wish to obtain student visas.

The student visa assessment level for 38 countries will be lowered across one or more visa subclasses as of 2 April 2011. The changes come after an internal review of Australia's student immigration system by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

A recent study by Canadian professor Tony Fang recommends that Canada should increase its immigration levels to bolster investment in housing and boost the nation's gross domestic product.

Canada already has the highest immigration rate per capita out of all major countries. The country also has a number of skilled immigration programs to help deal with skills shortages in the labour force.

The Canadian government is providing CAD $22 million to help skilled immigrants in Ontario find work.

The Bridge Training program helps skilled migrants enter the Canadian workforce and find employment which best matches their skills and qualifications. This program also funds regional projects in Ontario to helps skilled migrants obtain Canadian licenses in regulated professions, or get the training they need to get work in regulated or non-regulated occupations.

For the first time in a decade, Germany has seen an increase in immigration into the country, according to numbers published by the national statistics office.

At the end of 2010, approximately 6.75 million foreign nationals were registered in Germany, bringing the immigrant population of Germany to just over 8 percent. This was a rise of 58,000 over the previous year.