Immigration newsletter 18 May 2011

There is still considerable interest in student visas to Countries such as the UK, Australia, and certain EU Countries.  Studying overseas may be worth considering.   It could lead to enhanced job opportunities in future.  In recent years Australia has become less popular amongst Indians; New Zealand is becoming increasingly popular amongst Indian students.

Australia will make it easier for the resources sector to recruit overseas workers under the Temporary 457 work visa. The new initiatives for temporary migration visas will result in streamlining of the application process and cutting of waiting times by fifty percent.

Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMAs) will allow large resource projects to hire foreign workers for vacancies that cannot be filled from the local workforce.

Starting on 1 July 2011 and continuing until October 2012, a UK tourist visa will allow entry to Ireland for nationals of India and China, as well as for nationals of 12 other countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The move will coincide with the 2012 Olympics in London, when a large influx of visitors is expected into the UK. Ireland is hoping to capitalize on the extra-tourism revenue that the Olypmics are expected to bring.

Some economists in Canada are saying that Canada should welcome another 100,000 immigrants a year.

York University’s Tony Fang and the University of Toronto’s Peter Dungan and Morley Gunderson say that raising immigration numbers in Canada will increase gross domestic product, lead to increased investment in the Canadian property market, and lead to increased spending which will boost Government tax revenues.

The US Department of State has voided the results of the 2012 Green Card Lottery. This was due to a programming error that resulted in incorrectly selected winners in the Lottery scheme.

"The results were not valid because they did not represent a fair, random selection of entrants, as required by U.S. law," the State Department said in a statement.

New research shows that the European Union risks being left behind in the global competition for skilled engineers and scientists.

The study by BusinessEurope states that the inflow of graduates in science and technology is falling across the 27-member bloc.

According to the research Germany is suffering from a shortage of 117,000 skilled workers.