Immigration newsletter 12 Jul 2011

Australia is processing the highest number of temporary 457 visa applications since 2008, as business demand for overseas workers continues to increase.

The Australian economy took a dip like most Countries after the global financial crisis; However, Australia was not as badly affected as many other Countries and it's economy is recovering more rapidly than in other Countries due to heavy demand in the mining industry and related industries.

Western Australia (WA) is sending a delegation to the United Kingdom and Ireland in a bid to lure British and Irish workers to migrate to the Australian state.

A plan to head off a shortfall of 150,000 skilled workers by 2017 was announced by Training and Workforce Development Minister Peter Collier. The resources industry will be particularly badly affected by skills shortages as a number of mining projects get underway in the near future.

MPs are warning that recent restrictions on UK immigration could hurt businesses and damage the UK economy.

A panel of MPs which include both Labour and Conservative members will publish a paper warning about the potential problems for UK businesses as a result of the immigration restrictions being put in place.

A new report by Fitch Ratings states that the US resources industry which includes the mining and natural gas sectors, and the tech industry are facing a serious shortage of skilled workers. Experts say that skilled immigration could deal with this labor shortfall.

Canada has limited the number of federal skilled worker applications to 10,000 per year.  Canada immigration hopes that reducing immigration numbers will help Canada deal with its backlog of immigration applications.

The Canadian federal skilled worker scheme allows skilled migrants to obtain a permanent residence visa for themselves and their family if they can score enough points on a points test similar in some respects to those used by other countries such as Australia and Denmark.

Ottawa, Canada has launched a new skilled immigration strategy aimed at attracting more immigrants by providing better integration and support services to newcomers and immigrants already in Canada.

The plan will bring together 12 Canadian immigration and settlement agencies, as well as employers, and social service providers to help migrants settle into the community.