Immigration newsletter 07 Sep 2011

The UK Government's own advisory committee, the Migration Advisory Committee, has stated that the British economy could suffer permanent damage if the Government continues to restrict non-EU skilled immigration.

In April of 2011, the current Government implemented a permanent cap on Tier 1 and Tier 2 skilled immigration. This followed on from the temporary immigration cap of the previous year. The popular Tier 1 (General) category no longer exists.  There is a new Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) category; However, hardly anyone meets the requirements for this visa category.

According to the head of the home affairs select committee, MP Keith Vaz, the UK Government's insistence on counting overseas students and seasonal workers is inflating immigration figures. The inflated immigration figures are then used to justify more restrictive immigration controls These more restrictive immigration controls make it more difficult for employers to employ desperately needed skilled workers from abroad. Overall this is bad for the UK economy.

Australia has released their Enterprise Migration Agreement submission guidelines designed to help "project owners and prime contractors on eligible resource projects" to hire overseas workers.

Australia is currently experiencing a major boom in the mining Industry; Companies do not have enough workers to complete all scheduled projects. The government has stepped in with EMAs to help alleviate labour shortages by providing a streamlined immigration process for foreign workers.

A new study on Canadian immigration policy has found that immigrants who come to Canada as independent skilled migrants had "consistently and substantially" the highest earnings of four categories of immigrants. The researchers concluded that Canada should continue to focus on skilled migration. The researchers also hope that their study will influence future Canadian immigration policy.

Canada is holding an online consultation on appropriate levels of immigration, announced Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) said that Canada has one of the highest per capita rates of permanent immigration in the world at roughly 0.8 percent in recent years. CIC said that it has welcomed over 3.5 million immigrants in the last 15 years.

Canada has announced improvements to its visa application process that will make Canada a more attractive destination for Latin American travelers.

Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy, announced recently that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is expanding its visa application center network (VAC) around the world to make the application process more efficient.

At a recent National Day Rally speech by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke about tightening immigration rules for skilled foreign workers. This has raised concerns that in future it will be more difficult for skilled overseas workers to emigrate to Singapore.