Immigration newsletter 20 Jun 2012

If you have an US EB-2 employment based petition with a priority date later than 1 January 2009 and are not from China or India then you should file your adjustment of status visa application or consular processing visa application by Friday 29 June 2012. The US Department of State (DOS) has just released the July 2012 visa bulletin stating that from 1 July 2012 the employment-based EB-2 immigrant visa priority cutoff date will move back to 1 January 2009 for all countries except India and China.

Australia’s new Skilled Occupations List has been announced by Skills Australia. The new list will apply from 1 July 2012 for all applicants wishing to come under the General Skilled Migration program, unless they are sponsored by a State or Territory Government or eligible for transitional arrangements. In total, four occupations were added to the list and four occupations have been removed from the list.

Also, from 1 July 2012, Australian immigration will be introducing significant changes to their skilled migration visa program. If you are likely to have your skills assessment completed soon we can help you to beat the deadline. If you contact us by 24 June 2012 we can also obtain sponsorship quickly in Western Australia. You should contact us now to discuss your various Australian visa options.  There will continue to be plenty of Australian immigration opportunities after 1 July 2012.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that as of June 11, 2012, the cap of 65,000 H-1B visa petitions has been met for fiscal year (FY) 2013. In addition, the 20,000 petition cap for the advanced degree H-1B visa was met on June 7, 2012.

USCIS began accepting applications for the H-1B visa program on April 2, 2012 for positions with a start date of October 1, 2012 or later. Each year only 65,000 visas are available for regular H-1B visa cap petitions for graduate level foreign workers in professional or specialty occupation positions. Also, an additional 20,000 H-1B visa cap petitions visas are made available for those with an US Master degree or higher degree awarded at an US university.

On 11 June 2012 the UK government announced major changes to the Immigration Rules for non-European Economic Area (non-EEA) nationals applying to enter or remain in the UK under the family migration route. The changes, part of the Government's response to recommendations made by the Migration Advisory Committee, include introducing a new minimum income threshold and restricting family visit visa appeals. To see a list of all the changes, please check out our comprehensive news report about the issue.

According to a recently released internal government report, Canadian Immigrants who do not have good French or English tend to work in ethnic groups and, typically, earn less than their Canadian-born counterparts. The report said research showed that Canadian immigrants who can speak English or French adequately have earnings comparable to their Canadian-born counterparts. However, Canadian immigrants who don't speak an official language well have a tougher time in the labour force and often end up working in immigrant communities in major cities. Several studies have shown jobs in these immigrant communities are mostly in the lower-paying service industries.

A recently released independent report claims that UK Border Agency staff processing visa applications from Africa had been "acting unfairly" and were wrongly refusing people entry to the UK. The reported carried out by John Vine, Chief inspector to the UKBA, claimed that many visas were unfairly rejected after employees "disregarded or misinterpreted" evidence. According to Vine, some UK visa applicants had been refused entry for not failing to provide information that had not been originally requested.

US President Barack Obama has announced the US will stop the deportation of some illegal immigrant children. Obama said the change would become effective immediately to "lift the shadow of deportation from these young people." According to the US government, the change will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants currently in the US. The announcement partially achieves the goals of the "DREAM Act", proposed legislation that aimed to provide a pathway to citizenship for young illegal immigrants who went to college or served in the military.