Immigration newsletter 28 Jun 2012

We are pleased to announce that VETASSESS is now doing trade assessments for cooks in the UK. This is great news for any Australia visa applicants who wish to immigrate to Australia under the General Skilled Migration Program (GSM).

GSM is for professionals and other skilled migrants who have skills in particular occupations required in Australia and who are not sponsored by an employer. Australian Immigration uses a Skilled Occupation List (SOL) as part of their points system. In order to qualify for skilled migration to Australia, you must nominate an occupation from the SOL. Fortunately the Cook occupation is on the SOL.  Applicants must also be between 18 and 50 years of age and speak good English.

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.

Following recent changes in UK Tier 4 student visas and other UK visa changes, the British Council will host several seminars for visa applicants in India. The British Council is an organisation that works to build mutually beneficial cultural and educational relationships between the United Kingdom and other countries.

If you have received an offer from a UK Institution, you can attend the seminars to find out more about the UK Tier 4 visa process. The seminars will explain the the latest immigration rules for UK Tier 4 visas. Seminars will be taking place in Bangalore and Trivandrum on 29 June 2012 and 10 August 2012 and then in Hyderabad and Chennai on 02 July 2012 and 13 August 2012.

New census numbers show that more Asians are immigrating to Australia. There has been an overall increase in Australia's population due to a resources boom and growing immigration. Figures from the 2011 census showed that Mandarin is now the second most popular language spoken after English. Until recently Italian was the second most popular language. Additionally, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that Western Australia and Queensland both recorded double-digit population growth over the past five years, much higher than the national average of 8.3 percent.

The head of Syria's National Olympic Committee, General Mowaffak Joumaa, was refused a UK visa to travel to attend next month's Olympic Games in London. Joumaa is reportedly regarded as a close friend of Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, whose regime has been widely criticised for its violent crackdown on protesters.

The Home Office is also believed to be working on additional visa cases involving other individuals who are not on the EU or UN ban lists but who have been convicted of serious crimes.

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney proposed new measures to expedite the deportation of foreigners who commit crimes in Canada. The Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act will allow Canada to automatically deport refugees, immigrants, and visitors who are convicted of a serious crime and serve more than six months in jail. Under these rules, foreign criminals will lose their right to appeal the decision of deportation.

Currently, foreigners who are sentenced to less than two years behind bars can appeal their removal from the country to the Immigration Appeal Division. Under the new proposed legislation, only those sentenced to less than six months in jail will be allowed to make such an appeal.

The UK's former prime minister, Tony Blair, said he still believes the UK did the right thing by letting in Polish immigrants when they did saying the immigrants did "good work in our country"; He also said that "most sensible people" appreciated the contribution they made to the UK.

This follows last week's comments from the Leader of the UK Labour Party (the official opposition party), Ed Miliband, who outlined the party's newimmigration policies saying the new measures will prevent British people being "locked out" of jobs by foreign workers. Miliband claimed that the previous government allowed in too many immigrants from Eastern Europe by lifting controls on EU accession countries such as Poland too quickly.

New Zealand immigration services announced their visa fees will increase by 16.7 percent from 2 July 2012. Around 80 percent of visitors to New Zealand will not be affected by the increase as most travel visa free. However, everyone applying for a visa apart from a visitor visa has to pay a fee.