Immigration newsletter 20 Feb 2013

As of 25th March 2013, the UK Citizenship Test will become harder. It will be based on a new version of the Life in the United Kingdom handbook and will feature questions on the UK’s culture and history.

We advise you to apply as soon as possible and take the old, easier test. You will have to wait for between one and three weeks after applying so apply today.  Once you have passed the test you can use it to support an application for indefinite leave to remain or a citizenship application at any time.

This is our 25th anniversary year. Over the last quarter century, workpermit.com has helped thousands of people to move around the globe.

To celebrate, we are making a series of films about people who have come to the UK to work. If you want to tell us your story please call us on 0344 991 9222 or email us at editor@workpermit.com .

If you are in the UK and need a visa urgently but are too busy to wait, we can help. Workpermit.com is registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner and can help with a same day visa application at UKBA. We have a limited number of slots with UKBA. Call our London office on 0344 991 9222 to book your one day slot.

A group of four US senators has proposed a law that would result in 125,000 more employment-based green cards each year. The Startup Act 3.0 would grant 75,000 green cards annually to immigrants who start up companies and a further 50,000 to graduates from US universities with advanced science and engineering degrees.

Vivek Wadhwa, an Indian-born academic and entrepreneur said 'If we get this through, it will be quite a coup for the economy'.

The British Venture Capital Association has proposed measures to encourage ‘an investment-led recovery' in the UK.
In the area of immigration it recommends.

• Removing the annual cap on the number of Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visas. There is currently an annual cap of 1,000.
• Secondly, granting more Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visas. Currently, only 1,000 Graduate Entrepreneur visas are granted annually to graduates with viable business plans who want to establish a business in the UK.
• Thirdly, granting automatic one-year visas for high achieving non-EEA students.

A Republican Congressman, Darrell Issa, has reintroduced the STEM Jobs Act in the US House of Representatives. The Act would see 55,000 green cardsgoing to foreign born graduates of US universities in technical subjects annually. 

However, some Democrats oppose the Act on the grounds that it is ‘racist’ because it would also abolish the ‘green card lottery’. The lottery distributes 55,000 green cards annually to applicants from countries with low historic rates of immigration to the US.

David Cameron the UK's Prime Minister, has told Indian television there is 'no limit' on the number of Indian students who can study and work in the UK.
 
Mr Cameron was speaking ahead of a planned trip to India this week. He told Sunrise TV that as many Indian students could come to the UK as wanted to and that any students who could find a job could stay for as long as they wished. The Prime Minister said that his government had failed to explain how ‘incredibly welcoming’ Britain is to foreign students.

A Fox TV poll shows that 35% of Americans think that immigration is harmful to the US while 45% think it is positive. The last time Fox carried out a similar poll in 2010, only 41% thought immigration was a good thing.

The poll also found that fewer Americans are worried about immigration than in 2010. Then, 71% said they were either 'extremely concerned' or 'very concerned' about immigration. Last week, only 60% were either extremely or very worried.