Immigration newsletter 19 Jun 2013

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has released its 2013 migration report. It says that the level of immigration in OECD countries is rising but remains lower than it was in 2007.

Permanent immigration rose by 2% in 2011 and by another 2% in 2012. 1.06m people settled in the US in 2012. Next came Russia - 413,000, Spain - 349,000 and the UK with 321,000. The most people emigrated from China, Poland, Romania and India.

UK lawyers have condemned government plans to prevent many immigrants from receiving legal aid until they have lived in Britain legally for twelve months.  The Civil Justice Council, an advisory board of judges and lawyers, says the plan breaks 'the fundamental principle of equality before the law' and could leave immigrants unable to bring or defend crucial claims. 

The UK justice minister says lawyers are abusing the system by bringing worthless cases. Immigration lawyers say legal aid is vital to help protect immigrants from being illegally deported. The UK government has partially backtracked on a plan to require all private landlords to check the immigration status of tenants.

It is reported that Communities Secretary Eric Pickles argued in cabinet that the tests would be impractical for many landlords.  But Mr Pickles is said to be preparing to introduce the tests anyway in 'high risk areas' where many immigrants live. The government is therefore likely to face accusations of discrimination and even racism.  

We can often get your UK immigration application processed within 24 hours. We have 25 years’ experience and we can help with tier 1 visa extensions, indefinite leave to remain applications and many other visas. It’s first-come-first-served so call today. 

We can also help with Australian visas such as the Skilled Independent Visa (Subclass 189). Call us on 0344 991 9222.

The 2013 OECD report into immigration to Australia says that Australia accepted 219,500 permanent migrants in 2011/12. The majority of these were admitted under Australia’s skilled migration programme. This stream is reserved for workers and their families. Seven of the top ten source countries for migrants were in Asia. India came top, then China and the UK.  In addition, 44,000 New Zealanders settled in Australia under a bilateral free movement arrangement. 

Australia also accepted some 680,000 temporary migrants in 2011/12. 37% of these were students and many more were foreign workers on temporary work visas known as 457 visas.  

In 2011, over a third of babies born in the UK had one foreign-born parent. The most common birth countries were Pakistan, Poland, India and Bangladesh. 131,100 children had two foreign-born parents and 86,000 had one foreign-born parent.

Meanwhile a UK newspaper reports that Prince William, second in line to the throne, will be the first monarch with Indian blood. DNA analysis shows that the prince’s distant ancestor, Eliza Kewark was at least half Indian. 

A new institute has been established at the UK’s Birmingham University to research into 'superdiversity'. The Institute of Research into Superdiversity, or IRIS, will carry our research into patterns in migration and contribute material to debates on migration and its consequences.

The institute’s head, Dr Jenny Phillimore, discovered that people from 187 countries live in Birmingham. She said ‘Diversity is being replaced by superdiversity. 2.9m people have come to Britain in the last ten years.’ 

‘Diversity is everywhere. Birmingham is probably the best place in Europe to look at superdiversity on this scale’.