Immigration newsletter 26 Jun 2013

Last week, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development issued its 2013 International Migration Outlook. This week, our news will summarise its findings for five popular emigration destinations - The UK, Canada, Australia, The US and New Zealand. 

Workpermit.com has expert staff who can help you with visa applications to all these countries. In the UK, we can help with applications such as Indefinite Leave to Remain and Tier 1 renewals.  In Australia we can help with a wide range of visas including the 189, 190 and 489 visas. 

In Canada we can help with various visas including the Federal Skilled Worker visa and Federal Skilled Trades Program. In the US we can help with work visas including the H-1B and L-1 visa.  We can also help with any other visa issues. We are registered with the immigration authorities and have 25 years of experience. Why not give us a call today?

In the UK nearly 200,000 people gained UK citizenship in 2012. The number of Tier 1 ‘high value migrants’ fell to 63,000 because Tier 1 (Post Study Work) visa was closed to new applicants in April 2012. The Tier 1 figure will fall further in 2013. Most Tier 1 applicants came from India, Pakistan, China and Nigeria. 

The number of Tier 2 skilled worker visas rose despite an annual cap of 20,700 on Tier 2 (General) visas. The cap does not cover Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) visas.  Male immigrants are more likely to have a job than British men. The OECD said this might be because many immigrants have degrees.   

Canada has one of the highest per capita rates of immigration in the world.  It admitted 249,000 new permanent residents in 2011. 26% came under the ‘work’ category and 22.7% under the family stream. Most economic migrants came from India, China and the Philippines.  Canada also admitted around 191,000 temporary workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, this figure has trebled since 2002.   

Australia accepted 219,500 permanent migrants in 2011/12. 25.6% of the total were workers. The main source countries were India, China and the UK. Seven of the top ten source countries were Asian. Australia also accepted some 680,000 temporary migrants in 2011/12. About 100,000 of these came on 457 temporary work visas.  

Australia's new SkillSelect program opened in July 2012. Those applying for Australian permanent residence must now submit an expression of interest and be invited to apply for a visa.  

In 2011, 1,062,000 people gained US permanent residence - 2% more than in 2010. 43% were Asians. 31% were from North America.  Only 6% of US immigrants came onemployment-based work visas.  

808,500 people also received temporary resident visas. 450,000 were students and 300,000 came on temporary work visas like L-1 intra-company transfer and H-1Bspecialty occupation visas. Some applicants wait for over 20 years to become US permanent residents.  

The US Congress is currently considering an immigration reform bill that would

• Increase the number of employment-based green cards and
• more than double the number of H-1B visas.    

New Zealand is actively encouraging immigration to counter high emigration rates and for the rebuild of Christchurch after the 2011 earthquake. 

62,000 foreigners became residents but over 65,000 people left causing net population loss of 3,200.  The three major source countries of origin were - The UK, China and India. 

And finally, the Australian Sex Workers Association has demanded that the role of 'sex worker' should be placed on the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List. This would allow foreign prostitutes to apply for subclass 457 temporary work visas.  

Prostitution was legalised in Australia in 1992.  The government says it cannot put ‘sex worker’ on the list as there is no professional training for prostitutes and only skilled occupations can be placed on the list.

Jules Kim of the Sex Workers Association said that prostitution is skilled work. She said that, if prostitutes cannot apply legally for visas, they will be exploited by people smugglers.