Immigration newsletter 27 Nov 2013

Sponsors available for IT and Banking Contractors in UK:

There are only a Limited number of places available. Call us on +44 (0)344 991 9222 or email uk@workpermit.com for further details. Sponsors for other occupations may also be available.

If you are in the UK with a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) visa, we can help switch to a Tier 2 (General) skilled worker visa. We can even help you to find a Tier 2 sponsor. We also help with sponsorship licences for Tier 2 and Tier 5 employers and for Tier 4 student visas.

If you are currently in the UK on a Tier 1 or Tier 2 visa and wish to switch to a dependent visa you can now do so without leaving the Country. Contact us for further details. We can also help with applications for Canada, Australia, the US and many other countries.

Latvian immigrant investor scheme may close after Presidential intervention

There are fears that the Latvian Immigrant Investor visa may close altogether following intervention by the Latvian President Andris Berzins. Mr Berzins has sent a bill, which would result in significant changes to the Latvian Immigrant Investor visa back to parliament, for 'reconsideration'. Mr Berzins says that the law contains 'obvious contradictions'.

The first applications for immigrant investor visas were received in July 2010. Since then over 7,000 visas have been issued, largely to wealthy Russians who are keen to benefit from visa-free travel to the European Union. If you wish to come under the current scheme you should consider applying as soon as possible. Contact us on riga@workpermit.com as soon as possible.

UK PM: No limit on number of Indians studying in UK

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has told journalists in India that there is 'no limit on the numbers' of Indian students who can study in the UK.

Mr Cameron was speaking on his second visit to India in 2013. He was on his way to the Commonwealth leaders' summit in Sri Lanka. In India, he held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi and gave an interview to the Times of India in which he said that it was 'a myth' that the UK was 'freezing out' Indians.

EU statistics agency says immigration is driving population growth

The EU's population rose by 1.1m in 2012 to 505m with about nine hundred thousand (80%) of this rise caused by net immigration according to Eurostat, the body responsible for collating statistics for the EU. Eurostat has just released population statistics for 2012.

Within the EU there was considerable variation in population growth levels. The population grew in 17 countries, mainly richer, western countries such as Germany, the UK and France. The UK's population grew by 400,000 over 2012 of which about 150,000 is attributed to immigration.

US Republicans want 'economic-based immigration' system

Former Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Paul Ryan has told a conference that the Republicans want to remodel the US immigration system from 'family based immigration to an economic-based immigration'. Mr Ryan told the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council conference that this would require a 'step-by-step approach' and possibly as many as 'seven or eight different pieces of legislation.

President Obama told the same conference that he would support such an approach, so long as it led to the right result, by which he meant comprehensive immigration reform which dealt with the issue of the 11.5m illegal residents thought to be living in the US as well as with ensuring that there are more work visas for US businesses.

Minister 'not complacent' about Romanian immigration to UK

The UK's immigration minister Mark Harper has predicted that there will not be a huge surge in immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians living and workingin the UK expire on 31st December 2013.

Mr Harper told journalists that there would be no repeat of the events of 2004 when eight countries joined the EU at the same time. Unlike in most other western European Union countries nationals of these eight Countries were free to work in the UK on joining the EU.