Immigration newsletter 17 Apr 2014

Do you have a professional level contract in the UK paying at least £180 per day? If so, we can help you find a sponsor and obtain a UK Tier 2 (General) skilled worker visa. It is easier to switch if you already have a Tier 1 PSW visa or Tier 4 student visa or Tier 2 Visa. The UK Tier 1 Entrepreneur scheme may also be an option. Why not contact the London office for further details.

UK Immigration Solicitor needed - Call the UK office on 0344 991 9222

Canadian immigration announces new and quicker 'Express Entry' system

Canadian immigration minister Chris Alexander has announced that Canada’s new 'active recruitment' immigration system will be known as 'Express Entry'. The system will be introduced in January 2015.

Mr Alexander said the system will revolutionise Canadian immigration. Under the new system, people wishing to move to Canada to work will submit an ‘expression of interest’ to Canadian immigration. Then, Canadian businesses will be able to select candidates from the government database. Mr Alexander said Express Entry applications should be processed within six months.

US immigration announces H-1B visa ballots

USCIS, the US immigration service, has announced that it will hold two ballots to allocate this year's quota of H-1B temporary work visas.

Each year, there are 85,000 H-1B visas available, 65,000 for those with bachelors degrees and 20,000 for applicants with masters degrees or doctorates. In years where more applications are received than the visas available, USCIS holds ballots to decide who will receive the visas.

Demand was high this year, as it was last year, so a ballot was held to decide whose applications will be considered.

UK seeks to deter EU immigration with benefit changes

The British government has announced that, from July, immigrants from the EU will not be able to claim UK child benefit during their first three months in the country. In addition, unemployed EU immigrants who do not speak English will be forced to take language classes or face losing their unemployment benefits.

The changes are intended to reduce the 'pull factors' which attract EU migrants to the UK. In 2013, the government barred EU migrants from claiming unemployment benefit for their first three months in the UK.

Lords denounce UK's 'overblown rhetoric' on immigration

Another parliamentary committee has criticised the UK's Coalition government for its rhetoric on immigration.

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee says that the number of foreign science students (in the UK with Tier 4 student visas) has fallen by over 10% since 2010, when the current government came to power.

The committee says that this fall has been caused by a negative perception about the UK among international students. It says that this perception is caused by the tone of the public debate on immigration in the UK. The committee warns that in the age of social media, negative opinions can spread between students very quickly.

Senior US Republican says illegal immigration can be 'an act of love'

Jeb Bush, the brother of George W Bush, who may run for the Republican nomination for the US presidency in 2016, has told the party to abandon its 'harsh political rhetoric' on illegal immigration. If Mr Bush gains the Republican nomination, this is likely to result in a change in the party’s stance on immigration.

At the last presidential election, the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, promised, if elected, to introduce ‘self-deportation’ policies to try and persuade illegal immigrants to leave the US voluntarily. Political analysts believe that this stance may have cost Mr Romney the election because it persuaded Hispanic voters to vote for President Obama.

Nigella Lawson refused entry to US, asked to apply for Visa

The British celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has been barred from entering the United States because of her public admission of cocaine use. Ms Lawson was asked to leave a plane to the US on 30th March. Since then, the US embassy in London has issued a statement saying that Ms Lawson is free to apply for a US visa to enable her to visit the US and fulfil her professional commitments in the US.

Ms Lawson, the daughter of the UK’s former finance minister Lord Lawson, admitted occasional cocaine use during the trial of her former personal assistants in 2013.