Immigration newsletter 01 May 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

Demand for H-1B visas up by 40% in 2014, says US immigration

US Immigration says it received 172,000 applications for H-1B visas in the first five working days of April; 40% more than last year. Ballots have been held to allocate the available visas.

Only 85,000 H-1B visas can be issued annually; 65,000 to those with bachelor's degrees or equivalent and 20,000 to those with higher degrees. Applications of those who have not been successful in the lottery will not be considered further and will be returned.

Ten outsourcing firms received over half of all H-1Bs.

Canadian immigration announces new caps for skilled worker programs

Canadian Immigration has announced new caps for its skilled immigration programmes.

The caps will run from May 1st 2014 until January 2015 when the new Express Entry visa system will open.

• 25,000 visas will be available under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, mainly for degree level applicants.
• 5,000 visas will be available for the Federal Skilled Trades Program. Some trades are limited to 100 visas each.
• 8,000 visas will be issued in the Canadian Experience Class. These are for foreign nationals with at least 12 months’ skilled work experience in Canada.

UK Independence Party highlights EU immigration in campaign posters

The UK Independence Party has launched a poster campaign ahead of the European elections on May 22nd.

One poster shows a construction worker begging with a polystyrene cup. To his left is the text ‘EU policy at work. British workers are hit hard by unlimited cheap labour.’

UKIP says that UK workers are undercut by immigrant workers from Eastern Europe.

Conservative MP Nicholas Soames, a grandson of Winston Churchill, said ‘The UKIP advertising campaign is deeply divisive, offensive and ignorant’.

Canada's immigration minister gives glimpse of new investor scheme

Canada’s immigration minister says that applicants for Canada’s new investor visa program, due to be launched later this year, will have to make a much larger investment than under the Immigrant investor program which closed in February.

Chris Alexander said that the minimum investment would be more than twice the $800,000 required under the old program. He added that the investment made would not actually be a loan, as was the case previously.

Mr Alexander said that language and residency requirements would ‘probably not [be] terribly stringent’.

US immigration denies visa to Iran's UN envoy

The US has refused to grant a visa to Iran's chosen delegate to the United Nations, Hamid Aboutalebi.

Because the UN meets in New York, this in effect prevents Mr Aboutalebi from taking up his post. US Senators believe that Mr Aboutalebi was involved in the 1979 storming of the US embassy in Teheran during which 52 American embassy staff were held captive for over a year. Mr Aboutalebi says he acted as an interpreter but was not a participant.

The Iranians say they will not choose another representative.

Australia should make it easier for Chinese to get visas, says Casino boss

James Packer, an Australian casino owner, has said that the Australian government should make it easier for Chinese visitors to get tourist visas.

Mr Packer owns casinos in Australia, the Philippines and Macau.

He says that the Australian government should allow Chinese applicants to apply for visas online and in Chinese. At present, this is not the case.

Currently nationals of over seventy Countries can apply for an Australian visit visa online.