Newsletter archive

A proposed government initiative to introduce ID cards , designed in part to cut down on illegal immigration, seems to have lost the public's support in the UK. Just 55% of the UK voters now support the idea, down from 80% six months ago.

Encouraging news came from the Governor of the Bank of England . In a statement this week, he said that immigrants have helped keep inflation down in the UK and hopes that the large number of immigrants who came to the UK in the past year was not a one-off occurrence due to EU enlargement.

The fees for passports, visas and chargeable consular services provided by British consular posts overseas are to change from Friday, 1 July 2005. The UK government says the increase will help them maintain a high level of service....

The UK government's new Immigration and Asylum Bill , due to be published on 22 June, is expected to include another points-based system for immigration. The measures include fingerprinting of all visa applicants. It is unclear how this new bill will affect the UK?€™s Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), so please check our site again in the coming days. We will be providing information as soon as we have it.

Higher numbers of immigrants are moving to Scotland , attracted by the country?€™s relatively low housing costs and employment opportunities. A report released this week shows the immigrants are helping boost the Scottish economy. New Zealand also saw an increase in May immigration, with more immigrants arriving than any month since Oct. 2004 . On a whole, however, New Zealand?€™s net annual migration gains have been falling since...

The UK government's new immigration bill released this week does not include a points system for immigration. Although ministers want a points system for economic migrants that would grant visas on the basis of skills, the details will be released later in the summer. It remains unclear how this may affect the existing Highly Skilled Migrant Programme , which also works on a points-based system.

A new study released in Australia found that immigrants are saving the country from the negative effects of a "brain drain" , when many skilled laborers leave a country. The Australian Federal Government helped increase the number of immigrants by boosting the migrant intake to 140,000 in 2004-05, the highest number for more than 30 years. This has been good news for Australia, since many professional-evel Australians are choosing to work abroad.

The UK announced that...