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For the first time in America's history, an African-American has been elected as President of the United States. Senator Obama of Illinois won the election, with 349 electoral votes compared to his opponent John McCain's 162 electoral votes. Obama's incredible mandate with the American population may have had a significant boost from voters, particularly immigrant voters, that the opposition Republican party previously under-estimated. Obama has voiced his support for US immigration reform in the past, both with regard to helping the growing Hispanic population and on the issue of increasing skilled immigration to help the U.S. economy maintain its global competitiveness. Whilst his opponent John McCain had similar personal views on immigration reform, this opposed directly with the views held by most of his own party.

Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper has reshuffled his cabinet after being re-elected, with Jason Kenney replacing Diane Finley as immigration minister. The first...

Entries to the United States 2010 Diversity Visa Lottery must be received by noon on 01 December, 2008. The “Green Card” Lottery offers anyone, from a defined list of countries, which this year includes Russia, a chance of obtaining a permanent residence visa, known as a “Green Card”. 55,000 “Green Card” Lottery visas are awarded every year to successful applicants and their immediate families. Whilst the application process is relatively simple, any applications with incorrect information are automatically denied. For a small fee, workpermit.com can help with the process and give you the peace of mind that your application is in order and free of mistakes.

According to US authorities, in the last year the government arrested and deported record numbers of illegal immigrants whilst in the same period it naturalized a record number of new Americans. With figures of 350,000 and more than 1 million respectively, Bush administration...

From 17 November, 2008 citizens of six additional EU countries can travel to the United States without first obtaining a visa. The European countries which qualify for travel, under the visa waiver program (VWP), are the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary and the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The VWP allows travel to the US for business and tourist purposes for a single stay of up to 90 days. Entry for work or study purposes remains subject to existing visa requirements. In order to qualify for travel under the VWP, citizens of newly eligible countries must possess a biometric passport and must obtain approval for their trip by first filling out a travel authority form online.

Immigrant rights organizations have planned a major march in Washington on 21 January, the day after Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th US president. Some 30 organisations, representing tens...

The EU Blue Card has been in the spotlight this week. The idea for an EU-wide policy on skilled immigration was first introduced in 1999 but was put on ice in the aftermath of the Twin Towers terrorist attacks in 2001. It was not until October, 2007 that Franco Frattini, then-EU Commissioner, put an official proposal before the European Parliament and the concept of the Blue Card was born. Inspired by the United States Green Card, the EU Blue Card would allow skilled migrants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland to live and work in any EU member state that adopts the relevant legislation. A report, presented to the EU Parliament on 04 November 2008, set out to clarify some of the details of the proposed scheme and gained the crucial support of the Employment Committee. According to some critics, the report suggested that certain concessions be...