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UKBA has announced recently that from 14 December 2009 the resident labour market test requirement for Tier 2 visas will be four weeks. Previously you had to advertise for a period of two weeks or one week where the salary for the job is GBP40,000 or more. While there are signs that the UK economy is improving for political reasons the Government needs to show that they are taking steps to safeguard British jobs. In practice if an employer really cannot find someone locally to fill the vacancy it should still be possible to employ overseas workers on the Tier 2 visa.

The Home Office have recently released immigration statistics for the period July to September 2009. Phil Woolas, Immigration Minister had the following to say: "Net migration is falling, showing that migrants come to the UK for short periods of time, work, contribute to the economy and then...

Recently the Migration Advisory Committee completed its review of the Tier 1 visa scheme. In light of changing economic circumstances the Government had asked MAC to consider changes to Tier 1 for the years 2010/11. MAC feels that Tier 1 is operating well, but also recommended changes to the scheme. MAC's recommendations for Tier 1 (General) include the following: That Prospective immigrants with a minimum of a bachelors degree should be able to come under Tier 1 if their previous earnings are at a high enough level and if they gain enough points. Currently to come under the Tier 1 visa you need to have at least a masters degree. It should be noted that normally the UK Government accepts MAC recommendations in full.

There have been suggestions that the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) visa provides a loophole to enable Indian IT companies to bring overseas workers to...

In the long term immigration Worldwide continues to grow. Gallup the opinion poll company has done a survey from 2007 to 2009 in 135 Countries to find out what people's intentions are. 16 percent of the World's population would like to, if possible, move permanently to another Country. This is about 700 million people worldwide.

Some Countries such as Australia and Canada have seen immigration levels stay at similar levels or even go up. Overall levels of immigration are still going up. The total foreign born population Worldwide in 2050 is projected to be 230 million. In 1965 it was 75 million. Long term we will continue to see significant growth in the numbers of people moving abroad.

The UK Government has been making changes to the UK Tier 2 visa scheme. Some occupations have been...