Immigration Lawyer Blog

The removal of the entry visa to Canada for Grenadian citizens is still open for review, according to Minister of State of Foreign Affairs in the North American country, Peter Kent. He made the disclosure when he met with Grenada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter David during a bilateral meeting on the margins of the 65th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.

“We are aware of the visa issue and let me state that this has nothing to do with the relations between both countries but rather with individuals who took advantage of the economic citizenship program,” said Minister Kent, promising to follow up on the progress of the review.

The economic citizenship program was introduced by Grenada in October 1997 to supplement government revenues. It allowed investors to acquire a legal second passport for a specified minimum investment in the local economy. However, the system came under fire from critics who said it allowed criminals to effectively adopt new legal identities for a price. It was suspended indefinitely in 2001, with the Finance Minister at the time, Anthony Boatswain, saying it was too risky in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States. But in December of that year, Canada imposed the visa restrictions on citizens from Grenada, Dominica, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, all of which sold passports. Before then, anybody holding a passport from one of those countries could have entered Canada without a visitor's visa.

Startling accusations Wednesday that GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman had an illegal immigrant as her housekeeper for nine years have all the elements of a classic late-campaign "October surprise" - a sobbing victim, a media-savvy attorney, charges of hypocrisy and dirty tricks.

The charges sent Whitman's campaign team into overdrive as it worked nonstop to limit the political damage from the allegations, which the former eBay CEO dismissed as lies and partisan attacks.

The latest chapter in California's gubernatorial race unfolded live on TMZ.com, just hours after Whitman finished her first televised debate with her November opponent, Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown, a debate in which she argued that California employers must be held accountable for hiring undocumented workers.

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The Fiji Immigration Department approved 857 applications for dual citizenship between July 2009 and July this year. The dual citizenship status was granted under the Citizenship Decree which came into effect in April 2009.

Government says many of those that have been granted dual citizenship have invested in property, farming and tourism developments. The Department received a total of 1054 citizenship applications between July 2009 to July 2010.

The Decree allows for any child, spouse and former Fiji citizen to apply for citizenship by registration and also allows foreigners who are working, investing or residing in Fiji for the last ten years to apply for Fiji citizenship by naturalization. Government says the concept was introduced to allow those that have left Fiji to return and re-invest in the country.

The Iraqi government is to abolish entry visa fees for Iranian visitors, as part of efforts to boost tourism. The general policy of the country currently aims at promoting tourism through providing facilities for visitors to Iraq such as abolishing entry visa fees," Ali al-Alaq, secretary general of the Iraqi cabinet.

Visa fees for Iranians currently range from 10-20 dollars per person. The Iraqi government has been courting tourists for a number of years now, amid a decline in sectarian violence.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Iranians take part in the various Shiite rituals across Iraq.

There is continuing disagreement in the UK Coalition Government between the more pro-immigration Liberal Democrat Government Ministers and Conservative Party Government Ministers. The Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable has said that the interim immigration cap is doing "huge damage" to business.

Mr Cable is concerned that some companies may move jobs abroad because of the difficulty in obtaining Tier 2 visas and highly skilled Tier 1 visas for workers from overseas. Mr Cable says that he still wants a permanent cap from April 2011. However, he wants it to be more "flexible".

The official view of the Conservative Party Prime Minister's office is that the cap will still allow "the brightest and best to come to Britain".The Home Secretary had previously announced that under the interim cap to April 2011 the number of non-EU workers allowed entry to the UK would be reduced by about 5% to 24,100.

The Business Secretary Vince Cable also had the following to say about the current problems in bringing in skilled professional staff into the UK:
I was talking to people in the City and there were two investment banks that recruit hundreds of people from the non-EU area, Indians and Americans. They were allowed only 30-40. They have moved some operations to Hong Kong. He added that he would still support the Coalition Government agreement on the cap. This will mean a permanent immigration cap on non-EU immigration from April 2011. Mr Cable went onto say that he wanted to have a flexible cap that will vary depending on the economic situation. During the General Election campaign the Conservative Party made a manifesto commitment to the immigration cap. The Liberal Democrats opposed the immigration cap.

It is hoped that the Liberal Democrat Government Ministers including the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who supports Vince Cable vies on the immigration cap will have a moderating influence which will at the very least result in a more flexible immigration cap.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in the UN head-quarters in New York.

Nalbandian stressed Armenia attaches importance to the development of cooperation with Iraq. For this reason, a decision was made to reopen the embassy in Iraq. Zebari mentioned the Iraqi government also intends to establish diplomatic representation in Yerevan. He presented the Iraqi authorities’ efforts to establish stability in the country and the talks over the formation of a government after the parliamentary elections in the country.

Hong Kong welcomed a record 3.4 million visitors in August, its highest-ever monthly figure, tourism officials said Thursday. The total was 21 per cent higher than the same month in 2009 and brought the total arrivals so far this year to 23.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 24 per cent.

Both the short and long-haul markets increased, according to figures from the Hong Kong Tourism Board. However, mainland China still accounted for the largest proportion of the influx. Of the total arrivals, 61 per cent, or 2.4 million visitors, were from mainland China, a 28-per-cent increase on August 2009.

The Tourism Board said the growth was fueled by the peak summer travel season and the implementation of a scheme for residents in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen that made it easier for them to come to Hong Kong.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have signed yesterday an agreement allowing their nationals to use smart ID cards instead of passports to cross the joint borders. The deal will take force only one month after being signed by Kuwaiti Minister of Interior Lt-Gen (rtd) Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and Saudi Arabia's Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Prince Nayif Bin-Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

Sheikh Jaber said the agreement would give a strong impetus to the friendly exchanges between the two countries. Saudi Arabia is of strategic importance for Kuwait and constitutes a crucial link between Kuwait and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. The deal will greatly facilitate the movement of citizens of the two sister countries and it sets example for what the ties between neighbors should be.

It is only a step which will be followed by other steps on road of cooperation in all domains," Sheikh Jaber affirmed. Meanwhile, Director-General of Saudi Passports Directorate Salem Bin-Mohammad Al-Belhid said the document materializes the political will of GCC leaders for facilitating the movement of the GCC nationals. Echoing Sheikh Jaber's remarks, Al-Belhid said: "The GCC interior ministers are determined to adopt a range of measures to bolster up integration particularly in the security field. The Kuwaiti and Saudi nationals will be able to use smart cards to enter each other's country through the official crossing points in line with the travel laws and their executive statutes.

Singapore is home to the largest proportion of high-earning expatriates compared to 24 other countries and cities, a new global survey shows. Nearly half the number of expats - 45 per cent - living and working here are earning more than US$200,000 (S$265,000) annually, compared to the worldwide average of 21 per cent, according to the Expat Explorer Survey conducted by HSBC Bank.

According to a paper on household income trends released by the Singapore Department of Statistics last month, the average annual income of the top 10 per cent of employed Singapore households from work was about $265,000. This means that less than 10 per cent of employed Singapore households earn $265,000 or more.

The HSBC figure puts expats in Singapore ahead of their counterparts in other countries and cities such as Russia, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The bank said the annual poll - which interviewed more than 4,217 respondents - is the world's largest survey of expatriates. Last year, in the same survey, Singapore was ranked fourth out of 26 countries and cities when it came to expat income.

On Sunday’s “Meet the Press”, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "illegal immigrants do essential work in the U.S. and that he has firsthand knowledge of that—because they fix his house." Today, Colin Powell clarified his remarks by saying "I don't hire illegal immigrants. On 'Meet the Press' yesterday, I referred to illegal immigrants working around my house. I was referring to the many service contractors who work in my neighborhood, using mostly immigrant workers, who do good work. Some may well be 'illegal.' There are 11 million illegal immigrants in this country and most are working somewhere in our economy."

Colin Powell’s stance on immigration was further clarified in the interview when he stated, "We can't be anti-immigration. Immigrants are fueling this country. Without immigrants, America would be like Europe or Japan with an aging population and no young people coming in to take care of it. We have to educate our immigrants. The DREAM Act is one way to do that."
Powell also said Republicans should back immigration reform that would create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, as Bush urged during his presidency.

Powell reminded Americans that immigrants are hard workers: "They're all over my house, doing things whenever I call for repairs, and I'm sure you've seen them at your house," he said. "We've got to find a way to bring these people out of the darkness and give them some kind of status. "

Colin Powell’s stance on immigration demonstrates how some moderate Republicans are seeking a way to change our immigration in a way that will have a positive impact on the U.S. As Gen. Powell noted above, the DREAM Act is one way that the American government can help alleviate the problems faced with illegal immigrants in America.

By embracing those who were brought here without even knowing they were here illegally, America is fulfilling its historical heritage by allowing them to become educated citizens and to contribute to our society through getting an education or joining the military. By nothing the differences between us and Europe or Japan, Gen. Powell emphasizes the importance it is to embrace our immigrants, be they legal or illegal, if they are here to help contribute to American society.

This is especially important right now, when the U.S. has been hit with a recession and is in need of an economic boost from the working population. Let us hope that there are more politicians like Colin Powell that will help move immigration reform forward.

The UAE’s Ministry of Labor announced plans to use online filing system to speed up the application process for work permits across the country.

In the existing system, a representative from the company must go to the ministry’s physical location to apply for a work permit, a process that unnecessarily consumes time. The new system, on the other hand, will enable applicants to submit all documents electronically. Moreover, companies will be able to process the work permits through a software that they can buy, or use at selected service centers.

According to The National, Humaid bin Deemas, the executive director for Labour Affairs at the ministry, said we want to make sure that procedures will not form obstacles for any future changes in the criteria for the work permit and this move will work towards that end. It will also enable the ministry to concentrate more on formulating policies rather than spending time on mere procedures.

The system has been already introduced to companies that have more than fifty employees since the beginning of last year. However, the ministry plans to do a nationwide roll-out in the next period. Bin Deemas said in a press conference that the overall number of permits issued electronically until the end of August 2010 was 530,000 and the number of establishments that benefited from the service was 111,000. According to the Ministry of Labor, the move to an electronic system will reduce the time it takes to receive a primary application response from four days to four hours.

On Monday in St. Petersburg Korea's Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun reached a temporary agreement with his Russian counterpart which will ease immigration restrictions on Korean
entrepreneurs working in Russia. The agreement will reportedly shorten the number of days it takes for Russia to issue a working visa as well as change the current rule that requires even short-term visitors to register a home address.

The understanding was reached during the Korean minister's 12-day five-country tour of G20 member countries to fine-tune Korea's plans for the November G20 summit.

Bosnia is hopeful the EU will take a decision this December to exempt Bosnian citizens from needing a visa to enter the EU, the country's deputy foreign minister has said. Speaking at Georgetown University in Washington DC, on 17 September, Ana Trisic-Babic said that while the formal decision by the European Parliament and EU Council of Ministers still had to be taken, she had learned informally that the visa waiver was likely to come soon. It will be a great relief to the country, which has fallen behind its Balkan neighbours in the race to join the EU due to disagreements between its constituent Bosniak, Serb and Croat communities over how the state should function. Trisic-Babic noted that only 700,000 out of Bosnia's four million citizens relied solely on their Bosnian passports. Others manage to travel visa-free to the EU by using passports from Serbia, Croatia or other countries that are visa exempt.

"There is no alternative to us than joining the EU," she stressed. Noting how preoccupied the EU has been with internal, constitutional issues, such as forging a common foreign policy, she suggested "we have been left behind a little" and was looking to the US once more for its support. She claimed "the EU is not a carrot anymore for us to do reforms because it is so far away". Failure to reform its ethnically-based police force has been a notable obstacle hindering Bosnia's path to the EU. Commenting on Turkey's new involvement in Bosnia, she said Bosnians were split on this, with Muslim Bosniaks interested but Christian communities irritated. On Kosovo, she said Bosnia would not recognise its independence "for a long time" and would follow whatever Serbia and Kosovo agreed.

UK Immigration Minister Damian Green spoke recently at the Royal Commonwealth Society in London about immigration. The Immigration Minister said that the Government wishes to "maximize" the benefits of immigration. This means that the unsustainable levels of net migration seen in recent years must be brought down. He added that we need to understand more clearly why a significant proportion of students are still here more than 5 years after their arrival. And we also need a system which can scrutinize effectively, and if necessary take action against, those whose long-term presence would be of little or no economic benefit.

UK Immigration has done research recently on immigration into the UK and has published a new report about immigration called "The migrant journey". The immigration report looks at what has happened to immigrants who came into the UK in 2004. According to UK immigration the largest group of migrants were the 186,000 students on student visas. The immigration minister went onto say that more than twenty percent of migrants were still in the UK five years later.

Immigration Minister Damian Green also said that some Tier 1 highly skilled work route are not doing specialized jobs. I was also struck by some of the individual applications I saw under the [Tier 2] skilled worker category: people running takeaway restaurants and production-line workers on salaries in the low £20,000s. These are not the sort of jobs we talk about when we think of bringing in skilled immigrants who have talents not available among our own workforce or the unemployed.
The UK immigration minister also defended the controversial annual limit on immigration and said that we absolutely need sustainable immigration levels. This will relieve pressure on public services, and stop immigration being such a delicate political issue. UK immigration has provided enormous economic benefits to the UK economy. Many people have commented that recent changes which have made immigration to the UK more difficult and more expensive will caused harm in the long term to the UK economy.

The Southern Island province of Hainan is now the most accessible Island in China, thanks to new regulations introduced by the Chinese government. The newly introduced visa exemptions, will grant passport holders from 27 countries including Australia and New Zealand unparalleled access to Hainan.

The first exemption is a ‘Free Landing Visa,’ targeted mainly at groups, which is the first in China to allow travellers free access in and out of Hainan Island without a visa. The second exemption is a special Landing visa perfect for individuals or couples and can be acquired on arrival of any airport of Hainan. The free Landing Visa entitles travellers to stay in Hainan for up to 15 days free, provided that they enter in and out of Haikou or Sanya international airports.

The Special Landing Visa policy has also been seen as a landmark for all travellers as it provides travellers with the easiest method of obtaining a visa in China. On arrival at any airport in Hainan, travellers must simply go to the visa station before customs to process, it normally takes 10 minutes and costs just RMB200(Approx $30AUD), compared to the $80 and a trip to the Chinese Consulate. This visa is also valid for 15 days, but can be extended at any of police station in China for up to a two-month period.

According to a New Zealand consulate general official, NZ is currently experiencing good growth in tourist numbers from India. The rise in Indian tourists is expected to be between 10 to 15 per cent by 2011. India is currently the tenth largest source market for NZ.

As a direct effect of the increasing number of Indian tourists, New Zealand (NZ) has decided to open its second Visa Facilitation Office for India in Mumbai by January 2011. The existing office in New Delhi currently processes visa applications from across the country. The Mumbai office will have staff and added resources and will service around 20,000 applicants per year easing the burden the from the Delhi office. Visa application facilitation services are currently outsourced to TT Services that operate in nine cities across India.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved an agreement with the government of Israel on waiver of visa requirements for persons using the passport of citizen or official passports of Ukraine and Israel.

Thus, this intergovernmental agreement, signed on July 21, took effect in Ukraine. The instrument stipulates that citizens of Ukraine and Israel may stay in another country without obtaining a visa up to 90 days.

The Norwegian-Russian agreement on visa-free travel for people living in the border area will be signed when Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Oslo on November 2nd. Speaking at the joint press-conferance with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Murmansk today, Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that the deal will be signed soon, but he did however not confirm the date.

Norway share a 196 km long border with Russia, and the negotiation regarding visa-freedom for the people lining in a 30 km zone on each side of the border has been under way since Sergey Lavrov visited northern Norway in the spring 2008. The agreement was first supposed to be signed during Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s visit to Oslo in April, but the last few obstacles were then not solved. One of the problematic issues was regarding non-Norwegian citizens living within the Norwegian part of the border zone. The Russian position was first that only Norwegian citizens should be allowed to get the right to travel without visa. But, the Schengen-agreement says all Schengen-citizens should have the same rights. This issue is now solved and other Schengen-citizens that have lived longer than three years in Kirkenes will be included for visa-free border travel.

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is currently on a visit to various Countries in the World. Immigration Minister Kenney will be visiting Paris, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Hong Kong, Beijing and Manila. The Immigration Minister will be trying to reduce immigration fraud. There have been concerns about marriages of convenience and crooked immigration consultants.In Paris the Canadian immigration minister will meet with various European Ministers including the French immigration minister about illegal immigration, border security, human trafficking and smuggling, and the resettlement of refugees.

Immigration Minister Keeney in his visit to Chandigarh, India, will discuss progress on anti-fraud initiatives since his previous meeting in January 2009 with the Chief Minister of Punjab. The Immigration Minister said: "In 2009, our Chandigarh mission was seeing a large volume of fraudulent documents being submitted as part of immigration applications, including fake marriage licenses, fake death certificates, fake university admission letters, fake wedding photos, fake bank statements, fake visa counterfoils, fake newspaper articles, and fake letters of endorsement from Members of Parliament."

"At the time, Punjab officials indicated they shared my concern with this illegal activity and committed to crack down on crooked consultants. Since then, there have been media reports of a number of arrests in Punjab of crooked immigration consultants. I look forward to discussing progress made to-date and our continued cooperation on this issue."

On a positive note Immigration Minister Kenney will also give a talk in Punjab on the significant increases in the approval rate for temporary resident visas and the volume of applications since 2005. The Immigration Minister in his visits to New Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Manila will also look at the effects of increased skilled immigration to Canada. There will also be a joint announcement with the government of Manitoba and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges in Beijing and an announcement about international students.

Immigration Minister Kenney in his visit to Philippines will explain the new laws for live-in caregivers. Many live-in caregivers are from the Philippines; More and more of the immigrants to Canada are from the Philippines. In recent years it has become more difficult overall to gain immigration to Canada. If you on the occupation list or find a suitable job it is still possible to emigrate to Canada. Canada remains one of the most popular immigration destination Countries in the World.

Britain is handing out passports to more foreign nationals than any other EU country. In one year, the number of citizenship applications rubber-stamped by the last government was almost a quarter of those issued across all 27 EU member states. From 2002 to 2008, the latest period for which full figures are available, the total number of approvals by Home Office officials was 1,008,500.

Eurostat, the EU's statistics authority, said this figure outstripped even Germany and France, which have larger populations. Once granted citizenship, people have full access to housing, benefits and the jobs market.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: 'These statistics show why we must tighten our immigration system and look to be more selective about who we give British citizenship to.
While it is important that we attract the brightest and the best to ensure strong economic growth, uncontrolled permanent migration places unacceptable pressure on public services.

In addition to issuing the highest cumulative number of passports, Britain topped the league table in three individual years. In 2007, the 164,500 passport approvals was the equivalent on 23 per cent of the EU total. Over the entire seven-year period, they accounted for 20 per cent of those given out.

Labour repeatedly promised to make the citizenship rules tougher, but by the time it left government, the numbers were rising sharply. The Eurostat report stops at 2008. But, in the following year, Home Office figures show the government granted 203,790 passports.

Britain has the third largest number of foreign citizens living here - behind only Germany and Spain. The total of 4,020,800 consists of 1,614,800 people from inside the EU who - because of free movement directives - do not require a visa to live in the UK.

During the election campaign, Labour claimed there were equal numbers of workers entering and leaving the UK.

In reality, Eurostat says there were just 287,600 UK nationals filling jobs elsewhere in the European Union by autumn 2008. Yet there were 1,020,000 citizens from other Euro countries taking posts in the economy here. Earlier this week, Mr Green said that - as part of his plan to halve net migration - he wanted to make it harder for non-EU nationals to settle permanently in the UK.

The UAE plans to open an embassy in Azerbaijan this year. The UAE is the first country that recognized Azerbaijan's independence in 1991.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1992. Azerbaijan opened an embassy in Abu Dhabi in 2001 and a consulate in Dubai in 2006.

Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Minister of Foreign Affairs, answering questions during his turn at the meet-the-press series at the Ministry of Information in Accra. Three new Passport Application Centres (PACs) are to be inaugurated by the close of this month to help ease the congestion and rush at the PAC and the Passport Office in Accra.

The new PACS are to be inaugurated in Sekondi, Sunyani and Tamale. Since the biometric passport was launched on March 23, 2010 in Accra, 29,019 Ordinary, 48 Service and 251 Diplomatic passports have been issued to various categories of Ghanaians. Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, announced this in response to a question when he took his turn at the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Ministry of Information in Accra yesterday. He conceded that there had been challenges in the issuance of the biometric passports but explained that it should be expected of any new project. He, however, gave an assurance that when the three new PACs and the remaining ones were inaugurated, the challenges would be addressed.

Alhaji Mumuni also admitted that the old machine readable passports were being issued alongside the biometric passports because there were outstanding applications prior to the launch of the biometric passports and indicated that the ministry did not want to burden those applicants to re-apply by purchasing the new forms. According to him, the old passports are machine readable and are valid until 2015, when it will be phased out.

Touching on other activities of the ministry, Alhaji Mumuni said the ministry continued to pursue the policy of good neighbourliness to sustain the climate of peace and stability in the sub-region. The mutual trust and confidence established by President J.E.A. Mills and his counterparts as the basis for addressing common challenges to development across nation frontiers, was maintained.

Alhaji Mumuni said the ministry also sought to give substance to the government’s declaration to make regional integration the flagship of its foreign policy by actively participating in the deliberations of ECOWAS and other sub-regional and regional economic communities while ensuring that Ghana derived maximum benefit from its membership of such bodies.

According to him, the decision to relocate the new ministry at that site was because the AESL had advised against the reconstruction of the old ministry gutted by fire in October, last year. Besides that, Alhaji Mumuni explained that as the gateway to the government and the nation, it was important that the ministry was sited at a place that was attractive and conducive as against the old place which was close to the market.

As part of its response to the Canterbury earthquake, Immigration New Zealand is working closely with other Government agencies to identify occupations where skill shortages may occur, for example, in the infrastructure or construction sectors to ensure that where an immigration response is required we are able to respond in a timely manner. For instance, this may result in changes being made to the Essential Skills in Demand Lists before our next review which is due for completion in mid 2011.

From Sept. 8, travelers flying to the US which do not requires visas will be required to pay a $14 “operational and travel promotion.” According to US Customs and Border Protection website, people from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries must pay when applying for an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).

The new tourist tax that was implemented today received criticism from European Union as “inconsistent with the commitment of the U.S. to facilitate transatlantic mobility.” The tourist fee affects air and sea travelers from VWP countries such as Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The total fee for a new or renewed ESTA will be $14. The breakdown includes $US10 tax and $US4 to recover the cost of the ESTA system. ESTA approval, which went into effect in early 2009, allows travelers to enter the United States without a full travel visa, which can cost over $100. The ESTA authorization lasts for two years (or until the individual’s passport expires), and is valid for multiple entries.

UK Border Agency has published new versions of application forms yesterday, and a new version of the Tier 1 (General) policy guidance.

New versions of the following application forms were published:

* Tier 1 (General) form
* Tier 1 (Post-study Work) form
* Tier 2 form
* Tier 4 (General) form
* Tier 4 (Child) form
* PBS Dependent form

Last month UK authorities withdrew the facility to pay the application fee by cash at public inquiry offices, and the above application forms have been amended to remove all references to cash payments. They have also made the following additional changes to the Tier 1 (General) and Tier 2 application forms.

* Tier 1 (General) - we have corrected a question number (U2)
* Tier 2 - We have changed the help text about enrolling biometric information at a post office.

One should use the new forms from now on. However, in line with paragraph 34 (I) of the Immigration Rules, we will continue to accept applications made on the previous version of the application forms up to and including 27 September 2010. Any application submitted until 27 September 2010 will be considered under the new Immigration Rules, regardless of the version of the application form used.

The change to the Tier 1 (General) policy guidance relates to migrants who are currently in the UK as Innovators. The table in paragraph 46 has been amended to show that these migrants' applications will be treated as applications to switch into Tier 2 (General), not as extension applications.

Canadian immigration also intends to significantly increase the investment requirements for the immigrant investor program:
- A personal net worth of $1.6M instead of $800,000
- An investment requirement of $800,000 instead of $400,000

Canadian immigration feels that that the investment requirements are too low. The investment requirements have not changed for more than ten years. The current system attracts more applicants than are required each year under the immigration plan. This has resulted in an increase in processing times.

Canadian immigration will not be accepting any more Canadian immigrant investor applications until the new system is operational. This is to prevent a surge of applicants before the change in the immigration requirements.

Immigration Minister Kenney had the following to say about the immigrant investor program:
"Canada needs investor immigrants." These changes are necessary to keep Canada's program competitive with that of other countries, and keep pace with the changing economy.

Visa applications from foreign students to study in Australian universities have dropped by 15,500, almost 12%, over the past 12 months, according to figures just released by the Department of Immigration.

As negotiations continue over whether the Labor or conservative parties will assume government following elections on 21 August, the National Tertiary Education Union has warned that the fall in applications threatens Australia's A$18 billion (US$16.2 billion) education export earnings.

It also has the potential to undermine the financial viability of universities and other education providers that have become increasingly reliant on international student fee income, the union stated.

"This drop in international student visas applications clearly indicates Australia is becoming a less attractive study destination for international students," said Matt McGowan, the union's Victorian Division Secretary. He also added that the reasons for the fall are no doubt many and varied and include the damage caused to Australia's reputation from the reporting of attacks on international students, stricter regulations to weed out less reputable providers and reductions to announced cuts in net immigration by both parties in the federal election.

McGowan said fees from international students were the second most important source of income for universities and, on average, accounted for 15% of their total earnings. For a number of universities, the fee income accounted for up to half their annual budgets. In other words, some of our universities and the jobs of our members at those universities are very vulnerable to any cuts in international student numbers.

The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in 20 years as substantially fewer undocumented workers from Mexico, Latin America and elsewhere are crossing the border in search of jobs, an independent research group says.

The analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center suggests the nation's economic downturn and increased border enforcement have reduced the number of illegal immigrants, who make up roughly 4 percent of the U.S. population.

The study released Wednesday estimates that 11.1 million illegal immigrants lived in the U.S. in 2009. That represents a decrease of roughly 1 million, or 8 percent, from a peak of 12 million in 2007, before Arizona intervened with its new enforcement measures.

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