Articles Posted in Top Immigration Stories

The UK Border Agency has announced that it will stop accepting Tier 1 (General) applications made overseas from 00:01 on 23 December 2010. This is to ensure that we do not exceed the limit set by the government for issued Tier 1 (General) applications between 19 July 2010 and April 2011.

Tier 1 (General) overseas will not reopen for applications. Tier 1 (General) in the UK will remain open until 5 April 2011. There will be transitional arrangements beyond 6 April 2011 for some applicants who are already in the UK, and we will announce details of these in due course.

Following a court judgement on Friday, the government has also set a limit until 5 April 2011 on the number of certificates of sponsorship that are available to licensed Tier 2 sponsors under Tier 2 (General). The level of the limit will be 10,832, and the changes will take place immediately.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said:
The recent Court ruling is about process, not policy – the policy of having a limit has not been found to be unlawful. The court’s ruling rests on a technicality, which we have set right today to ensure that from now on the interim limit is back up and running. This judgment does not affect the annual cap in any way. The interim limit was a temporary measure introduced specifically to tackle a rush of applications ahead of the introduction of the annual limit. As a result of the volume of applications received since the interim limit was introduced last July, no more Tier 1 visa applications from overseas will be accepted after 22 December. The government remains firmly committed to reducing net migration to the tens of thousands.

A worker with an expired contract in the UAE can now obtain a new work permit and shift to another employer without a consent of his sponsor, a move that will also benefit the Indian workers in the country.

According to a new resolution issued by the UAE Labour Minister Saqr Gobash, the new regulations on conditions and criteria of issuing new work permit for a worker after the expiry of his service contract and transfer of sponsorship will take effect as of first of January 2011 in implementation of a cabinet resolution regarding internal work permit at the ministry.

The resolution says that the new employment permit will only be granted to the worker after the end of his work relationship with his employer without consideration of the legitimate six month period which is usually calculated after the cancellation of the worker”s labor card, but stipulates two must-do conditions.

The UAE has 1.75 million Indian population, which is the largest expatriate community in this country. Once operational, the new regulations will replace the current formalities of transfer of sponsorship for expatriate workers.

Gobash said the new measures aim to infuse broader flexibility in the labour market and strike a balance in the contractual relationship between the employer and worker.The conditions mean that the two contracting parties should end their work relationship cordially and the worker should have worked with his employer for at least two years.

The resolution defines two cases where the worker can obtain the new work permit after the end of the contractual relationship without the agreement of the two contracting parties. The resolution also defines three cases where the worker shall have the right to get a work permit without fulfilling the condition of working two years at least with the employer.

The Consular Section of the US embassy in Bangkok will be in Phuket tomorrow (December 17) to provide consular outreach services.

The “consular clinic” will be at the Metropole Hotel on Montri Road in Phuket Town from 8am to midday. Consular staff will be available to provide services on:
• Passport renewal applications ($110 or 3,300 baht for adult passports, and US$105 or 3,150 baht for a child’s passport).

• Notarial services and certified copies ($50 or 1,500 baht). This includes income affidavits for retirees in Thailand.

• Extra visa pages (US$82 or 2,460 baht). However, the embassy notes, “We can accept applications, but the passports will have to be brought back to the embassy for final processing the next working day.

“As of this writing, Thailand Post has approved our request to use prepaid envelopes to return passports. We will bring prepaid envelopes on outreaches that you can buy from us (at cost) if you wish us have us mail your passport back to you. “Alternatively, one can pick up their passport at the embassy. One can also have a friend pick up your passport by giving them written authorization to present to us,” said the consular release.

Consular Reports of Birth cannot be processed during consular outreach trips.

The next two outreaches planned for Phuket will be on March 16 and June 16, 2011.

For more information on US consular outreach services, email acsbkk@state.gov or call the American Citizen Services Unit at 02-205 4049.

UK Border Agency have today published new versions of our application forms and policy guidance under the following categories of the points-based system:
* Tier 1 (General)
* Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
* Tier 1 (Investor)
* Tier 1 (Post-study work)
* Tier 2 – all categories (application form only – no change to policy guidance)
* Tier 5 (Temporary worker) – all sub-categories
* PBS Dependant
These new versions reflect the new requirement for Tier 1 and Tier 5 applicants to obtain biometric residence permits, and other minor changes. One should use the new forms with immediate effect. However, and 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 until (and including) 4 January 2011. We will consider all applications under the current Immigration Rules, regardless of which version of the application form you send. For details visit http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/pbs/tables-changes-1210.pdf

Three years ago, the U.S. Armed Forces struggled with a serious recruiting crisis, a crisis that evaporated temporarily only when the economy slumped. As it recovers and our population continues to age, the Armed Forces will face yet another challenge in recruiting the high-quality people needed for the modern military.

For that reason, the Department of Defense identified the DREAM Act as a smart way to expand the pool of eligible candidates for enlistment.

The Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a bipartisan bill that would provide a path to legal residence for undocumented young people who were brought to the United States as children. The conditions: They must graduate from high school, demonstrate good moral character, and — to keep their legal status — complete at least two years of higher education or at least two years service in the U.S. military.

Without the relief of the DREAM Act, the future of these American-educated young people is bleak.

About 65,000 such eligible students graduate from U.S. high schools each year, but upon graduation, these young people, who include honor roll students, star athletes and junior ROTC members, hit a wall.

Read the story…

U.S. consular officials are arranging to meet with a San Diego-born 14-year-old accused of carrying out killings and decapitations for a major drug cartel in central Mexico.

Mexican officials approved the meeting after a formal petition from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, the juvenile court judge handling the teen’s case said Monday.

Mexican troops arrested Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as “El Ponchis,” and his two sisters on Thursday on the outskirts of the central Mexican city of Cuernavaca, a tourism destination 40 miles south of Mexico City and the capital of the state of Morelos.

All three have ties to San Diego, according to county birth records. The night of the arrests, the boy was carrying a San Diego County document registering his birthplace as San Diego, but the Mexican government was still waiting Monday for U.S. officials to authenticate his citizenship.

Army officials had made it known a month ago they were searching for “El Ponchis,” after graphic online videos prompted talk of a boy assassin.

An unnamed Mexican Army lieutenant said in written testimony that an anonymous tip led authorities to the airport where the arrests occurred.

Read more…

Belarus will soon open an embassy in Brazil, Foreign Minister of Belarus Sergei Martynov said in an interview to Belarus-TV Channel. “Actually we are opening the embassy there. The first employees have already been deployed. Previously we had a consulate general in Brazil, and now we are opening a full-fledged embassy,” Sergei Martynov said.

The minister explained the importance of cooperation with Brazil, which is the eighth economy in the world. For Belarus this is one of the major trading partners in Latin America. “The downside is that Belarus has been primarily exporting fertilizer there. And we want our trade with Brazil to be diversified with other goods including machinery and chemicals, and also the manufacture of our products in Brazil,” Sergei Martynov said.

“Our approach to foreign economic relations is that we need to proceed from simple forms of trade (exports/imports) to more sophisticated forms. We seek to create joint ventures and through them increase our presence in the market,” the minister stressed.

He also noted that in the near future Belarus will open its embassy in Nigeria. “This is a reflection of the policy that we must advance onto new markets – the countries new to us,” the minister said.

Over the past two years we have discovered, figuratively speaking, 34 new countries. Naturally, that our diplomatic presence moves along with our economic interests,” Sergei Martynov added.

Effective immediately, travellers with ordinary Taiwan passports issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan no longer require a Temporary Resident Visa to visit Canada, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today.

“Canada regularly reviews its visa requirements and has determined that Taiwan meets the criteria for a visa exemption,” said Minister Kenney. “This decision will help boost Canada’s significant trade, investment, cultural and people-to-people links to Taiwan.”
In 2009, more than 51,000 Taiwan travellers visited Canada. More than 150,000 Canadians are of Taiwanese descent.

“The decision to lift the visa requirement means that Canada will benefit from stronger ties between Taiwan and the Canadian-Taiwanese community,” said Minister Kenney.

Canada’s visa policy is based on an assessment of a number of established criteria, including immigration violation rates, asylum claims, the integrity of travel documents and the cooperation on removals by the country or territory in question.

In Taiwan’s case, Canada’s review found, among other things, a very high visitor visa approval rate for travellers from Taiwan. It also found a very low number of asylum claims from Taiwan nationals: 23 claims between 2007 and 2009. The review also found low numbers of immigration violations and removals from Canada to Taiwan. This means that a large number of people were meeting Canada’s eligibility criteria to come and visit.

The visa exemption only applies to holders of ordinary Taiwan passports issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan that contain the personal identification number of the individual. During a technical visit, Canadian officials observed good passport management practices for ordinary Taiwan passports.

The EU will lift visa requirements for Eastern Partnership states if the latter introduce European security standards, a senior official has said. The European commissioner for enhancement and European neighbourhood policy, Stefan Füle, made the remarks at the opening of the second European civil society forum in Berlin on Thursday.

The European commissioner described as “extremely important” social contacts among EU citizens and the countries involved in the EU’s Eastern Partnership – Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Ukraine, Ukrinform’s correspondent in Germany reported.

“I believe we will be able to gradually remove barriers to the free movement of people in Europe but for this purpose our partners in the east must ensure the appropriate level of security control,” Füle said.

He also stressed the special role of civil society in promoting the liberalization of the visa regime in Europe. He described civil society as a fundamental part of the democratic process. In addition, in the countries of the Eastern Partnership civil society will help introduce the reforms that will bring these states closer to European standards. Füle stressed the important role of the Civil Society Forum which he said had become one of the most dynamic elements in the Eastern Partnership in just one year. He promised that the European Commission would listen to the recommendations of the forum participants.

The forum involves 230 public organizations from among member-states of the European Union and Eastern Partnership countries. The overall aim of the event is to develop contacts among civil society organizations and assist their dialogue with state bodies. The two-day conference is discussing the political and economic situation in the Eastern Partnership countries, social problems, energy conservation, climate protection, combating corruption and ensuring free speech.

Australia has announced changes to its independent skilled migration points test which will go into effect on 1 July 2011. The new immigration points system will put increased emphasis on work experience and high level educational qualifications.Points will continue to be awarded for study in Australia, regional study, community languages, partner skills, and for completing an approved Professional Year. However, points will no longer be awarded for a particular occupation, but an applicant must still nominate an occupation on Australia’s Skilled Occupation List (SOL).

The news points test will only apply to the following visas:
* Subclass 885 Skilled Independent
* Subclass 886 Skilled Sponsored
* Subclass 487 Skilled Regional Sponsored
* Subclass 175 Skilled Independent
* Subclass 176 Skilled Sponsored
* Subclass 475 Skilled Regional Sponsored
One significant change to the points test is that people aged 46 to 49 will now be able to apply, although no points can be earned under age for applicants from 45 to 49 years of age. The age related points will be as follows:
* Age 25-32: 30 Points
* Age 18-24 and 33-39: 25 Points
* Age 40-44: 15 Points
* Age 45-49: 0 Points
Moreover, points can be earned for English language proficiency above Competent English, which is a minimum score of 6 on each of the four components of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Points earned for higher levels of English language proficiency are as follows:
* Superior English (a score of at least 8 in each of the fourcomponents of the IELTS): 20 Points
* Proficient English (a score of at least 7 in each of the fourcomponents of the IELTS): 10 Points
The pass mark for the points test will change as well and is expected to be set at 65 points.

“These changes to the points test are an important next step in the series of reforms to the skilled migration program announced by the Government in February this year,” said Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. He added, the reforms set the foundations for a skilled migration program that will be responsive to our economic needs and continue to serve Australias interests in the medium to long term.

A review of the current points test found it had resulted in applications from people in only a small number of occupations and a growing backlog of people waiting for a skilled immigration visa. Bowen said, The existing points test has not always led to outcomes consistent with the objectives of the skilled migration program. For example, the current test puts an overseas student with a short term vocational qualification and one year’s work experience in Australia ahead of a Harvard educated environmental engineer with three years’ relevant work experience. The new points test should ensure that Australia admits the “best and brightest people” from the pool of applicants.

The new points test will only affect skilled independent immigration and not employer-sponsored immigration. Anyone lodging an application after 1 July 2011 will come under the new points test. If you meet the requirements for skilled immigration to Australia it may be best to apply now and come under the current immigration scheme. You may not qualify under the new immigration scheme from 1 July 2011.