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Britons are still wanted down under as over 24,000 UK residents emigrated to Australia last year. NSW remains the most popular choice for new arrivals to Australia despite an overall drop in migration, a new survey shows. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) Settler Arrival survey reveals 140,610 people moved to Australia in the 2009-2010 financial year, a drop of 11 per cent from last year.

NSW was still the most attractive destination, with about 30 per cent of all new arrivals flocking to the state. The next most popular states was Victoria which attracted 26 per cent of new migrants, followed by Queensland at 18 per cent.

Western Australia attracted around 15 per cent of arrivals.Most migrants to NSW were educated professionals hailing from China and India, with settler arrivals from those countries at 17 and 11 per cent respectively.

Kiwis were Australia’s biggest import at around 13 per cent of all migrants, closely followed by China at about 12 per cent and India at 11 per cent. UK migrants account for around 9%. This is a major change as 3 years ago, British migrants were ahead of both China and India ; although this situation is anticipated to be reversed in 2012 as the tougher rules on studying in Australia begin to bite.

More than half of all settlers into Australia were professionals or worked as managers and administrators.The Settler Arrival survey sources its data from passenger arrival and departure cards filled in by new arrivals.

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Foreign workers without work permits would be forced to leave the country, said deputy minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa. The regulation comes under a draft decree which has been edited by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to submit to the Government.

The draft decree also regulates that highly qualified foreigners who worked as high-ranking experts would not need a work permit. Government Decree 34/CP, which regulates foreign worker recruitment and management, came into effect in April 2008, but enterprises that employed foreigners without permits only received administrative punishment under the regulation.

Foreign workers who did not obey the decree were to be expelled, but in fact, that never happened, and the level of punishment was not enough of a deterrent, said Hoa. Procedures to issue work permits would not be changed, but would be more strictly regulated, he added.

The draft decree would not have unnecessary procedures like the old one, under which the Minister of Public Security had to authorise any expulsions. Under the updated version, city police directors would have the power, said Hoa. He added: The draft decree creates good conditions for foreign workers with high levels of ability to work in Viet Nam, and manage other foreigners better.

According to ministry statistics, there are currently 57,000 foreign workers in the country, 70 per cent of whom do not have a work permit, and 30 per cent work under a visa.

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Four out of every five Britons want the government to cut the level of immigration. A large-scale poll carried out for the government by the Communities Department has revealed more than half the UK population wants to see the numbers of immigrants arriving to stay permanently in Britain reduced by a large amount. The survey suggests public demand for a cap on immigration is rapidly growing.

The results of the poll can be seen as a warning from Whitehall to Home secretary Theresa May and PM David Cameron that concerns over the high level of immigration are not going away. The issue played a prominent part in pre-election campaigning last year and is likely to lead to frustration amongst the electorate if pledges made last May are not adhered to.

Promises during the run-up to the general election included a reduction in the number of immigrants to 1990s level of under 100,000 a year. In Labour’s last year in office, net migration stood as 215,000. The Communities Department Citizenship Survey was set up under Labour as an attempt to measure ‘community cohesion’ One important point in its design was that Muslim and ethnic minority communities were ‘robustly represented’ in the results.

A total of 10,000 people took part, with pollsters later taking opinions from another 5,000 ethnic minority residents and 1,200 Muslims before reaching their conclusions. Results stated 54 per cent of the population wanted immigration cut ‘a lot’, with 24 per cent saying ‘a little’ and only 19 per cent saying levels should stay the same. NO evidence was found that local communities were becoming more divided. Some 22 per cent believed they received poor treatment from public services due to racial prejudice, but 85 per cent believed their communities were racially cohesive.

Sir Andrew Greene, considers the figures are a clear indication immigration still features large in the public concern, in spite of other worries. He adds the coalition government, especially its Lib-Dem members, should take the survey seriously. Critics are stating the UK is busy importing workers while six million of its citizens remain on benefits and unable to find jobs.

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The Bulgarian Parliament passed the amendments to the Foreigners Act on January 13 2011, in which it stipulated that a short-stay visa will be issued to foreigners for a period of up to three months within any six-month period from the date of first entry. Another type of short-stay visa will be the transit visa, which in turn will be valid for up to two days.

Changes to the country’s Foreigners Act, were approved earlier in 2010 by the Cabinet.

A Cabinet memorandum signed by Prime Minister Boiko Borissov envisaged that the changes were intended to bring the country’s legislation in line with the EU, for example on visas to meet the criteria for Schengen visa zone implementation.

The amendments revise rules on obtaining permanent residence and open the way for the “Blue Card” system earlier approved by the EU that is intended to encourage skilled non-EU nationals to live and work in the bloc’s 27 countries.

To apply for long-term residence, the applicant will have to prove sufficient resources and have health insurance so as not to be a burden on the state. Third-country nationals wanting to become, and remain, long-term residents “should not pose a threat to public order and national security”.

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A bill has been introduced in the US Congress to allow temporary protected status for qualifying Pakistani nationals in America on account of the situation and hardships created in Pakistan by last year’s floods.

The Pakistani Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Act of 2011, sponsored by Democratic Congressman Al Green, has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

The measure seeks to designate Pakistan as a TPS-eligible country and sets forth related TPS eligibility requirements, including continuous US presence since July 22, 2010. The initial period of such designation shall begin on the date of the enactment of this act and shall remain in effect for 12 months.

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The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh has announced its schedule for outreach consular services missions, commonly known as the “Embassy on Wheels” (EOW), for the year 2011.

While the schedule is tentative, the Embassy will exert its best to stick to the schedule, provided that venues are confirmed and approval of the host government are obtained for each consular mission.

The following is the tentative schedule of the outreach activities:
27 – 28 January 2011 – Al Khobar
10 – 11 February 2011 – Al Jouf
24 – 25 February 2011 – Al Khobar
24 – 25 March 2011 – Al Khobar
14 – 15 April 2011 – Hail
28 – 29 April 2011 – Al Khobar
19 – 20 May 2011 – Al Khobar
9 – 10 June 2011 – Sana’a, Yemen
23 – 24 June 2011 – Al Khobar
7 – 8 July 2011 – Buraydah
21 – 22 July 2011 – Al Khobar
11 – 12 August 2011 – Al Khobar
15 – 16 September 2011 – Jubail
29 – 30 September 2011 – Al Khobar
20 – 21 October 2011 – Al Khobar
3 – 4 November 2011 – Sana’a, Yemen
17 – 18 November 2011 – Al Khobar
8 – 9 December 2011 – Al Khobar
Starting January 2011, the EOW will adopt the appointment system for its passport services. This is to avoid the inconvenience associated with the long queues during the past EOWs. The new appointment system is free of charge and the applicants shall enlist themselves directly through email or text.

For email, passport applicants should e-mail eowappointment@philembassy-riyadh.org and indicate the applicant/s full name, contact number, and their city in Saudi Arabia. They can also reserve a slot thru text message by sending the following format: EOW(space)full name(space)city in Saudi Arabia to 0540269731 (example: EOW Juan Santos Dammam).

Family applicants must indicate all the names of its members, otherwise only one slot would be provided to them. One week before the scheduled EOW, the list of those who would be served during the EOW passport services will be posted on the Embassy website (www.philembassy-riyadh.org).

Those who could not be accommodated for the particular EOW outreach mission will be automatically listed for the next EOW outreach mission. The next EOW is tentatively scheduled on 27-28 January 2011 at the International Philippine School in Al Khobar (IPSA) in Al Khobar, Eastern Region.

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Young people from Australia and Bangladesh now have the opportunity to work in each other’s countries through a work and holiday arrangement that came into effect today (December 31). University-educated Australian and Bangladesh travellers who are aged between 18 and 30 will now be able to work and holiday in the other country for up to 12 months.

The work and holiday visa differs from a working holiday visa as it requires applicants to have the support of their government, have or be studying towards tertiary qualifications and to speak functional English. Bangladesh has become the latest country to have a reciprocal work and holiday visa arrangement with Australia, joining a number of other countries, including Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey and the United States.

Feedback on these arrangements has been positive and these places are quickly filled each year. There will be an annual limit of 100 work and holiday visas for both countries but this figure will be reviewed each year. This new arrangement is an investment in future relations with Bangladesh and will also help develop links between people in both countries.

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For the first time in several years, thousands of H-1B visas, the once most sought after by Indian professionals in the US, still remains unused, even as the year comes to an end.

About 11,000 H-1B visa slot still remains available for qualified applicants for the fiscal 2010-2011, says the latest figures released by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

This is in the Congressional mandated-general category of 65,000 H-1B visas. Last year the cap was reached on December 21, 2009. However the cap has almost reached in the H-1B Master’s Exemption category. So far USCIS has received 19,700 applications in this category against the Congressional mandated cap of 20,000.

The latest figures indicate that the employment situation in the country has still not improved. Till a couple of years ago, the cap in H-1B visas was reached in the first few days of USCIS starting to accept applications. For instance, in 2008, the cap was reached on April 8 and the USCIS had to resort to computerized draw of lots to determine successful applicants.

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The extension of the deadline for national ID card registration does not offer much of a reprieve to expatriate businessmen and professionals as the card will be mandatory for them to access government services soon, a top official told Gulf News. The Emirates Identity Authority (Eida) plans to link the ID card registration to the issuance and renewal of residence visas, but expatriate professionals should not wait until their visas expire, Dr Ali Al Khoury, Director-General of Eida, said.

It will be a gradual process to be implemented in all emirates by the end of 2011.Unlike labourers, professionals have to perform many transactions with the government and without an ID card, they will not be able to access many services, Al Khoury said. So they should not delay the registration. But labourers [blue-collar workers and household workers who constitute the majority of expatriates] can wait until the renewal of their visas.

Eida has extended the December 31 deadline for both Emiratis and expatriates. Emiratis who have not yet registered will have until June 30, 2011 to register, according to a press release issued by Eida yesterday. Al Khoury revealed that about 125,000 Emiratis, mostly newborns and children, have not yet registered.

Although Eida did not specify the next deadline for expatriates, the announcement mentioned that Eida was keen to complete the registration of all legal residents based on the new Eida Strategy 2010-13. The deadline extension has dispelled rumors and confusion about fines or other penal action against non-registered expatriates.

Thousands of expatriates had caused chaos at certified typing centers in the past two weeks in an attempt to complete the pre-registration process before the December 31 deadline.

It is understood that Eida plans to stick to the new strategy announced last year which envisaged enrolling all residents by the end of 2013.

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The Nepali Ministry of Foreign Affairs is all set to distribute the machine readable passport (MRP) from Sunday by distributing the diplomatic passports to the distinguished personalities first.

The ministry said the MRP will be first provided to President Ram Baran Yadav amidst a function Sunday morning. For the first round of the distribution, MRPs will be provided to the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice and the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly.

After distributing the MRPs to the distinguished persons, it will be distributed to all commoners in need from the Central Passport Office, Narayanhiti in Kathmandu.

Chief of the Passport Office, Bharat Poudel said the MRP generally provided in six months after application can be provided in a week but with extra charge. The ministry is planning to distribute the MRPs from all three districts of the Kathmandu Valley after some days.