Articles Posted in Top Immigration Stories

A high court challenge is likely to cause problems for the UK’s plans to implement a cap on immigration into the country.

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and a number of businesses that depend on skilled immigration to deal with skill shortages have brought a judicial review of the government’s temporary cap on immigration. The cap was imposed on 28 June 2010.The JCWI says that the cap is unlawful because ministers did not seek proper parliamentary approval before introducing the immigration cap. If the immigration cap was debated in Parliament beforehand there would have been an opportunity for MPs to consider in detail what would be the appropriate limit on skilled and highly skilled visas.

According to the Government, the temporary immigration cap was implemented to prevent a large influx of Tier 1 (highly skilled migration) and Tier 2 (skilled migration) visa applications from migrants originating from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area. The temporary immigration cap reduces overall skilled immigration by a relatively modest five percent. The surge is expected because the Government plans to implement a permanent cap on immigration in April next year.

However, the Government is facing criticism as the immigration cap is damaging to UK business and so to the UK’s global competitiveness. Startup companies, major research positions, and other highly skilled endeavors are well-represented by foreign-born members of society in many industrialized nations. The immigration cap has so far affected Tier 2 visa applications more than Tier 1 visa applications. Some businesses have been left in a situation where they are unable to sponsor anyone at all on a Tier 2 visa. Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable complained publicly that the temporary cap was damaging British industry.

Iraq’s ambassador to Afghanistan celebrated the opening its new embassy Wednesday in Kabul, saying it will strengthen diplomatic relations between the two countries that date to the 1930s and assist Afghans who want to visit holy sites in Iraq.

“Iraqis and Afghans are almost brothers,” Ambassador Qais Subhi al-Yacoubi said at the opening. “Whenever I go on the street, people know that I’m Iraqi. Everyone welcomes me so I never feel that I am here as a guest. I am among my brothers and my friends. The relationship is not only Iraqi-Afghani, it is also Arab-Afghani and Islamic-Islamic and before everything else, we are Muslim.

The Afghan government has said it also has plans to re-open its embassy in Baghdad, as it tries to expand and deepen its links to the Muslim world. Iraq broke relations after the Taliban seized Kabul in 1996, but has had relations with the current government of Afghanistan for years.

The new Iraqi embassy in Kabul eventually will have a consular section to assist Afghans who want to visit Iraq, which is home to religious shrines important to Shiite Muslims around the world.

“We have thousands and thousands of Afghans who want to go to Iraq,” he said. “Iraq is full of holy shrines from north to south. … Our consular section will facilitate that. It will take some time, but we are working quickly.”
Many Muslims, including Afghans, visit Iraq during Ashoura, the yearly mourning period in which Shiites remember the seventh century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, in a battle in the central city of Karbala.

We have witnessed stricter immigration rules to tackle the gross misuse of Visa system globally. There is confirmation that Hungary is tightening its immigration rules to deter foreigners from gaming the EU system. Non-EU citizens whom the authorities can prove married or got adopted for the sake of obtaining a residence permit will be forced to leave the country should lawmakers pass the bill which aims to bring Hungary in line with EU law.

Further, students who enroll in Hungarian higher education in order to gain free travel within the EU face tougher admission requirements, such as having to prove that they possess the language skills required to start their studies. In turn, Universities must inform the authorities about new foreign students within eight days and let them know if they break off their studies or fail to enroll by the deadline. Employers, including research institutes, will be fined if their non-EU employees fail to leave after their permits expire. If a foreigner violates Hungarian migration rules, they will be banned from all EU countries. Rules for refugee applicants will also be tightened. The authorities will have the right to send immigrants to their home country if their application is turned down once. Currently immigrants have a second chance to apply before being sent home.

The UK Border Agency has expanded its partnership working with local government by launching a new checking service for settlement applications.

The settlement checking service pilot builds on the success of the existing nationality checking service. If a migrant is applying for settlement (also known as ‘indefinite leave to remain’) using application form SET(M), they can now have their application checked by a local authority officer before it is sent to us.

Form SET(M) is for migrants who are applying for settlement as the husband, wife, civil partner, unmarried partner or same-sex partner of a British citizen or a person settled in the UK. Although the service will not offer immigration advice, it will benefit applicants by checking and returning their valuable documents. It will also reassure them that their application is complete and valid when it is sent to us, avoiding any unnecessary delay.

The settlement checking service will extend the service provisions offered by local government. The first local authorities to offer the service are Brent and Barnet, which launch today. Another 10 local authorities will join the pilot over the next 2 months:
* Cambridgeshire County Council
* Cardiff City Council
* Dudley Metropolitan Council
* Leeds City Council
* Liverpool City Council
* Manchester City Council
* Newcastle City Council
* Oxfordshire County Council
* South Lanarkshire County Council
* Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Applicants can already book appointments in Oxfordshire and Stockport, where the service will begin next week.

UK is getting lot more protests from various quarters. In a rare intervention, eight British Nobel Laureates, including Russian-born Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov who share this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics, have warned that the Government’s plans to put an annual cap on immigration from outside the European Union would deprive Britain of international scientific talent and “isolate” it from the “increasingly globalized world of research”.

Sir Harry Kroto, who got the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1996, cited the case of Prashant Jain, an Indian material scientist from the Florida State University, who was offered a fellowship by Cambridge University. But he was refused a visa because he was not able to secure enough points under the points-based immigration system to be eligible for a work permit. He is a researcher who is very clearly going places. It’s an amazing loss to the country. He will probably now stay here in the U.S. when he was quite keen to work in the U.K.. It is a very good example of the problems that immigration (policy) is causing in science. Dr. Jain (28) said he was very keen to work at Cambridge which he described as a “wonderful place” but said he now saw his future in America.

In a joint letter the Nobel Laureates said that Britain’s reputation as a global center of research excellence would be damaged if a rigid cap on immigration made it difficult for universities to recruit the best talent from abroad.

Pointing out that Nobel prize-winners in science such as Professor Venki Ramakrishnan had been “enriching and enhancing British science and society for decades”. They add to our store of knowledge, and inspire countless young researchers to follow in their footsteps. These benefits are jeopardized by the Government’s plan to cap migration to the U.K. It would damage our ability to recruit the brightest young talent, as well as distinguished scientists, into our universities and industries. The U.K. must not isolate itself from the increasingly globalized world of research — British science depends on it’’, the scientists added.

Signatories to the letters include Sir Martin Evans (Medicine, 2007), Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov (Physics, 2010) and Sir Tim Hunt and Sir Paul Nurse (Medicine 2001). Their intervention follows warning by leading British businesses and universities that the proposed cap, set to come into force next year, would make Britain less attractive besides affecting its relations with emerging economies such as India and China.

Barbados has officially opened a new consulate in Cuba. And Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean, is hailing the move. The opening of the Embassy in Cuba comes just over a year after Prime Minister David Thompson, during an official visit to that country in 2009, made the announcement of Barbados’ intent to establish a diplomatic presence in Cuba.

The Embassy will be instrumental in the establishment of business contacts and the identification of emerging opportunities within Cuba for Barbados’ services, trade and commercial sectors. The increasing consular needs of the growing number of Barbadian students in Cuba all provide strong rationale for the establishment of a resident Embassy in Cuba.

US plans to maintain a strong presence in the eastern part of the capital, despite moving bulk of services to Arnona neighborhood. After six years of construction, the American Consulate in Jerusalem will open its new facility for consular services on Rehov David Flusser in the southern Arnona neighborhood next Tuesday.

The office that previously dealt with consular services, located on Nablus Road in east Jerusalem, will remain open for consulate programs, along with the facility in west Jerusalem on Rehov Agron, and America House, a cultural outreach center in east Jerusalem.

“The [new] facility was designed to enhance the provision of consular services to American citizens and local residents,” a US Consulate representative said. Consular services include issuing passports and visas, and reporting deaths and births abroad. There are 80,000 registered American citizens living in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which makes the Jerusalem consulate one of the US’s busiest in the world. It maintains an “e-consulate” for Gaza residents, offering most services online.

In accordance with the US Department of State’s dedication to environmentally friendly buildings for its consulates, the new building features “green rooftops,” with plants on the roof that minimize storm water run-off and reduce the need for air conditioning and heating by providing additional insulation. Despite moving the bulk of services for citizens and noncitizens away from east Jerusalem, the consulate plans to maintain a strong presence in the eastern part of the capital.

More than 3600 people from 118 countries became citizens at 68 ceremonies across Australia as part of Australian Citizenship Day on 17 September 2010. Chris Bowen, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, said that citizenship is a “bond which unites” all Australians.Australian Citizenship Day is a time for all Australians to take pride in their citizenship and reflect on the meaning of being a citizen of this great nation,” he said.

He added: It is also a special day for our newest Australians to join the Australian community at ceremonies across the country. Becoming an Australian citizen is a step that shows commitment and loyalty to this country and the desire to share a common future.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and local government councils hosted citizenship ceremonies in state and territory capital cities, major metropolitan centres and regional towns across Australia.

A new website in 11 different languages makes it easier for Canadian immigrants to find community service information.

The ‘In my language’, developed by the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), which represents more than 200 settlement agencies in Ontario provides an electronic library of translated content which will assist newcomers in adapting to life in Canada.

In my language website is an excellent resource for newcomers to Ontario, said Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism.

The website has received funds of $1.4 million from the Government of Canada. Newcomers now have a website where they can get the information they need in the language of their choice. “This multilingual website will give newcomers to Ontario a head start on accessing information on housing, health care, legal advice, community services, and language training across the province,” said MP Paul Calandra. The website has content in the following languages: English, French, Chinese, Punjabi, Urdu, Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, Gujarati, Tamil and Russian.

“Helping newcomers get settled is the key to their success,” said MP Bob Dechert. “Settlement information needs to be accessible, and this initiative is a significant step in fulfilling that aim.”
Besides immigrants, other users of the website include community organizations, schoolboards, police services, and the healthcare industry. The new website has multilingual information on housing, healthcare, employment, schooling and other important topics.

Government funding of the new website was made possible through the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement (COIA), which was signed in 2005. Through this agreement, the Government of Canada is investing $428 million in Ontario for settlement services for immigrants.

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.