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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Nine people pleaded guilty to charges connected with their involvement in a scheme in central Ohio to arrange marriages between foreign nationals and U.S. citizens. The sentences were announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). Brian Moskowitz, ICE special agent in charge of the Office of Homeland Security Investigations in Ohio and Michigan, along with Carter M. Stewart, U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, announced the sentences by U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley.

The sentences were imposed on the following individuals:
– Hasan Salohutdinov of Dublin, Ohio, and an illegal alien from Uzbekistan, was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment followed by deportation. He pleaded guilty on April 5, 2010, to one count of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and on count of presenting false statements to U.S. immigration authorities. Salohutdinov introduced other Uzbeks into the scheme in order that they might pay to engage in sham marriages.

– Dmitry Pani also of Dublin, and an illegal alien from Estonia, was sentenced to one year imprisonment. Pani also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.

– Sviatlana A. Piskunova of Columbus pleaded guilty to conspiracy and sentenced to time served.

– Laura Elizabeth Grace Scott of Columbus pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to two years probation which includes six months of home confinement.

– Courtnie Susann Good of Columbus pleaded guilty to marriage fraud and was sentenced to two years probation which includes six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring.

– Elbek A. Saidjanov of Philadelphia, Penn., pleaded guilty to marriage fraud and was sentenced to time served, about seven and one-half months.

– Iskander Odilovich Tairov, of Galloway, Ohio, pleaded guilty to marriage fraud and was sentenced to two years probation.

– Brent James Woods of Columbus pleaded guilty to marriage fraud and was sentenced to four years probation including four months in Alvis House.

– Djafar B. Sobirov of Columbus pleaded guilty to marriage fraud and was sentenced to two years probation.

Pani established an informal “business” to find U.S. citizens who would accept money to enter into sham marriages with aliens for the purpose of evading a provision of the immigration laws of the United States, and to aid and abet in the making of false statements to immigration authorities with respect to those sham marriages in an effort to convince the immigration authorities that they were genuine marriages. Salohutdinov, who had entered into a sham marriage in Illinois, moved to Ohio and came to know Pani. Salohutdinov and Piskunova joined the conspiracy with Pani and arranged sham marriages for certain other aliens that Salohudinov knew of.

The sham marriages typically occurred shortly after the alien and the U.S. citizen met each other, sometimes even the same day. Saidjanov, an alien, came to Columbus from Philadelphia, PA, and paid Pani to arrange a sham marriage on Feb. 9, 2009, with Good. Saidjanov also paid his girlfriend, who is an alien, too, to enter into a sham marriage on the following day. These sham marriages took place at The Columbus Wedding Chapel, in Columbus. After the marriages, Sadijanov and his girlfriend returned to Philadelphia, and did not live with their new American spouses.

“Today’s sentences are a reminder that America’s legal immigration system is not for sale,” said Moskowitz. “ICE will aggressively investigate and bring to justice those who seek to compromise the integrity of that system for personal profit or to avoid immigration laws.”
Stewart commended the investigation conducted by ICE agents, and the assistance of the ICE Office of Enforcement and Removal, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Columbus Police Department, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Brown, who prosecuted the case.

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The new coalition government will impose a permanent immigration quota next year, promising to cut levels of migration to rates last seen in the 1990s and dramatically reduce the numbers of non-Europeans allowed to live and work in the U.K. It’s long been a flagship cause for the country’s Conservative Party, which leads Britain’s governing coalition and bitterly complained in opposition that unchecked immigration had strained public services, distorted labor markets and fueled social divides.

British Prime Minister David Cameron won much attention on his recent trip to the United States with his program of savage spending cuts. He’s also been sharpening his shears on another front: immigration. But business leaders warn the immigration quota could leave the country short in vital industries — leaving some areas without adequate medical staff, stalling efforts to meet deadlines to build new nuclear power stations, and leaving care workers needed for a growing elderly population in short supply.

It means the crackdown will target workers from Africa – who make up the largest group of non-European migrants working in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries such as India, Pakistan and Australia. Citizens of Commonwealth nations lost preferential treatment from Britain on immigration in the 1970s. Americans, who number about 80,000 working in the U.K., will also face new difficulties. Unemployment in Britain stands at 7.8 percent, a slight fall from recent months. But 7.82 million workers are in part-time employment, the highest rate since records began in 1992.

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Saudi nationals can now get five-year multiple-entry temporary resident visas to enter Canada. The changes facilitate the movement of students and business people between Saudi Arabia and Canada. Despite the stricter visa controls, the number of Saudis entering Canada on temporary resident visas has increased considerably since 2002. In 2009, Canada granted temporary resident visas to 5,292 new Saudi students and 1,665 Saudi workers in 2009, according to data compiled by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Starting in 2002, Saudi nationals were required to apply for temporary resident visas before coming to Canada to visit, study or work, and each visa was only valid for a period of 18 months. These strict visa requirements were imposed on Saudis due to security concerns over fraudulent Saudi passports. Prior to 2002, Saudi nationals could enter Canada without a visa.

There are currently around 8,200 students from Saudi Arabia at Canadian academic institutions, including 750 medical doctors. Two thousand more students from Saudi Arabia are expected to start studying in Canada before 2011. Canada hopes that the more lenient temporary resident visa policy will permit more Saudi visitors, students and workers to enter the country.

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Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that the Government of Canada has amended its current immigration procedures to put even greater emphasis on economic recovery and further reduce the Federal Skilled Worker application backlog. The changes, effective immediately, concern the Federal Skilled Worker program, including:
1) a change in the occupations that are currently ‘open’ under this program,
2) the creation of a limit on the number of applications which will be considered by Canadian Immigration Visa Offices, and
3) a change in the documentation required for an application under this program.

These changes do not affect any applications received at the Central Intake Office before June 26, 2010.

Under these updated instructions, an application is eligible for processing if the applicant:
• has at least one year of continuous, full-time (or equivalent) paid work experience in the past decade in a qualifying occupation, which have been identified as the most in-demand occupations in Canada at this time; or
• qualifies for Arranged Employment with a full-time permanent job offer from a Canadian employer.

Applicants who formerly qualified because they had been living in Canada with legal status as a Temporary Foreign Worker or an international student will no longer be eligible under the Federal Skilled Worker program, but may still meet the eligibility criteria of the Canadian Experience Class program.

The former list of 38 qualifying occupations has been amended to include 11 new occupations with 20 previously listed occupations having been removed.

Effective immediately, the following occupations have been added to the list:
0811 Primary Production Managers (Except Agriculture)
1122 Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management
1233 Insurance Adjusters and Claims Examiners
2121 Biologists and Related Scientists
2151 Architects
3113 Dentists
3131 Pharmacists
3222 Dental Hygienists & Dental Therapists
4151 Psychologists
4152 Social Workers
7216 Contractors and Supervisors, Mechanic Trades

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The number of applicants for asylum in Finland has dropped sharply. This year an estimated 2,000 fewer asylum seekers are expected in Finland than last year. Last year the number of applicants totalled 6,000. Coinciding with this year’s drop in applications, the Finnish Immigration Service is also cutting the number of reception center places. Although numbers are down, this could change depending on what kinds of crises are brewing around the world.

About ten new reception centers have been set up in the past couple of years. More recently the Finnish Immigration Service has reduced allocated places at reception centers by 700, and more cuts are expected.

A law took effect this month allowing fast-track processing for asylum applications by citizens of other European Union countries.This has already reduced the number of applicants from Bulgaria. In practice, a citizen from another EU country cannot be granted asylum in Finland.

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Angola’s Migration and Foreigners Services (SME) have digitalized operations which will enable it issue visas online, PANA reports quoting the Angolan News Agency. Deputy Minister of Interior for Migration, Eduardo Martins, said that 32 Angolan consulates had already been linked in the online operations.

Speaking at a meeting of ministers and governors of the Angolan provinces sharing borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), at the weekend in northern Uige province, Martins said 25 more consulates would be linked online next month.

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The UK government assured foreign investors that the proposed caps on immigration for economic migrants will not hurt companies seeking to do business in UK, and any changes to the takeover laws will not single out foreign investors.

“The policy will be managed to make sure that foreign investors interests are not harmed,” said secretary of state Vince Cable, at an event announcing UK’s national FDI figures. “The new government was expected to demonstrate that it was managing immigration. We are aware that foreign investors need to bring in high level managers, skills, and have intra-company transfers,” in a first such assurance that overseas investors are not hit by immigration caps. He also clarified that while the independent takeover panel is in the process of reviewing UK’s takeover laws, which were “too permissive in the past, the changes will not be enormous, and it will affect both domestic and foreign companies in the same way.”
The new government has committed to cut non-EU economic migration to ‘thousands’, but a mechanism to implement this policy has yet to be worked out. UK’s takeover laws are currently being tightened, after widespread criticism of the Kraft-Cadbury takeover, which resulted in massive job losses in the UK.

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Dubai plans to launch a special visa system to lure talented foreign entrepreneurs as it tries to boost its economy after the global downturn. Under the EntrePass scheme, budding start-ups with high commercial value will be encouraged to set up in Dubai and share knowledge and intellectual property rights with the emirate. Entrepreneurs will have their visa application expedited and be provided with guidance from experts at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment (MBRE) for SME Development in starting their businesses.

In the fourth quarter, MBRE will launch a pilot programme for EntrePass involving 10 entrepreneurs before widening the scheme. Based on a similar system in Singapore, EntrePass is designed as an alternative to conventional business visas. In certain cases, they may also have access to finance through the UAE’s first Sharia-compliant venture capital fund.

“We want Dubai to be the centre for innovative small and medium enterprises [SMEs],” said Alexandar Williams, the director of strategy and policy division at MBRE, an agency of the Department of Economic Development in Dubai. The future of Dubai will rest on nurturing selective foreign entrepreneurs with good ideas to use Dubai as a test bed for development and to build business around it. MBRE plans to select and invite individuals or companies with strong entrepreneurial records to apply for the visa by offering them the promise of guidance throughout the setting-up process. MBRE was launched by the Dubai Government with the intention of supporting the growing number of start-ups in the emirate.

The pass will last between two and three years, enough time for initial businesses concepts to be fully tested and launched. “We are looking at any company with new business models and existing technology that can be adapted to the UAE and that could benefit Dubai through the sharing of intellectual property and knowledge transfer,” said Mr Williams.

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The decision to block the new UK immigration restrictions, introduced by former Home Secretary Alan Johnson, has been welcomed by language schools across the country.Rules that would have prevented UK student visa holders moving to the UK unless they had sufficient language skills, have been overturned by a judge.

The ruling came from Mr Justice Foskett, who criticised the fact that the new rules were to be established through changes to existing guidelines. He concluded that the rules should have been legally binding, which would have required them to be approved by parliament.

English UK, a group that represents 440 language schools around the UK, is celebrating the ruling. The group’s chief executive, Tony Milns, said, “We believe that his decision is good for the UK economy, to which the English language sector contributes about £1.5 billion in foreign earnings each year.”
Home Secretary, Theresa May, may choose to make if she still wants to introduce measures to prevent people abusing the UK student visa system. She can either remake Alan Johnson’s rules and make sure the are approved by MPs before being introduced, or she can postpone any changes until the effects of her new cap on non-EU UK immigration are established.

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The fees for US visa applications have changed for the second time this year. As a result of the changes announced by the US Department of State, US visa applications for immigrants sponsored by immediate family, will now cost $330. Visa applications on employment-based cases, i.e applications for US work visas, will see fees increase to $720.

The fee changes, which are chargeable from yesterday (13 July 2010) affect all 301 US foreign consular offices as well as other passport and US visas offices serving US citizens. Other visa fee changes were announced on 4 June this year. The increase in fees has been introduced to make sure the rising cost of providing consular services can be met, according to press releases sent to all consular offices.

The changes are the result of an exhaustive cost of service study, which was carried out last summer. The study developed a clearer picture of the cost to the US immigration department of providing its services. The department says it is keen to make sure that costs are met by the service users, rather than by the US taxpayer.