Europe Immigration News

Some weeks, José Edgardo Andrande makes less than $200. Other weeks, his pay tops $1,200. "But then it goes down to $500" the next week, said Mr. Andrande, 42, a job hopper from El Salvador who, for 24 years, has worked as a delivery person, electrician, restaurant worker and builder in the United States.

Despite the changes, one financial transaction has remained the same. Each month he sends $700 home to support his two sons and mother in his native San Salvador.

A new proposed Austrian law lets police detain immigrants while their asylum applications are being reviewed. Parliament's lower house passed the so-called Foreigners' Rights Bill on July 7. Austria's upper house will vote on the proposal on July 21.

The Austrian government is trying to clamp down on immigrants. Newspapers increasingly blame foreigners for crime, which increased 6.9 percent in the first quarter and an unemployment rate of 4.6 percent. About 64 percent of 3,667 drug-related arrests last year were foreigners, according to police figures.

Mike Lynch, the UK's first Internet billionaire, is criticizing the UK government for failing to attract the 'brightest and the best' from around the world. Lynch on 12 July said that the UK's IT economy could be damaged unless the government relaxes its current stance on allowing the "brightest and the best" to freely move into the country.

A survey carried out on over 17,000 people in 16 countries, asked the question: Suppose a young person who wanted to leave this country asked you to recommend where to lead a good life, what country would you recommend?

Australia was the top choice of respondents from Britain (31 per cent) and Canada (18 per cent), while Americans and the French chose Canada (16 and 14 per cent respectively).

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday announced the creation of an interministerial committee tasked with re-evaluating the country's immigration needs and its visa procedures.

The committee would begin work in September and deliver its conclusions in March 2006.Sarkozy wants France to change its immigration policy, and hopes to implement a points-based system of immigration. Points would be given to visa candidates based on "age, education, knowledge of languages and professional experience," Sarkozy said.

A recent opinion piece reported in the Toronto Star, asserts that Germany's Christian Democrats want to make immigration an election issue and Schroeder should oblige.

With the lowest birthrate in Europe, the article says, Germany cannot fix its economy without first making its existing immigrants more productive by integrating them and second, by attracting new immigrants.