Europe Immigration News

The number of Chinese students applying for overseas student visas is dropping, says an official with the British embassy to China.

"More and more Chinese students seem to be losing interest in overseas study, as the number of applicants to study in Britain, the United States, and Australia have all dropped to their historically lowest point," said the official, refusing to give his name.

A Swedish flag flying outside Ellison Bay's Wagon Trail Resort in the US state of Wisconsin gives guests a taste of Europe, one that is usually enhanced by dozens of European workers.

"Poland is a country that we use a lot. Germany, Slovakia, Hungary," owner Jewel Ouradnik said.

But Ouradnik and other resort owners say this year they have fewer foreign workers on their staffs. They say visa rules are stricter than before, and there aren't enough visas to go around.

Russia failed to gain an easing of European Union visa restrictions for its citizens on 18 May, after the country would not agree to take back its illegal migrants from the EU.

Putin said Russia could not yet agree to the EU's demands on readmitting illegal migrants as an exchange for easing visa rules, saying it would be costly to implement and claiming such a policy could violate migrants rights.

Ukraine wants its citizens to have visa-free travel to the European Union, following Kiev's temporary lifting of visitor visa requirements for tourists from the 25 EU states.

"We have introduced a visa-free system for EU and Swiss citizens and we count on similar improvements for our compatriots," Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said in a speech at a Council of Europe summit in Warsaw on 16 May.

"I would like to appeal to the heads of European states to respond to measures we have taken."

The French government has banned several hundred thousand foreigners who benefited from an immigration amnesty in Spain from working in France. It was reported that many of those people who were granted the right to stay in Spain were "illegal immigrants" from France. Apparently, they hoped that this would enable them to then go back to France and live and work in France.

An increase in immigration leads to economic growth in Europe -- not to job losses, as popularly feared -- according to a report published 13 May. The study into the effect of immigration on wages and employment in Europe concludes that new workers are absorbed and jobs are created.