UK Immigration News

When were all 18-year-olds given the right to vote in the UK? In which order in the calendar do the four UK national saints' days fall? Now dozens of immigrants keen to make the UK their permanent home will have to answer questions like these to prove they are suitable citizens. As of November 1, anyone wanting to apply for British citizenship will have to answer a quiz drawn up by the Government.

Due to major refurbishment works to the public and office space in the visa section in Tirana, the UK will be able to offer only a restricted service for personal applications from 17 October to 4 November 2005 inclusive. They will only be able to conduct settlement interviews during this period.The categories of application that will be accepted during the period are:

Six new schemes aimed at helping refugees fully integrate into UK society were launched October 3 in Leicester, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Southampton, Brighton and London by Immigration Minister Andy Burnham.

The Time Together Project, run by the national charity TimeBank, will pair volunteer mentors with refugees, for five hours a month, to help them achieve their goals in education and employment and to integrate with the communities in which they live. They aim is to assist 2550 refugees across the lifetime of the projects.

A new 'green card' system planned by the Irish government will allow highly skilled workers coming to Ireland to bring their families with them and allow spouses to work as soon as they want.Residency would be automatic after one year. Micheál Martin, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said the new work permit system would be in operation by early 2006. It will make it easier and more attractive for skilled migrant workers to come to Ireland.

A UK woman caught in a fight over her husband's deportation will lead a demonstration of asylum seekers' wives dressed in bridal gowns on the first day of Parliament in October.

Heather Bullen, 32, whose Afghanistan-born husband Shah Wali Mohmend faces being removed from the UK following the failure of his asylum application, started pressure group Brides Without Borders to highlight the issue.

A government plan to help refugee doctors who come to Wales work in the UK health care system (called NHS) has been called a success by Social Justice Minister Edwina Hart.

The Welsh Assembly Government WARD (Wales Asylum Seeking and Refugee Doctors Group) scheme was set up to help refugee doctors pass the language tests required to work in the NHS.