UK Immigration News

The leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party, who comes from an immigrant family himself, has said that employers should provide financial guarantees for staff on temporary work permits, the Financial Times newspaper reports.

There have been no significant changes to processing times for WorkPermits UK. Customers can expect the following waiting times:

An Australian power company is seeking UK workers to overcome skills shortages, the BBC reports.

ETSA Utilities, a company based in the state of South Australia, has placed an advertisement in Britain's Sun newspaper looking for maintenance workers for its electricity grid. It also plans to hold information events in major centres in England and Scotland and is advertising in other Countries.

The worker registration schemefor nationals of new European Union member states employed in the UK isrunning smoothly, according to a statement released by the Home Officeon February 22.

An upcoming rise in immigration application fees is likely todiscourage overseas doctors from coming to the UK, according to theBritish Medical Association (BMA).

The British Governmentrecently announced that application charges would be raised by at least200 percent from April 1 of this year. On February 18 the BMA releaseda letter to UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke from the association'sChairman James Johnson pointing out that many doctors change jobsseveral times a year, and that the Government's plan to charge them 500pounds each time is "unreasonable."

The Australian authorities hope to attract skilled immigrants to non-metropolitan areas under a new initiative by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).