Immigration news

EU officials met recently with their U.S. counterparts to discuss an extension of the US Visa Waiver Program, which at the moment allows nationals from 15, mainly western EU members, of the 25 member strong union to enter the United States without a visa.

In the case of Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Cyprus and Malta, their citizens must still apply for a visa. Still, EU officials say a solidarity clause might be invoked, demanding visas for U.S. citizens regardless of which EU country they would like to travel to.

Canada plans to admit 225,000 immigrants in 2005, including 60 percent skilled workers and their families and 40 percent family unification and refugee immigrants.

In 2003, 221,352 immigrants went to Canada, down slightly from the 229,091 who arrived in 2002. During the 1990s, more than 70 percent of immigrants to Canada settled in three cities: Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

For more information about living and working in Canada, find it on our website or check our Canada skilled immigration points calculator.

Work Permit UK is currently trying to allocate resources to improve their service standards and urges applicants to allow for extended waiting periods depending on the application.

If you intend to apply for a Leave to Remain in the UK, Work Permit UK urges you to allow for up to 10 weeks to process the application.

Work permit applications will be processed and decided upon within five working days if all information provided is correct. For the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, applicants may have to wait up to 24 weeks for a reply from the application date.

Starting Oct. 26 this year, each person wishing to visit the United States must have either a Machine Readable Passport (MRP) and a visa waiver form or a valid visa issued by U.S. authorities before traveling.

If you intend to bring your child, or children, they too must have MRPs and visa waiver forms. Nationals from some countries may only enter the United States if they have a valid visa.

An MRP has the holder’s personal details, such as name, date of birth, nationality and passport number contained in two lines of text at the bottom of the photo page.

Gurkha soldiers from Nepal have won their legal battle that will allow some of them to obtain British citizenship. In this latest decision, those who served in the British army after July 1, 1997, have been given citizenship rights.

"This is undoubtedly a historic decision by the British government," said retired major Deepak Bahadur Gurung, chief of a former soldiers' group in Nepal. The decision should bring about 230 soldiers from Nepal and about 800 dependents into Britain each year.

In an effort to stop illegal immigrants at the source, British immigration officials will set up Passport controls for all UK-bound Eurostar trains, in Brussels and Paris, and at intermediate stops along the way.

British officials have warned that, for the past 18 months, under-staffing of customs stations has allowed 160 Eurostar trains, with up to 200,000 passengers, into Britain without having performed proper travel document inspections.

Those with stolen, fake or insufficient travel documents will be refused entry onto Channel Tunnel trains.