Immigration news

A proposal to introduce a new Science and Engineering Graduates' Scheme wasannounced in the Chancellor's Budget Report on 9 April 2004.

The scheme will be aimed at encouraging non-EEA national science andengineering graduates of UK universities to pursue their careers in theUnited Kingdom.

The scheme will allow graduates of UK educational institutions with degreesin an approved subject to remain in the United Kingdom for one year aftercompleting their studies.

Participants in the scheme will be able to work and may switch into otherwork or self-employment categories at any point during their stay.

Senior civil servant Ken Sutton has released his report on the allegations of abuse relating to European Community Association Agreement (ECAA) visas made in Bulgaria and Romania by those nationals wishing to be self-employed in the UK.

Germany's left-leaning government has finally reached a compromise with the conservative opposition and have agreed a legislative bill on immigration reform in the country.

The new immigration law includes measures to attract highly skilled foreigners, calls for better efforts to integrate foreigners in German society, reforms the rules on granting asylum and will make it easier and quicker to expel any foreigners deemed to be a security threat.

The quota on United States class H-1B work visas for the fiscal year 2005 has already been one-quarter filled.

TheAmerican Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has just provided anupdate on the H-1B cap for the 2005 fiscal year (FY 2005) on 11 Juneduring the AILA annual conference.

As of the end of May2004, already 16,100 (out of the quota of 65,000) H-1B applicationshave been approved against next year's cap.

The Sector Based Scheme hospitality quota for citizens of Bangladeshhas now been reached.

The quota as announced on 15 June 2004 means that nosingle nationality can have more than 20% of the total number of SBS workpermits issued in any given sector. No applications received after 21 June2004 to employ Bangladesh citizens can be processed and any applications receivedafter this date will be returned together with the application fee.

The Home Office has announced that on 2 July 2004, the fee for Work Permits and Sectors Based Scheme applications will be increased to £153. This is approximately a 50% increase on the current fee of £95 for work permit applications and an over 100% increase on the fee of £74 for SBS applications.

The main reason for this increase is that the full costs of providing the service were not taken into account earlier. The new flat fee will also apply to all WP and SBS applications including extensions and change of employment.