Immigration news

According to new research, education agents rank the UK visa process as one of the best in the world. Research conducted in May this year shows that, amid visa processing backlogs worldwide, the UK is benefitting from a positive perception among education agents. Agents also deem the UK to have ‘very good’ visa acceptance rates.

 

Days after thousands of protestors stormed the Sri Lankan presidential palace, the country’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has attempted to flee. However, his efforts to secure a US visa and seek sanctuary in a host of other countries have so far been thwarted. The exact whereabouts of the Sri Lankan President are currently unknown.

 

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has urged the country’s military to do ‘whatever it takes to restore order’ after protestors also stormed his offices. Sri Lankan forces are now using teargas to disperse crowds of protestors.

Outgoing Edinburgh International festival director, Fergus Linehan, has described post-Brexit UK visa rules as a ‘disaster’ for the arts and has urged the government to secure visa-free travel for British artists in order to ‘solve the logistical challenges of touring’. Linehan will direct his last Edinburgh festival in August.

 

The UK government has announced that more opportunities will be made available for younger people travelling between Britain and New Zealand to live and work. UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and his Kiwi counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, signed an agreement to extend the Youth Mobility and Working Holiday Visa schemes. 

 

It’s understood that the minimum age limit for applicants will be raised form 30 to 35, and the maximum duration that people can remain in the host country will be increased from various durations to three years. 

Israel has taken another step towards inclusion in the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) after Israeli and US officials signed a final bilateral agreement needed to implement the VWP. However, a final key bill remains stuck, with Israeli interior minister, Ayelet Shaked, accusing the Israeli government’s opposition party, Likud, of delaying legislation for ‘political reasons’.  

Accompanied by Shaked, Israel’s public security minister, Omer Barlev, signed the Preventing and Combating Serious Crime (PCSC) information-sharing agreement with US Embassy deputy chief of mission, Jonathan Shrier.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that President Joe Biden can end a controversial Trump-era US immigration policy. Biden has being trying to scrap the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy since the start of his administration. The controversial scheme forces certain non-Mexican citizens who entered the US back to Mexico.