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Immigration news

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The Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, was campaigning for re-election in California over the weekend. In his address to the California GOP convention, he said that the United States should encourage highly skilled foreigners to immigrate to the United States. This policy should be balanced with discouraging persons attempting to enter illegally and without needed skills.

The President of the Canary Islands has demanded that central government set up a crisis committee to address the problem of illegal immigration affecting the islands, a situation which he describes as 'critical.'

More than 400 illegal immigrants reached the Canaries on August 16, with another 93 arriving on the following day. Two had died on the journey.

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Three million people a year migrate from developing countries to industrialized nations, a population research group said today as it announced its annual findings. Almost half of these migrants - 1.4 million people - moved to Europe, though the continent was still facing unprecedented population losses from low birth rates.

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Australia continues to enjoy a substantial 'brain gain' from migration, with a new report showing that the nation's intake of skilled and professional migrants increased significantly in 2002-03, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) said today.

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This week the United States began issuing passports embedded with 'smart chips;' small memory chips that can be read with computer scanners that have information about the person who holds the passport encrypted on them. The initial version will have mostly data that is already on the passports, such as name, identification number and photograph.

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A number of recent initiatives by the Canadian federal government, provincial governments and nursing unions have boosted the profession. Increased wages, increased benefits and educational funding are among some of the changes.