Immigration news

An acute nursing shortage in Western nations continues to worsen as the population's age. Foreign-educated nurses emigrating to meet this demand are commanding premium salaries and priority visa considerations.

It is estimated there are 2.2 to 3 million working nurses averaging 47 years old in the U.S., for example. The annual vacancy rate is approximately 9 percent and projections anticipate a shortage of 800,000 nurses by 2050. Other estimates are more dramatic, perhaps reaching 1 million vacancies to be filled by 2012 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Australia Needs Skills Expos have proved to be very successful and are being held all around the World. Prospective immigrants can find suitable work in Australia and Australian employers can find people with the right skills for a particular job.

The following is a list of Expos in 2006:

2006 Expo schedule

Asia

Shanghai9 May – 10 May Hong Kong 13 May – 14 MayManila 17 May – 18 May

Americas

Up to several million people of Latino heritage marched in several cities of the United States on 01 May in support of immigrant workers rights. The largest was in Los Angeles with approximately 1 million in that city alone. Primarily they are from Mexico or descended from Mexicans, but many are from other Central/Latin American nations such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

2006 is the European Year for Workers' Mobility. 06 May was the EU Open Day, with many EU institutions open to the public for the day. EU Open Day was an opportunity to celebrate The European Year for Workers Mobility.

The topic of illegal immigrant workers has recently become a high-profile topic in American politics and news. Characterizing this issue as having only two sides may not give a full picture of the situation. This is a very complex topic that spans several areas. People from around the world today that wish to visit America for work, studies and/or travel might become confused by the diverse news stories currently being published.

Since the last week of April, the United States dollar has suffered a dramatic decline against many of the big international currencies. There are several factors involved, but most prominent are a large debt and some currency shake-ups in countries such as China.

It is being speculated that this may be the beginning of a long-term decline.