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With the US locked in a nation wide immigration debate, latest figures reveal that the country has one-fifth of the world's immigrants within its borders.
A report by the United Nations reveals that since 1990 attitudes have changed in economically advanced countries toward would-be immigrats. These countries have now developed immigration legislation to allow skilled and non-skilled workers to meet workplace demands.
Australia is experiencing a population boom that is having a burgeoning effect on its economy. A mini baby-boom, along with an aggressive immigration campaign to attract young, skilled immigrants to its shores, is delivering both future consumers and workers to keep the economy growing.
Craig James the chief economist of CommSec said,"One of the key drivers of any economy is population growth. Put simply, if there are more people, then retail spending will be higher, more homes will be built and more services provided."
Legal immigrants fluent in English could become US citizens in 4 years rather than the current 5 years.
This proposal by Senator Lamar Alexander was agreed to by the US Senate April 3. The Senate passed the proposed bill 91 votes in favour to one vote against.
According to the Homeland Security Department and Immigration Service an estimated 7.2 million legal permanent residence have lived long enough in the US to qualify for citizenship.
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands Jan Peter Balkenende stopped in Melbourne today, and while visiting Australia's Immigration Museum said his country can learn a lot from Australia's immigration policies.
He is in Australia for a five day visit to celebrate 400 years of Dutch-Australian relations. The leader of the Dutch parliament went on to say that Australia has an extremely strict immigration policy, in which economic growth, knowledge of the English language and health play a major role.
Ireland has had an influx of some 160,000 overseas immigrants over the past 21 months. The majority of these migrants have sought and received Personal Public Service numbers, and are making a visible contribution to the economy.
Ireland immigration is the most part Eastern European, and they are working as unskilled labour. Studies have shown that domestic work labour is moving out of sectors such as hospitality and construction in order to make way for foreign workers.
A leak from high ranking European Union sources to the German newspaper Die Welt has forced Brussels to announce the inclusion of two more countries to join the EU.
The two countries named by the sources were Bulgaria and Romania. This decision by the European Commission is a success for Brittish Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had been pushing for enlargement of the EU.