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Immigration news

Although as reported earlier the vast majority of new immigrants to New Zealand are quite happy with their new home, a few things still get on their nerves. The cost of health services and bad driving are among the biggest gripes that immigrants to New Zealand have, a new survey shows.

The Department of Labour survey of more than 2000 people assessed skilled migrants six to 12 months on and showed more than 90 per cent were still glad to call New Zealand home.

Around 200 million passengers passed through UK airports in 2003 - and if growth continues as predicted, by 2030 as many as 600 million passengers will pass through UK airports each year.

As a result of this massive increase in travel, coupled with the fear of international terrorism, the government wants to tighten and automate security at borders.

The government is talking to suppliers about the £400m e-Borders project, which will use biometrics and databases to check the identity of passengers even before they travel to the UK.

A survey of new residents in New Zealand shows immigration benefits both migrants and New Zealand, Immigration Minister David Cunliffe says. The Department of Labour survey found 93 per cent of the skilled migrants interviewed were happy in their first months as residents in New Zealand, and 79 per cent either "very satisfied" or "satisfied" in their new jobs.

The survey follows a survey of employers, which showed employers were overwhelmingly satisfied with the migrants they had hired.

The United Kingdom is to resume the issuance of first-time entry visas to Nigerians' under 30 years next month, UK foreign secretary Jack Straw announced.

The British embassy in Nigeria in 2004 banned that category of Nigerians from applying for a UK visa, citing a heavy work load and wide incidences of absconders. The UK Envoy to Nigeria Richard Gozney who announced the policy, said then that the young travellers were not convincing when showing evidence of why they would return to Nigeria.

Canada's new immigration minister says the Conservative government does not plan to restrict immigrant family reunification or change the overall annual target number for newcomers.

But Monte Solberg said the mix of immigrants and the means they use to enter the country may need to change to reflect a greater emphasis on labour shortages.

"I don't think it's the overall number that's the issue," Solberg said. "I think partly maybe it's the mix. But it's also using some of the other tools that we have to address some of the problems we have - like the work visas."

Latin American diplomats lobbied Washington this week against a tough immigration plan that would include a large wall along the Mexico-U.S. border to keep out illegal immigrants.

Foreign ministers from 11 Latin American countries gathered in the seaside resort city of Cartagena, where they decided to send a group to Washington next week to identify key U.S. lawmakers on the immigration debate, Salvadoran Foreign Minister Francisco Lainez announced.