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The US' H-1B visas for Master's Degree graduates are disappearing fast, according to the latest update from US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), which says that just 1,364 visas are now available under this category.
Against the cap of 20,000 visas under the H-1B Master's Degree program for fiscal year 2006, as many as 16,478 visa petitions had been approved, and 2,158 additional petitions were pending in December-end 2005, according to latest data by USCIS.
The bill sought to integrate those immigrants who are already in Germany, streamline asylum procedures and put provisions in place for the recruitment of highly skilled foreigner nationals who would help revive the German economy.
But its achievements have so far turned out to be rather modest.
The proportion of immigrants to New Zealand coming from the United Kingdom has more than doubled over the past three years, according to new statistics. The report Migration Trends shows that 31 per cent of the 48,815 people who were granted residency in the last financial year were citizens of the United Kingdom. Their number as a proportion of all migrants has been rising steadily since the 2002-03 year, when they totalled 14 per cent, behind Chinese and Indian nationals.
Germans are leaving their country in record numbers, but unlike previous waves of migrants who fled 19th century poverty or 1930s Nazi terror, these modern day refugees are trying to escape a new scourge -- unemployment.
Going as far away as the United States, Canada and Australia as well as Norway, the Netherlands and Austria more than 150,000 Germans packed their bags and left in 2004 -- the greatest exodus in any single year since the late 1940s.
From Dec. 31, 2005, not every baby born in New Zealand will automatically be a New Zealand citizen. Changes to the Citizenship Act include amendments that say that a child will only be given automatic citizenship if at least one of the parents is a New Zealand citizen or is entitled to be in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Tokelau or Niue indefinitely.The changes have been brought in "to recognise the value of citizenship".Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Brian Clarke, says very few babies born in New Zealand will be affected by the changes.
Australia welcomed 123,424 new immigrants in 2004-2005, the highest number in more than 15 years.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said the number of immigrants each year is up about 40 percent in the past decade. "Australia has a wonderfully rich and diverse society as a result, with nearly one in four of Australia's 20 million people born overseas," Vanstone said.