Immigration news

The UK is in danger of falling behind internationally because of a skills shortage, a government report has said.

An interim report by Lord Leitch said: "The scale of the challenge is daunting."

He said that delivering current plans would be difficult. But even if the "ambitious" targets for 2020 were met, they would not be enough to meet the demands of employers, workers and the nation as a whole.

Lord Leitch, chairman of the National Employment Panel, said: "Skills present a formidable challenge and a brilliant opportunity."

They were of fundamental importance to the UK's economic and social health.

Countries in Asia and Europe are planning to introduce passports with biometric data by 2010 to help fight terrorism, an Indonesian immigration official said Dec. 6.

Indonesia hopes to began issuing the passports next year, Director-General of Immigration Iman Santoso told reporters at a meeting of Asia and European immigration officials on the tourist island of Bali.

The United States and Canada have already introduced such passports, which have an embedded microchip that stores a digital photo of the holder's face and their fingerprints.

US federal immigration officials are recalling 60,000 permanent residency cards because of errors, creating worry among immigrants who need the documents to work, get a driver's license and apply for credit.

The problems stem from a computer error that resulted in "green cards" with incorrect "since dates," said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Gay couples across the UK are set to form civil partnerships in the next months as the law is changed to allow same-sex marriages. Changes to UK law will allow gay couples to register for legal status as a same-sex partnership from today, with the first ceremonies to be conducted in about a fortnight's time. The changes to the law allow for homosexuals to gain equal rights to those of heterosexual couples. That means equal property and inheritance rights, and the same pension, immigration and tax status as conventionally married couples.

A new government website to entice Kiwis home from Britain cites cheaper condoms and Big Macs as incentives for returning to New Zealand.

A list comparing English and New Zealand prices on the website New Zealand Now (newzealandnow.info) has been described by Immigration Minister David Cunliffe as a snapshot of "common grocery and household items" that showed how much cheaper the items were in New Zealand.

New migrants to Australia are finding employment faster than ever before according to a new survey conducted by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).

The latest longitudinal survey of new migrants shows that a greater number of principal applicants who entered Australia via the Skilled-Independent, Family, and Business and Employer Sponsored categories in 2003-04 found employment within six months of arriving in Oz compared to those who arrived in either 1993-94 or 1999-2000.