Immigration news

The online edition of The Independent reports that black people are breaking through the UK's class barrier and entering the middle classes at a faster rate than their white counterparts, according to a new study.

Children of Caribbean immigrants who arrived in Britain in the 1960s, along with black Africans, Indians and Chinese are more likely to be have entered the middle class by getting jobs as professionals or managers than working-class whites born in the UK, the study commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found.

New Zealand's new Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who is known as an opponent of immigration, says he wants to encourage more Chinese students to study English in New Zealand. Mr Peters, making his first overseas trip this week to South Korea for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, will discuss with Chinese officials the decline in the number of Chinese students in New Zealand. He says the drop is partly due to the collapse of some privately-owned English language schools.

As workpermit.com already announced, the UK's Civil Partnerships Act 2004 will come into force on 5 December 2005, but from 14 November the Home Office will begin accepting visa applications for visits to register civil partnerships. This will allow time for those who want to give notice of a civil partnership to the registrar on 5 December. A visa is necessary for anyone who is not British, settled in the UK, or an EEA or Swiss national.

The European Commission plans to create a joint Mediterranean security force to clamp down on illegal immigration from North Africa.

Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini was quoted in newspaper El Mundo as saying he had already told Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero about his plan for the new maritime police force. Dangerous boat journeys organised by smugglers to cross the Mediterranean from Morocco to Spain and Tunisia to Italy are one of the main ways clandestine migrants enter Europe. Thousands have died in the attempt, non-governmental organisations say.

The government of the Cayman Islands decided that as of 1 Nov. all Jamaican nationals would require a visa. Since then, some businesses, including travel agencies and airlines, have seen serious drops in business. The Cayman Islands are a Caribbean island group, and are an overseas territory of the UK.

"Every travel agent will tell you that they enjoy their corporate client but they make the bulk of their money from the trips between Kingston to Cayman and Cayman to Florida," said one travel industry representative.

Almost 600 overseas students have obtained permission to stay in Scotland for a further two years since a new scheme, called the Scottish Executive's Fresh Talent initiative, was introduced in June.

First Minister Jack McConnell said the figure was higher than he had expected.

The Working in Scotland scheme, open to non-European Union students, is a key part of the Fresh Talent initiative aimed at boosting Scotland's population and attracting qualified foreign workers.