Immigration news

A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies finds that women from the top-ten immigrant-sending countries to the US collectively have higher fertility than women in their home countries. As a group, immigrants from these countries have 23 percent more children than women in their home countries.

The study, titled "Birth Rates Among Immigrants in America: A Comparison of Fertility Between Immigrants in the U.S. and Their Home Countries", by Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, is embargoed until Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 8 a.m. Among the findings:

Foreign students are attending Canadian universities in record numbers, more than doubling their enrolment in the last decade, says a report released 11 Oct.

Statistics Canada says foreign students accounted for 70,000 students, or about 7 percent of overall enrolment in 2003-4. That's an almost 17 percent increase over the previous year. About half of all international students come from Asia.

They're part of an enrolment boom at the nation's post-secondary institutions, which are experiencing some of the biggest increases in numbers in almost three decades, says the study.

Sixty-eight percent of Canadians believe that multiculturalism helps to moderate extremist influences. However, 58% expressed concern that the loyalty of immigrants may suffer if they maintain too strong an attachment to their countries of origin while becoming Canadian.

Convincing majorities of Canadians link social advantages to immigration: 65% think that there are strong to moderate benefits in terms of health care and public pensions; 79% see a strong to moderate benefit in terms of know-how and culture; and 73% feel that immigration contributes to Canada's competitiveness.

Due to major refurbishment works to the public and office space in the visa section in Tirana, the UK will be able to offer only a restricted service for personal applications from 17 October to 4 November 2005 inclusive. They will only be able to conduct settlement interviews during this period.The categories of application that will be accepted during the period are:

When Europe's justice ministers meet on 12 Oct., one of their topics for discussion will be increased information exchange between EU members states on immigration areas of concern.

The European Commission has already proposed that governments circulate relevant data to aid EU efforts to secure Europe's borders. EU officials will report back to the council of justice ministers on incidents surrounding Spanish enclaves on the north eastern Moroccan coast.

A new online service from the New Zealand Government hopes to connect New Zealand employers with skilled people looking for jobs in New Zealand. The service, entitled NetworkZ Online, is expected to begin working in Nov. 2005.