Immigration news

The Visa Facilitation Service (VFS) will be the sole provider of visa services to applicants for US visas throughout India from Oct. 2005.

Designated branches of HDFC Bank across the country will act as fee collection centres.

"VFS, which is currently offering similar service for the Mumbai consular district, will become the sole provider of visa services to all applicants for US visas in India as of October 3," Miguel Ordonez, acting chief of consular services, the American Consulate General, said.

A recent report shows that 3 to 5 percent of young, university-educated Eastern Europeans are immigrating to Western Europe. The report says that this is a temporary phenomenon, and that most of them will return to their home countries in a few years. In the near future, they will be replaced by a different group of immigrants.

Having opened the door to immigrants from the new EU member states, what are the results in the UK, Ireland and Sweden?

A UK woman caught in a fight over her husband's deportation will lead a demonstration of asylum seekers' wives dressed in bridal gowns on the first day of Parliament in October.

Heather Bullen, 32, whose Afghanistan-born husband Shah Wali Mohmend faces being removed from the UK following the failure of his asylum application, started pressure group Brides Without Borders to highlight the issue.

Australia's Immigration Department will spend an extra $100 million on IT over the next five years, and the figure could rise even further as the department considers whether it needs to spend more on technology in the wake of the Palmer Report into unlawful detention.

France's minister for overseas affairs provoked outrage on 17 September by saying illegal immigrants were giving birth on French territory to ensure their children had French nationality. By law, a child born on French ground is French, no matter who the parents are.

Francois Baroin called for a debate on France's birthright laws. The move came as a sign that mainstream politicians are starting to follow the anti-immigration trend in France.