Immigration news

Hurricane Katrina has left many cities in the southeastern United States nearly destroyed. Officials are saying that hundreds of people might be dead, and many thousands are left without homes and basic provisions. Survivors face challenges as flooding and power outages continue.

We at workpermit.com would like to extend our condolences to those who have lost family members or loved ones in hurricane Katrina, in the southeastern United States.

In the UK,the Liverpool football teams's failure to obtain a work permit forChilean footballer Mark Gonzalez earlier this month again highlightedthe unpredictable process of getting UK work permits for non-European players.

Seven people have died in a fire in a building housing African immigrants in Paris, officials say, four days after a similar fire killed 17 people.

Last week's deadly fire - also in a building used by African immigrants - provoked street protests in Paris. Fourteen of the 17 who died in that blaze were children.

Members of the African community took to the streets over the weekend, urging the authorities to provide better housing for immigrants. They were joined by activists and pressure groups who accused French leaders of neglect.

Within the last week, two US states along the border with Mexico - Arizona and New Mexico - have declared states of emergency due to soaring violence and human and drug smuggling connected to illegal immigration.US Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff has pledged to rush federal aid as soon as possible and come up with a plan to stem the tide.But California farmers are already hard pressed to find enough labour to pick their crops after California's own borders with Mexico were largely sealed off some time ago, and could face even greater shortages if Chertoff holds true to his pledge.

From the street, the apartment building where Alaye Ba lives with his wife and four children has typical Paris charm: a neat white facade, wooden shutters, lace curtains and a ground-floor cafe.

"I wake up at night sometimes because I'm afraid for my family. This building is not safe," said Ba, a 46-year-old Senegalese immigrant. "If a fire breaks out here, we are prisoners. We will die."

The deaths led to angry calls for action for the needy, and pointed out the poor living conditions of France's growing immigrant population. It is estimated 2 million people live in such conditions in Paris alone.

Starting on Tuesday, 30 August 2005, the British High Commission in Nairobi will be receiving applications for Family Reunion and related settlement entry clearance only on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10.30 and 11.30 local time.