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The foreign-born population of the US has continued to rise in spite of tougher US immigration controls since the 2001 terrorist attacks, reports United Press International.
Accordingto US Census Bureau Data, there were 34.2 million foreign born peoplein the US in 2004, a rise of 2.3 percent compared with 2003. About 6.1million foreigners have arrived in the US after 2000. 13.1 millionforeign-born people had become US citizens, while 21.1 million have notnaturalized.
An upcoming rise in immigration application fees is likely todiscourage overseas doctors from coming to the UK, according to theBritish Medical Association (BMA).
The British Governmentrecently announced that application charges would be raised by at least200 percent from April 1 of this year. On February 18 the BMA releaseda letter to UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke from the association'sChairman James Johnson pointing out that many doctors change jobsseveral times a year, and that the Government's plan to charge them 500pounds each time is "unreasonable."
The Australian authorities hope to attract skilled immigrants to non-metropolitan areas under a new initiative by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).
A report by DIMIA on January 21 recommends using the existing Skilled Independent Regional (SIR) visa to provide more places for migrants agreeing to settle in areas of low population growth for at least two years. It is hoped the initiative will help boost regional areas, particularly in the southern state of Victoria.
Policies brought in to discourage people from making bogus asylum claims are beginning to have an effect, according to the UK Home Office.
In a statement released on February 22, the Home Office said that 8,465 asylum claims were lodged in the UK in the fourth quarter of 2004, which was 22 percent fewer than a year earlier, and 68 percent less than in 2002. The number of cases awaiting an initial decision also fell dramatically, with 9,800 cases at the end of December 2004 compared with 23,900 at the same point in 2003.
Stated Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) processing times have risen during 2004 from approximately 3 months at the start of the year to 5-6 months now (Feb 2005). This increase in processing times has lead to a large number of applicants requesting 'special treatment'. This guide is to help you understand the factors that can help an application.
NB The Home Office will only give urgent consideration to applications that have been outstanding for at least six weeks.
Requests for urgent treatment for reasons other than employment will only be considered in exceptional circumstances, e.g.: