Further integrating Europe's immigration rules, Poland announced on January 26 that it will join the European Union's Schengen Agreement, the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reports.
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A record number of people became citizens this year on January 26, Australia Day, the ABC broadcasting network reported.
Around 12,000 people became citizens in 275 ceremonies on the public holiday commemorating the establishment of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. Government officials are encouraging others who are eligible to take the step. About 900,000 people, including 300,000 from the United Kingdom and 200,000 from New Zealand, fall into this category.
In a sudden turnaround, the UK Government will not after all bring in reforms to the current points system to encourage skilled immigration that had been put forward by Prime Minister Tony Blair earlier, the Independent newspaper reports. It is likely that if this had gone ahead it would have meant significant changes to the existing points based immigration category the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) or meant that HSMP would be replaced by a new system.
The Federal Government and the Province of Ontario will jointly invest C$3.4 million to improve English-language training for immigrants, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) reported on January 20.
Radical immigration policies released yesterday by the UK's opposition Conservative Party have drawn criticism from the European Commission, the Telegraph newspaper reports.
People from areas affected by theAsian tsunami will be less stringently policed for immigrationbreaches, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcedJanuary 10.
FromJanuary 7 2005, nationals from Sri Lanka and the Maldives under finalorder of removal will automatically get a stay on deportation of 90days. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will also consider stays fornon-criminal aliens from other countries affected by the disaster.
DHSalso says that people granted stays may be given employmentauthorization to be able to financially support themselves, in caseswhere this is appropriate and authorized by law.