Immigration news

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has announced that his government may make more concessions on family reunion migration for victims of the Asian tsunami, the newspaper The Globe and Mail reported.

Earlier this week, Canada's Immigration Minister Judy Sgro said her department would speed up immigration requests from immediate family members of Canadians, including spouses, common-law partners and children. On January 5, after meeting with Asian community members in his Montreal constituency, Mr. Martin said the easier procedures could possibly be applied to extended family members too.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announcedJanuary 4 that it has received enough petitions to fill the allocationfor H-2B visas for this year.

The UK Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has published a list of educational establishments where nationals from countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) must study.

The UK Home Office warns that persons planning to study at establishments not on the list will not be issued with visas or be granted leave to enter or remain in the UK as students. The new regulations will not affect students already studying in the UK unless they want an extension of their stay or want leave to reenter.

Canada is fast tracking existing Family Class applications under the Immigration and Refugee Act for people affected by the Asian tsunami disaster, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced on January 3.

Spouses, common law partners, conjugal partners and dependant children with immediate family members in Canada who have been directly affected by the tragedy are being given priority in processing. CIC has also announced that new application processing fees and the Right of Permanent Resident Fee will be waived for persons seriously affected.

Visa services at United Kingdom Consulates in a number of Asian cities have been disrupted in the wake of the tsunami tragedy.

According to a statement issued on December 30 by the U.K. Foreign Office, the British Visa Section in Bangkok, Thailand has been closed until further notice, while the Colombo office in Sri Lanka will be offering a restricted service until further notice. There may also be disruption at Chennai in India, Jakarta in Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Sophisticated immigration identification measures under the US-VISIT program have been implemented at the fifty busiest land crossings into the U.S. ahead of schedule, the Department of Homeland Security announced January 3.