Immigration newsletter 29 June 2005

The UK government's new immigration bill released this week does not include a points system for immigration. Although ministers want a points system for economic migrants that would grant visas on the basis of skills, the details will be released later in the summer. It remains unclear how this may affect the existing Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, which also works on a points-based system.

A new study released in Australia found that immigrants are saving the country from the negative effects of a "brain drain", when many skilled laborers leave a country. The Australian Federal Government helped increase the number of immigrants by boosting the migrant intake to 140,000 in 2004-05, the highest number for more than 30 years. This has been good news for Australia, since many professional-evel Australians are choosing to work abroad.

The UK announced that the Sectors-Based Scheme (SBS) would stop operating in the hospitality sector, but would continue until June 2006 in the food processing sector. The announcement has disappointed the owners of thousands of Indian restaurants in the UK, according to reports.

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