Immigration newsletter 15 August 2007

A report by the British Parliament's joint Commons and Lords Human Rights Committee was published on 10 August 2007 which severely criticized retrospective changes applied to the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme from December of 2006. The report concludes that retrospectivly applying rules changes to immigrants attempting to renew their existing HSMP visas is in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. 

The Home Office minister, Vernon Coaker, rejected the criticism, saying that "most" highly skilled migrants will be allowed to remain in the UK under the new rules. In a BBC interview, he stated that "some people" using HSMP visas are not, in fact, working in highly skilled positions and that it is "right and proper" that "the integrity of the scheme is maintained." 

Criticism of the retrospective application of changes to the HSMP visa was unusually blunt, with the Chairman of the Committee, Andrew Dismore, characterizing the government's behavior as 'cheating' "on the deal through which people have legitimately made their decisions" to make 'their livelihood in the UK.' The Committee, in its report, states "The changes to the rules are so clearly incompatible with Article 8, and so contrary to basic notions of fairness, that the case for immediately revisiting the changes to the rules in Parliament is in our view overwhelming." 

Mr. Dismore continued with his characterization, describing the situation as having 'pulled the rug out from under' immigrants, and "moving the goalposts during the match." The Home Office maintains that the retrospective application of the changes ensures the integrity of the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme and that they guard against the risk of abuse to the program.

Technology companies in Ireland are complaining that the country's current immigration legislation makes it too hard to hire workers from outside of the European Union. The Irish Software Association, for example, feels that "Many visas are being refused unnecessarily" and that this is harming Irish companies by keeping out workers with needed qualifications. Ireland's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DTE) has allocated resources to improve efficiency and customer service. 

The government of Ireland is setting up a 12-member taskforce to develop a comprehensive plan for integrating immigrants into Irish society and the work force. The integration taskforce is expected to report back with its findings by the end of next year. Ireland's Minister for Immigration, Conor Lenihan, also wants to see more public sector jobs opened up to immigrants, and to encourage "ethnic entrepreneurship," by which immigrants may set up their own businesses within Ireland.

India is currently the number one source of international students to the United States, and leads the world in the number of students it sends overseas. China was the leading source of foreign students in the U.S. until six years ago, at which time India became the largest source. For 2006, foreign students in the U.S. are estimated to have contributed over $13 billion to the United States economy. The U.S. has ten times more universities and colleges than any other country in the world and attracts the most foreign students of any country.

The Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program has received $12.5 CAD million in funding through the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement. Seven partner agencies in Hamilton, Ontario will share the funding to assist an estimated 2,000 immigrants. The funding also includes higher level LINC services so that graduates of these advanced classes will have earned the equivalent of high school graduation English. 

The Canadian federal government has increased funding to Ontario for settlement and language training by a total of $920 CAD million over five years as part of the Agreement, with overall funding increased by $1.3 CAD billion for integration efforts in the same time period.

South Africa is losing professional health workers at a much higher rate than previously thought, according to a report published by the Southern African Migration Project. Based upon detailed analysis of advertising by governments and the private sector in the South African Medical Journal from 2000 through 2004, the report concludes that "South Africa is bleeding skilled personnel at an accelerating rate." Over 23,000 South African health care professionals were working in the top five destination countries in 2001.

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