Immigration newsletter 26 September 2007

The United States will begin accepting applications for the Diversity Visa 2009 Lottery at 12 noon East Coast time for the U.S. on Wednesday, 03 October 2007. The application period will end at 12 Noon Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, 02 December 2007. All applications must be submitted by electronic Entry Form on the Internet; paper entries will not be accepted. "Up to" 55,000 permanent resident visas (known as "Green Cards") will be approved for people born in eligible countries.

The immigration ministers for Canada and Nova Scotia have signed an 'Agreement for Canada-Nova Scotia Co-operation on Immigration' on 19 September 2007. The agreement is designed to help Nova Scotia's attract skilled immigrants through the Provincial Nominee Program by increasing cooperation with the federal government. 

The federal and provincial governments will collaborate more closely on information sharing, recognition of qualifications and marketing strategies to attract qualified immigrants. Nova Scotia's quota for nominating skilled immigrants will also be increased.

The provincial government of Quebec Canada recently held hearings as part of an effort to determine how immigrants should be integrated into Quebec society. Issues such as accommodating Muslim religious and cultural practices and French language requirements were discussed. 

The ruling Liberals would like to increase the annual immigration target from 46,000 immigrants to 60,000. Quebec isn't reaching its current targets and, the opposition party claims, the province doesn't do enough to keep immigrants from moving to another province once they arrive in Quebec. 

Improvements to Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program were announced on 24 September 2007 to help employers in British Columbia and Alberta hire needed foreign workers more quickly. A test project for these provinces will let eligible employers receive their Labour Market Opinions (LMO's) in 3 to 5 days for 12 high-demand occupations. 

Employers must meet certain conditions, which include making reasonable efforts to hire Canadians or permanent residents first, not having any labor disputes in progress, and working conditions must meet minimum standards. British Columbia has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will strengthen protections for temporary foreign workers.

New Zealand immigration figures for the year ending in August show that fewer migrants are coming to the Pacific island-nation. Also, more New Zealand citizens are leaving the country, compared to the same time period for last year. There has been considerable variation in net migration during the seventeen years since 1990. There was a net loss of people from New Zealand of over 13,000 in 2001, while the highest net gain was 42,500 in May, 2003. This year there was a net gain of just under 9,000 immigrants, while last year it was 12,500, almost exactly the yearly average since 1990.

Australia is reporting that New Zealand has overtaken the United Kingdom as the largest source of permanent immigrants Down Under. The UK provided a bit over 23,000 immigrants during 2006-2007, nearly the same as the previous year. New Zealand jumped to the number one position with nearly 24,000 immigrants, up from just under 5,000 last year. India, China and the Philippines take the number three, four and five spots, with each country nearly doubling the numbers of their immigrants from 2005-2006.

Bulgaria has renewed calls for the United Kingdom to remove restrictions on its jobseekers. A recent survey shows that the UK doesn't make the top three destination choices for Bulgarians. In arguing that the restrictions are unnecessary, the Euro-Affairs Minister for Bulgaria highlighted the lack of problems with illegal Bulgarian immigrants in Britain. She also pointed out that, due to the relatively low population of her nation, the potential impact on the British labor market is equally low. 

The UK opened its labor market without restrictions to the new Member States that joined in 2004. Bulgaria has been seeking the same status since joining the EU this year. The UK Home Office is expected to recommend that the current restrictions remain in place for at least another year. Under EU treaty, they could last until 2012.

Companies in Norway are in dire need of workers and are being hurt by the difficulties foreigners face in obtaining permission to work in the country. This. according to the Federation of Norwegian Commercial and Service Enterprises (HSH), is causing a tight labor market in Norway and is limiting growth. Almost 40% of HSH member companies claim that business plans have been delayed or cancelled due to the problem. 

The HSH is calling for the government to implement "emergency measures." They would like to see "provisional work permits" that would allow employees to work in Norway until they are granted formal approval. The HSH would like to see the permitting process cut to less than one month, and is also calling for the introduction of electronic processing for applications.

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