Immigration newsletter 3 October 2007

The United States will begin accepting applications for the Diversity Visa 2009 Lottery beginning today, Wednesday, 03 October 2007. Entries may be submitted electronically after 12 noon East Coast time for the U.S. The application period will end at 12 Noon Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, 03 December 2007. 

All applications must be submitted by electronic Entry Form on the Internet; paper entries will not be accepted. Only one entry per person will be accepted. workpermit.com offers services to evaluate and submit your entry for you. We have made a video of some frequently asked questions and a companion article on the DV-2009 for your convenience.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that no more H-2B visa petitions will be accepted for work during the first half of the fiscal year 2008, which runs from October 1st this week through the end of May, 2008. H-2B visas are for employers to temporarily hire foreign workers where there is a labor shortage not in the agricultural field. 33,000 H2-B visas are available each six months. The next H2-B's will be available from April 1st, 2008 for the second half of the current fiscal year.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the 100 questions and answers that make up the "civics component" of the new naturalization test are now finalized. The new version of the test for citizenship applicants will be mandatory from October 2008. 

The revised naturalization test will emphasize "fundamental concepts of American democracy, basic U.S. history, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship." The first part is a written exam and the second part is an oral interview. Both parts will test understanding of the English language and will select questions from the 100 possibilities. 

The new Australian citizenship test for permanent residents wishing to become Australian citizens has come into effect this week from October 1st. The pass mark for the test is 60% for the general questions on the test. However, three mandatory questions regarding the responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship must be answered correctly to pass. 

20 questions will be randomly selected by computer from 200 possibilities available for study from the "Becoming an Australian Citizen" guide. Of the applicants who already took the test this week, most commented that they found the test to be easier than they were expecting.

The European Union's proposed "blue card," loosely modeled after the United States green card, continues to dominate the topic of 27-member bloc's need for skilled migrants. The EU needs to solve a looming demographic crisis of too few workers in Europe. It is estimated that more than 20 million immigrant workers will be required in the coming decades. 

Proponents argue that a real demand exists for specific skills, which vary from one country to another, and that the demand cannot be met from within the EU. The initial step should focus on qualified, skilled workers that need to be attracted for long-term residency. The basic proposal is that skilled workers will be allowed to immigrate into one country for two years, after which they would be free to work in any EU nation.

Economic growth in the new European Union Member States remains high, according to the World Bank's EU8+2 Regular Economic Report. There is also evidence of an emerging shortage of skilled workers in the newer Central and Eastern European nations. 

Unemployment in almost all of the new Member States has fallen sharply since 2004 due to increased demand in the labor market. Because of this, skills shortages and wage pressures have risen sharply. The report makes a number of recommendations for the newer Member States to increase their labor pool, including that they open their labor markets to more foreign workers.

According to a newly published report, "The Fiscal Impacts of Immigration," migrants settling in New Zealand earned $3.3 billion for the country for the year ending on June 30th 2006. The research is part of a three-year study by the New Zealand Department of Labour into the economic impacts of immigration. 

Migrants contributed $8.1 billion in income tax, goods and services taxes, and excise duties - far exceeding the $4.8 billion that New Zealand spent on education, health and welfare for the newcomers. This is an 80% increase from numbers published in 2003. Nearly 25% of the New Zealand population is comprised of migrants and immigrants.

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