Immigration newsletter 20 February 2008

The United Kingdom will begin the phased introduction of the new Tier 1 rules for highly skilled immigrants over the next few weeks. Applying for an HSMP visa now has the benefit of coming under a slightly easier English language requirement. Another benefit is that you may take advantage of the MBA provision before it is removed under Tier 1.

For HSMP holders who don't score enough points to extend their leave to remain under Tier 1, transitional arrangements are in place to assist them in transferring to another Tier, such as Tier 2 for skilled workers.

On April 1st, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting applications for H-1B visas. In 2007, the USCIS received more than double the number of applications needed to fill the 65,000 quota on the first day. This year is expected to be very similar.

Many U.S. business interests have been pushing for an increase in the H-1B visa cap, and with the upcoming presidential elections, they are likely to soon have a sympathetic ear in the White House. Both Democratic contenders, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as the leading Republican candidate, John McCain, support raising the H-1B quota.

The United Kingdom's new points-based immigration system requires people coming in under the General Highly Skilled Migrants and Entrepreneur sub-categories of Tier 1 to prove that their English ability at least meets C1 of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework for Language Learning. According to the British Council, this is approximately an overall band score of 6.5 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

There is a possible downside to the suspension of the Tier 3 unskilled worker visa by the United Kingdom. Curry restaurants may be forced to depend on labor from the newly enlarged European Union, rather than hiring workers from Bangladesh and India. Tier 3 is intended to allow non-EU/EEA unskilled labor into the UK.

Keith Best, Chief Executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, said that Eastern Europeans "have no cultural sensitivity towards or understanding of the curry industry."

Currently, 12% of the 300 million people in the United States are foreign-born. However, a new study by the Pew Research Center estimates that 82% of the population growth over the next 40 years will be due to immigrants and their descendants. This would result in one of five people being immigrants by 2050, when the total population will reach a projected 438 million.

In response to ongoing labor shortages, Australia has announced an increase of 6,000 places to its skilled migration program. There will now be 108,500 places available for 2007-2008.

Australia will also expand its Working Holiday agreements with other countries to allow people with Working Holiday visas who have been employed in the construction industry for at least three months to extend their stay for a year. Similar rules currently exist for some other primary industries such as agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining.

Ontario, Canada has expanded a program to grant permanent residence to foreign graduates of Canadian universities and colleges. Previously, under its Pilot Provincial Nominee Program, only foreign graduates of Ontario post-secondary educational institutions could qualify.

The program is now open to international students from across Canada who graduate from a Canadian, publicly funded college or university, as long as they have a job offer in Ontario. Successful applicants under the program will have their application for permanent residency nominated by the provincial government for fast-track attention by federal immigration authorities.

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