Immigration newsletter 1 December 2010

The UK Government recently announced a permanent cap on skilled immigration that will drastically reduce the annual number of skilled visas available to potential skilled migrants. The cap, which will be implemented in April 2011, will also include major changes to the UK's points based immigration system.

Tier 1 (General) visas or something similar will only be available as an 'exceptionally talented'  visa which will be capped at 1,000 visas per year. Currently, Tier 1 (General) Visas are capped at 13,000.

Tier 1 (General) visas are running out very quickly. It is very possible that all skilled immigration visas will be used up before January 2011.

The permanent cap affecting skilled immigration which the UK is implementing in April 2011 is causing a lot of controversy and consternation among immigrants and businesses alike. But while Tier 1 (General) is in effect being abolished and will in future only apply to 'exceptionally talented' people (with an annual cap of 1000), Tier 2 visas will actually see an increase in its quota to 20,700 visas; This is a significant increase over the current interim immigration cap.

The skilled immigration cap announced by the UK Government on 23 November 2010 is already coming under fire. The permanent skilled immigration cap will reduce the number of Tier 1 (General) visas, so called "highly skilled" visas, from 13,000 a year to 1,000 when it is implemented in April 2011.

Gedeon Rachman, blogger for the Financial Times, calls the cap "pointless and self-defeating". Rachman feels that the British public is upset with high levels of immigration coming from within the EU and through other routes such as asylum that he says the British Government has little contol over. So instead, the Government cracks down on the one area for which it can -- skilled immigration.

Australia's temporary employment-based immigration scheme, the Subclass 457 work visa, is a very useful visa category for Australian employers who wish to hire overseas workers. Recent statistics from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) show that, while the global financial crisis and changes to Australian immigration law have resulted in lower net immigration into Australia, the 457 visa program remains popular.

Australia has a progressive immigration system aimed at reducing skills shortages. One important tool in this effort is the use of the Subclass 457 work visa, a temporary business visa which allows employers to sponsor overseas workers.

According to Penny Wong, Australia's Finance Minister, Australia needs an increase in skilled immigration to meet demand for skilled labor.

"We need to increase the labor force," Wong said. "We're facing a whole range of capacity constraints we need to deal with now”.

A leading international think tank is urging Japan to open up its traditionally restrictive immigration system to incoming skilled immigration.

The proposal by the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR) proposes that Japan adopt a skills-based immigration system, similar to immigration systems in leading immigration destination countries in the West.

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