Immigration newsletter 30 March 2011

Hurry Up!    Only a week left until the end of the Tier 1 Highly Skilled Visa scheme. Last day is 5 April 2011. As long as you have your application in by post by 5 April 2011 you will still be considered under the current scheme.   Please note that you can only apply if you already have a long term visa in the UK.

The Tier 1 (General) Visa allows highly skilled individuals to immigrate to the UK without a job offer if they score enough points under various criteria such as age, past earnings, and qualifications.

Intense lobbying by Britain's education sector and others has resulted in the Tier 1 Post Study Work immigration scheme continuing for another year. Tier 1 PSW allows non-EU students of UK educational institutions to live and work in the UK after graduation for up to two years. The Government is also expected to allow private further-education colleges which provide "pathway" courses to apply for student visa sponsorship accreditation.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will start accepting H-1B petitions for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 on 1 April 2011. However, the earliest you can start work on an H-1B visa is October 2011. US firms use H-1B visas to recruit overseas workers in specialty occupations in fields in the sciences, engineering, and information technology.

Western Australia is continuing its efforts to recruit workers from abroad in an effort to head off labour shortages.

The Australian state expects to create 240,000 new jobs as AUD $225 million in resources and infrastructure projects get underway; It is estimated that Western Australia will see a shortfall of 150,000 workers.

Australia's population growth has declined due to tougher student immigration rules, which has reduced net immigration by over a third.

New rules introduced in recent years require students to have more money to fund their stay and makes it more difficult for students to live and work in Australia after finishing their studies

The Canadian government has proposed a new rule which would require a person coming to stay in Canada with their partner to stay in the relationship for two years before being granted permanent residence.

The stricter requirement is an attempt by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to crack down on fraudulent marriages.

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