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Immigration newsletter 7 May 2013
In March, the UK's Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced that the UK's main immigration authority, the UK Border Agency was to be abolished because it was 'not good enough'. She said immigration would now be managed directly by the Home Office.
The UKBA was established in 2008 after Home Office officials discovered that immigration staff had allowed a backlog of 450,000 asylum cases to accumulate. It failed to eliminate that backlog and was also criticised for a failure to issue visas and passports on time.
On April 1st, US immigration began accepting applications for H-1B visas to start work in October 2013. By 5th April, 124,000 applications had been received; many more than the 85,000 visas that can be issued each year.
H-1B visas allow foreign degree-level workers to work in the US in 'a specialty occupation'. The rules state that, in years when more than 85,000 applications are received, USCIS should hold lotteries to distribute the available visas. This was the first H-1B lottery held since 2008.
In April, a bipartisan group of eight US senators released their draft immigration reform bill. If the bill becomes law, it will
- create a ‘pathway to citizenship for the 11m illegal immigrants in the US,
- More than double the number of H-1B temporary work visas available each year
- Increase the number of permanent resident visas (or green cards) for highly skilled foreign workers and
- Create a new entrepreneur visa.
The bill may not become law because right-wing Republicans oppose it. Congress will vote on the bill in June.
This is our 25th anniversary year and we are pleased to announce that as our Birthday approaches in June we will be launching a new, improved site. Among the new features are:
Better accessibility for phones and tablets.
Greatly improved video search features.
New login accounts accessible via Google, Facebook, Linkedin, etc.
We will provide further news when it becomes available.
Finally, in April, a Gallup poll revealed that 640m people around the world, 13% of the world's adult population, want to emigrate. The poll found that over 150m people would like to move to the United States. 45m want to move to the UK and 42m to Canada.
If you want to benefit from our 25 years of experience in the immigration business call our London office on +44 (0)344 991 9222 or our New Delhi office on +91 011-45660800. Alternatively, complete one of our online forms. You can also subscribe to the workpermit.com immigration newsletter for regular news and updates.
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