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Kevin Rudd, the new Prime Minister for Australia, has named and sworn in his Immigration Minister, Senator Christopher Evans. Senator Evans replaces Kevin Andrews, the former Immigration Minister for the former Prime Minister, John Howard. 

Senator Evans brings 25 years of service and experience in the Australian government to his new post. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made immigration, migration and refugee policies a central theme of his election campaign, and major changes in policy from the previous government are expected.

The United Kingdom's Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, outlined Britain's new immigration system during a December 5th speech to the London School of Economics. She said that instead of the estimated 80 immigration routes that currently exist to enter the UK, there will now be a single, points-based immigration system. 

The United Kingdom's Immigration and Borders Agency has announced plans to cut the validity period for visit visas from six months to three months. As part of the proposal, families would need to post a cash, £1,000 "visa bond" to ensure relatives leave when their visas expire. Also, use of visit visas for business will cease and instead a new class of visa will be created for that purpose. 

The Schengen Zone now encompasses a vast, visa-free area for 400 million people throughout 24 European countries. It is now possible to travel over 4,000 km (2,485 miles), from Tallinn in Estonia to Lisbon in Portugal, without encountering any border controls. Nine new countries joined the agreement as of 21 December 2007. For now, the scrapping of border controls will involve only land and sea borders. But, at the end of March 2008, it will be expanded to airports.