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Britain's Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) scheme officially ended 29 June 2008. From 30 June 2008, highly skilled immigration into the United Kingdom comes under the Tier 1 (General) category. The UK Border Agency has also launched the other Tier 1 sub-categories: Tier 1 (Investors), Tier 1 (Entrepreneurs), and Tier 1 (Post-Study Work).

A panel of experts comprised of Australian state government officials, industry groups, and union representatives will advise the Australian government on how to improve its 457 visa scheme. Australia's 457 visa allows Australian employers to temporarily hire workers from abroad.

The panel will advise the government on an ongoing "integrity" review of the 457 visa program and provide feedback on reform proposals. It will also examine how the 457 visa program "can best integrate with the employer and state-sponsored permanent skilled migration program."

The United Kingdom has finished a review of its visa system -- called the Visa Waiver Test -- and will possibly implement visa regimes for 11 additional countries. Review criteria included passport security and integrity, the level of cooperation in dealing with deportations of a country's nationals from the UK, levels of crime and terrorism risk posed to the UK, the number of illegal workers in the UK and other "immigration abuse." The review covered all non-European Union countries and concluded that there is a "strong case" for implementing visa regimes in the countries.

Germany has approved proposals to help make the country more attractive to highly skilled foreign workers. The German cabinet approved the plan on July 16th, aimed at reducing skilled labor shortages in sectors such as engineering and information technology.

The government of Australia has announced a "suite of reforms" to its immigration detention system. The previous policy of automatically detaining asylum seekers has now ended; the government will now only detain "unlawful non-citizens" who are deemed a security threat.