This week, the European Union continued its debate over ways to attract more skilled, legal immigrants. One idea that has been proposed is an EU-wide work permit that would be granted by one member state, but allow the immigrant to work in any of the 25 EU member countries. EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said the EU is aiming at coordinating immigration standards, but that individual member states will keep the right to decide how many immigrants to admit. The commission also hopes legal migration will cut the estimated 500,000 illegal arrivals to the EU each year. Frattini said the EU is not seeking to increase the "brain drain" from which many non-EU countries already suffer. However, he said the EU must compete with the United States and other countries that attract high numbers of skilled workers.

New Zealand hopes that changes to the skilled migrant category will help target top quality immigrants and so increase the immigration benefits to New Zealand. The country’s Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) focuses on targeting migrants that New Zealand needs right now. Applicants will continue to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for residence and gain points for their skills, qualifications, experience and other indicators of their ability to contribute to New Zealand. However, under the new selection process highly talented migrants who score 140 points and above on their EOI will automatically be selected from the pool. The new selection policy took effect on Dec. 23.

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