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The Australian government is preparing to pass legislation which will enable Australia to deport asylum seekers who manage to reach the Australian mainland by boat to offshore processing camps on Nauru and on the Papua New Guinean island of Manus. The change will not apply to asylum seekers who come to Australia by plane.
Hurricane Sandy, the most powerful storm to hit the eastern coast of the United States at least since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, has caused offices of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to shut down in a number of states.
The storm caused the closure of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday 29th October 2012 for the first time since the September 11th 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. So far 20 people are known to have been killed in the US and Canada.
On Tuesday 30th October 2012, USCIS offices in
A Labour MP has caused some controversy by suggesting that immigrants to the UK know more about the country than native Britons.
New figures released by the UK's Office for National Statistics show that 24% of babies born in the UK last year (2011) were born to women who were born outside the UK.
The ONS said that 'the increase in the proportion of foreign births to non-UK born mothers living in the UK illustrates how the demographic make-up of the UK is changing.' It added that understanding the patterns of childbearing among migrant populations was 'essential for planning services such as maternity provision and schools'.
Jason Kenney, the Canadian immigration minister, has said that he approves of measures taken by the British government to reform its student visa system and intends to reform the Canadian visa system along similar lines.
The second chamber of the UK parliament, the House of Lords, debated a change to the UK's immigration rules on Tuesday 23rd October.
In June 2012, the UK government announced a range of changes to the immigration rules for non-European Economic Area nationals applying to enter or remain in the UK on the family migration route. The rules applied to new applicants from 9th July 2012 onwards.