Immigration news

Indian firms are reporting that it is increasingly difficult to obtain L category US visas for their staff. Ameet Nivsarkar, a vice president at Nasscom, the Indian software industry body, has said 'visa refusals for employees have hit Indian companies very hard and pushed back project schedules. Visa rejections are also a drain on resources because money spent filing applications is not refunded.'

Craig Calhoun, the new vice-chancellor of the London School of Economics, has joined other senior figures in the UK's university sector in calling for an end to the requirement that students from outside the European Economic Area must register with the police before they start their courses. Mr Calhoun was speaking on the day the Metropolitan Police were forced to change the rules on student registration because the system could not cope with the numbers of students waiting to be registered.

Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multiculturalism, is to visit the UK this week. He will stay for five days and will hold a series of meetings including one with the UK's minister for immigration, Mark Harper. The purpose of Mr Kenney's visit is to attract UK graduates to visit and settle in Canada. He has announced changes to Canada's immigration rules which are intended to encourage such graduates to make their lives in Canada. Mr Kenney is seeking to persuade UK graduates who cannot find work in the UK to think of emigrating to Canada before they think of trying their luck in Australia.

Statistics Canada, the Canadian government's statistics office, has released an estimate of the Canadian population. It says that the population of Canada was approximately 34,880,500 on 1st July 2012. It says the population grew by about 1% in the year to July 1st 2012 with the populations of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan growing fastest. The populations of both grew by over 2% in the year to 1st July 2012. Statistics Canada says that the population rose by 396,516 in the year to 1st July 2012. Over that time

The number of applicants for Tier 1 (investor) category visas rose to a record high in the year ending on 30th June 2012. The UK Border Agency received over 400 applications during this period. This figure compares with fewer than 200 applicants in 2009. Critics say that the minimum investment should be increased.

The leader of the United Kingdom's Labour Party Ed Miliband has given an interview to the BBC's lunchtime news programme The World at One. In an interview on Thursday 4th October 2012, the opposition leader told BBC journalist Martha Kearney that he thought that immigration into the UK, particularly low-skilled immigration was 'too high'.