Immigration news

The universities minister David Willetts today addressed a conference of UK universities in Keele and said that the government would be doing all it could to send out a message to international students that Britain still wants them to come and study in the UK.

The United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA), one of the UK's immigration authorities, which has responsibility for visa applications made overseas, has said that it is to cease its mobile biometric clinic service on Borneo. The UKBA says 'We have received a lot of positive feedback on the mobile biometric service and we will explore the possibility of offering this service in summer 2013.'

Jason Kenney, the Canadian minister for Citizenship, Multiculturalism and Immigration, announced yesterday, 10th September 2012, that his government has begun the process of revoking citizenship granted to 3,100 people who made fraudulent applications for Canadian citizenship. He said that the government is currently investigating 11,000 people suspected of attempting to abuse the Canadian immigration system. Most of the 3,100 are from the Gulf States.

Yesterday, the Trades Union Congress, an annual gathering of UK Trades Unions voted to explore the practicalities of a general strike to protest at the ongoing cuts being imposed by the UK's coalition government. If such a strike occurs, public sector workers, including immigration staff will carry out coordinated strikes causing chaos throughout the country, not least at the UK's rail, sea and air ports where UK Border Force staff might walk away from their positions in passport control.

The Australian newspaper reports today 12th September 2012, that applications from mainland China to Australian educational institutions are soaring after several years of decline. A Chinese education agent says that the main reason that Chinese students are choosing Australia is the country's liberal immigration policy.

Dame Helen Ghosh, the civil servant who is Permanent Secretary to the Home Office, has said that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and the UK Border Force (UKBF) had persuaded too many staff to leave with redundancy packages in 2010-2011. She revealed that 104 staff who left with generous redundancy packages have since been re-employed.