Immigration news

Chris Bowen MP, the Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, today announced a change to the rules that will enable the parents of naturalized Australian citizens and permanent residents to obtain a 5 year tourist visa. Parents who are waiting for a parent visa, for which there is a long waiting list can apply. 'I know many people are waiting patiently in the queue for a parent visa so we want to provide more generous tourist visas to enable regular extended family visits,' he said.

London First, an association of London businesses, has criticised Theresa May, the United Kingdom's Home Secretary for her 'constant finger pointing' and for making 'a succession of changes to the immigration rules'.

The United Kingdom's parliament will debate the issue of immigration on Thursday 6th September 2012. The debate will be led by Nicholas Soames, the Conservative MP for Mid Sussex, and Frank Field, the Labour MP for Birkenhead. The two MPs are co-chairs of the British parliament's Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration which carries the slogan 'We believe that immigration should be brought down to the level of emigration' on every page of its website. Its aim is to see the population of the UK stabilise at about 65 million by the middle of the century. The current projected figure is 78 million.

The UK parliament's Commons Public Accounts Committee published a report entitled 'Immigration: Points based System Student Route' today, 4th September 2012. The report is fiercely critical of the UK immigration authorities. The report finds that UK immigration authorities were wrong to introduce the new Tier 4 student visa, which is part of the UK's points-based visa system, in 2009. Margaret Hodge, the Chair of the Committee, said at a Westminster press conference this morning that management failures by the UK border Agency had resulted in massive abuse of the system.

UK immigration staff are taking longer than usual to process applications for UK visas made in Thailand, according to a statement made by the UK Border Agency. The statement appeared on the UKBA website on 31st August 2012. It warned Thais that the UKBA office in the British Embassy in Bangkok is currently experiencing a very high volume of visa applications and tells Thais that they should be sure to apply early so that their visas arrive before they are due to travel.

It is feared that 100 people have died after a wooden boat sank in the sea off the Indonesian island of Java on Wednesday 29th August 2012. It is believed that the boat contained asylum seekers, many from Afghanistan, who were attempting to reach Australia by sea. 54 people, believed to be Afghans, have been rescued. It is believed there were about 150 people on the boat, including women and children, when it sank only eight nautical miles off Java.