Immigration news

The planned 24-hour strike by UK immigration staff, which had been called for Thursday 26th July, the eve of the London Olympic Games, was called off on Wednesday by the Public and Commercial Services Union less than 48 hours before the Games' opening ceremony. Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS, said that the union had not abandoned the threat of industrial action and that he was now proposing a sustained campaign of industrial action in the autumn if the union's demands were not met.

UK Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, John Tucknott, opened the new UK visa application centre in Kathmandu, Nepal this month."Migration and people to people contact are important strands of the UK-Nepal relationship. Our UK visa operation supports this. It therefore gives me great pleasure to formally open this new visa application centre. One that is bigger, brighter and better for everyone who wishes to apply for a UK visa," Ambassador John Tucknott said.

The US Department of Agriculture reported that foreign holdings in US forests and farmland increased by 6.7 percent in the last 10 months of 2010. The department report revealed that investors from Canada and the Netherlands have almost half of all foreign forest and farmland holdings in the US. Canadian holdings were mostly in timber companies. In Maine, roughly 16 percent of privately owned land has foreign owners or leasers, almost twice that of any other state. The USDA reported Maine's foreign holdings grew by about 232,000 acres in 2010.

The United Kingdom's Immigration Minister, Damian Green, has denied that the government intends to recruit 1,100 new staff in its immigration and passport service, as claimed by Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union. On Wednesday, Mr Serwotka, said that the government was planning to recruit the staff and that this had influenced his decision to call off the 24 hour strike planned for Thursday 26th July. The strike would have affected Britain's airports on the eve of the London Olympic Games.

Sudbury, Ontario MP Glenn Thibeault believes the closure of Canada's Citizenship and Immigration Canada office in Sudbury this spring is making it harder for mining companies to deal with the severe skilled labour shortage."The businesses need help immediately," he said. "What does this mean to new immigrants who want to come to Sudbury, when the only place they can go for services is Toronto? … We all know we need to encourage these immigrants to come to places like Sudbury. This is a slap in the face to northerners."

Australia's Human Rights Commission has urged the federal government to make immediate changes to Australia's refugee program. The commission released their latest report this week calling for the government to create more opportunities for community placement for thousands of asylum seekers now in detention.