Immigration news

Following the release of a recent report claiming that UK Immigration doesn't know where 150,000 illegal migrants are located, the UKBA insists that they have a clear strategy to identify and remove people who fail to leave the UK when their visas expire. The damning report, released by John Vine, chief inspector of the UKBA, claimed that there is no Home Office plan to find out how many visa overstayers are still in the UK illegally. He claimed that tracking overstayers down and removing them from the country is not seen as a priority for the agency.

UK Immigration Minister Damian Green announced that a targeted interview system for Tier 4 student visa applicants will be introduced 30 July and will focus on high-risk applicants. It is not clear yet how UK Immigration will determine who is a high-risk applicant.

As of 9 July 2012, a number of changes to the UK Immigration Rules came into effect. These changes affect all non-European Economic Area (non-EEA) nationals applying to enter or remain in the UK under the family migration route.The changes include:

The British High Commission has announced that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) visa centre in Manila in the Philippines will process Tier 4 visa applications for Malaysian applicants. Previously, Tier 4 applications from Malaysians were processed in the High Commission's visa outsource centre in Jalan Ampang, Malaysia.

The Canadian government has announced they will pay some failed refugee claimants up to CAD$2,000 to leave the country and will also pay for a one-way plane ticket.The new pilot project, run by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), was launched last week in the Greater Toronto Area. The IOM has been in charge of implementing similar projects in other countries.