Immigration news

The UK Home Office announced that immigrants from countries with a high incidence of tuberculosis (TB) will soon be required to be screened for the disease before being approved for a UK visa.UK Immigration minister Damian Green confirmed the new measures on 21 May saying: "Tuberculosis is currently at its highest level in the UK for 30 years and it's essential that we take action to tackle its continued rise." Ministers claimed that testing applicants prior to arrival in the UK will save the country more than £40 million over the next ten years.

There has been a surge in demand for the popular US H-1B visas that companies use to bring graduate level highly skilled workers to the country. As of 18 May, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said that it has received about 42,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions out of the 65,000 available visas. This number is much higher than the 11,200 visa petitions filed during roughly the same period last year.

From 1 July, the Australian government is set to relax immigration laws which will lead to the admission of more immigrants with disabilities and a pre-existing medical conditions. Australian immigration has what is called a significant cost threshold to decide whether or not an immigrant with disabilities or an illness will be too much of a burden on the Australian health system. If the projected cost of treating a prospective immigrant will be greater than the significant cost threshold currently AUD$21,000 over five years the immigrant will not be granted the visa.

The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) announced that organisers at the Australian job fair in Houston, Texas have reached their US target enrolment for attendees. The Australian Skilled Migrants job fair, taking place this month, was set up for US workers in gas, oil, mining and construction to meet Australian recruiters from about 20 major resources companies, as well as to meet with Australian immigration officers.

Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen announced this month that 4.5 million people have gained Australian citizenship since the first citizenship ceremony in 1949.Bowen said that reaching the 4.5 million mark was a significant milestone. He noted that the 4.5 million people who have become Australian citizens have come from more than 200 countries.

Earlier this month, the UK Border Agency's computer system crashed and led to the cancellation of 500 visa appointments, and officials warn that it could happen again.UKBA chief executive Rob Whiteman said that the computer systems are "prone to falling over", and that the issue was "a constant frustration" and may not be quick to fix. Whiteman explained that the problem was caused by a network error and if it happened again it would affect several UK visa applications and appointments.