Immigration news

Following our announcement about Australia's decision to increase immigration numbers to fill skill gaps, we have further information regarding Australia's 2012-13 budget and future immigration changes.

The UK Border Agency has been accused of detaining immigrant children in "degrading and disgraceful" conditions at Heathrow airport, according to an official watchdog, the Heathrow independent monitoring board (IMB).

The Australian Government this week has announced that employees currently claiming the Living Away from Home Allowance (LAFHA) will be able to continue doing so until 1 July 2014. The government had previously announced that the LAFHA would be closed to most temporary visa holders from 1 July 2012. This change only applies to people who were claiming LAFHA prior to 8 May 2012.

The Australian Government announced that they will increase the places available in the 2012–13 migration program in order to help fill skills shortages in parts of Australia. "The measured increase of 5000 places—from 185 000 to 190 000—comes in the context of significant skills gaps in both the short and medium term in certain sectors of our patchwork economy," said Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen.

Hundreds of New Zealand visa applicants were accidentally approved for visas following a computer error last week. The Silver Fern Visa scheme is limited to 300 visas annually, but a computer glitch at Immigration New Zealand incorrectly accepted a further 330 visa applications after the quota had been filled."A technical fault occurred shortly after the Silver Fern opened which enabled people to submit applications after all the places had been filled," said Rob Stevens, Immigration New Zealand's service support general manager.

Following India's announcement to lodge a complaint about the US at the World Trade Organisation over the increase in US visa fees, the US assured India that it continued to fully support the admission of qualified Indian works.US State department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said that the US and India "did have a good and thorough discussion" on the visa issues with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.