Immigration news

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that, as of 27 April 2012, it has already received 29,200 H-1B cap-subject petitions out of the 65,000 available visas. Additionally, they have already received 12,300 H-1B visa petitions for foreigners with US advanced degrees out of the 20,000 available visas. This means that on 27 April 2012 there were only 35,800 visas left under the H-1B regular visa cap and 7,700 for the H-1B visa advanced degree level visa cap.

Since 2006, Canadian immigration applications from many Asian countries have dropped by more than half. Critics claim that the drop in applications from China, India, the Philippines and Pakistan is because the country's recent policy changes favour some immigrant countries over others.Statistics show a significant drop in the annual number of Chinese, Indians, Filipinos and Pakistanis applying for permanent residency between 2006 and 2011. Specifically, applications from China fell 45 percent; India by almost 51 percent; the Philippines by 32 percent; and Pakistan by 65 percent.

The South African government has announced that they are working to deal with the high number of asylum-seeker claims they continue to receive. Currently, South Africa receives more individual asylum claims than any other country.

The US State Department has announced significant changes to the J-1 Summer Work and Travel Program following an investigation that found widespread abuses in the program. The J-1 Summer Work and Travel Program is a cultural-exchange program that brings more than 100,000 foreign college students to the US each year. It allows foreign college students to spend up to four months living and working in the US.

Canada's Federal Skilled Worker visa program is filling up quickly. Those looking to emigrate should consider the Federal Skilled Worker program. This skilled immigration program is for people in a range of different occupations.

UK immigration staff are planning to stage a one-day strike in a dispute over public sector pensions. The strike, set for 10 May is expected to cause even further disruption and result in delays at several airports, including Heathrow.