Immigration news

The UK Home Affairs Select Committee has criticized the money UK Border Agency's (UKBA) has spent on the IRIS biometric scanning system saying it would have been better used to pay for more immigration staff.

The Indian government has lodged a complaint about the US at the World Trade Organisation over the increase in US visa fees. India claims that the H-1B and L-1 visa fees are too high and discriminate against Indian IT firms."We are pursuing this at the consultation level. It is our hope we reach an amicable conclusion," a senior commerce department official in New Delhi said on 10 April.

New Zealand medical experts warned that once authorities relax the health screening requirements for international students, it could lead to people infected with HIV and hepatitis being granted visas to study there.From July 2012, New Zealand student visa applicants will be screened only for tuberculosis, unless they have other health conditions they declare. Therefore, foreign students will no longer need to supply full medicals and the responsibility will rest on visa applicants to declare their health conditions rather than on medical checks to detect diseases.

The British Embassy in Bangkok introduced this week a priority visa service for Thai citizens applying for UK visitor visas. The visa service allows eligible applicants to pay an additional fee in order to have their UK visa application expedited.The new service costs 3,000 Baht (£60) and the UK Border Agency (UKBA) expects to process priority visa applications within three working days.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to reinstate passport checks for all EU citizens arriving in France if EU countries fail to properly secure their borders against illegal immigrants.

UK Tier 2 visa route changes from 6 April 2012Due to the UK Government's commitment to reducing overall net migration, they have decided that the Tier 2 (General) limit will remain at its current level of 20,700 skilled workers for 2012/13 and 2013/14. The annual limit begins each year on 6 April. There is no limit on the number of workers coming to the UK to do jobs with an annual salary of £150,000 or higher.