Immigration news

In 2011, the UK welcomed more visitors than ever from the Middle East, according to VisitBritain, the UK's national tourist authority. Thanks to the Olympics and the Queens Diamond Jubilee taking place in the UK this year, the UK expects to welcome even more tourists from the Middle East on UK visitor visas in 2012.

The UK has seen an increase in the number of MBA applicants from outside the UK in 2011, according to figures released by The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), administrator of the GMAT test. Thanks to this increase the UK is now second in the World after the US as the country of choice for MBA applicants. If you are an International student you will need to apply for a Tier 4 student visa in order to live and study in the UK.

British High Commissioner Robert Winnington Gibson announced last week that UK Immigration will soon introduce a special business visa for Bangladeshi businessmen who have strong trade relations with the UK."It will be a charged-for premium service under which the processing of applications for business visitor visas and Tier 2 skilled worker visas will be expedited," said Gibson.

A dozen European Union leaders, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron, are pushing for greater "labour mobility" within the EU to stimulate job growth and help the economy.The letter detailing their requests was sent to EU leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso this week, as Eurozone finance ministers met to approve the £110 bailout package for Greece.

UK Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced this week that the UK's immigration Border Agencies will split in two after it was revealed that hundreds of thousands of people had passed through UK borders without having visas or passports checked. May released a statement to the House of Lords this week stating that the UK Border Agency and the UK Border Force are to cut all ties as the latter needs a complete management overhaul.

This month at the official opening of the Canadian tourism office in Beijing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper helped launch a new tourism marketing campaign to encourage more Chinese to travel to Canada on visitor visas.