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Immigration news

The Australian government's Border Force Act, which came into effect on July 1st 2015, has been condemned in two open letters by doctors, social workers, and others who have worked in Australian immigration for adding to a "wall of secrecy"; according to the letters you can face up to 2 years in prison for disclosing information about the "deplorable state of human rights" at Australian immigration facilities.

To increase the chances of success in the H-1B visa lottery immigration lawyers are lodging multiple applications for the same person, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) H-1B visa quota is 85,000 per year.

Britain's most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, says that an influx of immigrants is helping the UK to rediscover its Christian roots and revive religion in a "weary, western" culture. "Not only are new arrivals adding to fading congregation numbers, but they are encouraging the British born demographic to rediscover their faith, said the Cardinal."

The Life in the UK Test for those applying for British citizenship and indefinite leave to remain (permanent residence) has been heavily criticised, after it was revealed that an immigrant was allowed to take the test 64 times before passing it. The unnamed migrant, who needed to pass the test as one of the requirements to be able to apply for British citizenship, was allowed to retake the 45-minute test repeatedly; there are no restrictions on how many times you can take the test.

Arrests of illegal immigrants at the UK port of Dover rose by nearly 300% between 2013 and 2014, according to information released under the Freedom of Information Act. 563 immigration arrests were made at Dover – a site where many immigrants try to enter the UK illegally – in 2014, compared with 148 arrests in 2013 and 105 in 2012.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University, whose parents were born in Poland has called the UK government's immigration restrictions "one of the biggest threats" to the UK's higher education system in a pamphlet published at a conference in London.