Immigration news

The UK General Election is taking place today. We take this opportunity to look at the immigration policies of the main political parties as stated in their manifestos, and to speculate about the election outcome.

The Conservatives say they aim to keep net migration down to the tens of thousands and make it more difficult for EU immigrants to claim social or housing benefits.

Labour pledge to employ 1,000 new border staff, to impose a two-year wait on EU immigrants claiming unemployment benefits and cap the number of non-EU migrant workers.

Tony Abbott, the Australian Prime Minister, has said that Iran should take back its citizens who have been unsuccessful in securing refugee status in Australia. Abbott confirmed that he would be lobbying Tehran regarding the issue.

Julie Bishop, Australia's Foreign Minister, will raise the issue of deportation of Iranian nationals to Iran during a visit to Tehran in mid-April. The talks were an attempt to reduce the pressure on Australian immigration camps on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Barack Obama has announced plans to make doing business in the United States as 'simple and as attractive' as possible by easing the application process for L-1B work visas. The L-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa category which allows international companies to transfer workers with specialised knowledge into the US for up to 5 years, provided they have been employed continuously by the company outside the US for 1 year in the last 3 years. The overseas company will have to show common ownership and control with the US company.

Biometric residence permits have been a requirement for non EU/EEA nationals applying for UK visas from within the UK since November 2008. It is now a requirement for non EEA nationals applying for a visa from outside the UK as well. Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) for visa applications from abroad began being issued in March 2015, starting with applications made from Pakistan. BRPs are now being issued by the UK Home Office to 'Stage 2' countries (see list below). BRPs are now required for visa applications for all immigrants from non-EEA nations applying to stay in the UK for longer than six months.

Following the tragedy of last week that saw 700 immigrants drown in the Mediterranean Sea whilst attempting to immigrate to Italy, Prime Minister David Cameron has changed his stance on supporting further search and rescue plans.

After Thursday's European summit to discuss the highly dangerous journey facing immigrant's illegally crossing the Mediterranean Sea, Cameron expressed his support for expanding search and rescue resources. It has been suggested that this will be a popular move ahead of the UK General Election on 7 May.

The question of immigration is a burning issue, especially in the run-up to the general election. Twenty years of rising immigration has meant that 6.5 million adults of working age now live in the UK, who were born abroad. Britain has been referred to as being an "Island of immigrants".