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Beginning in the 1970s the Philippines has focused on exporting labor overseas. In the first years of this new policy the numbers were relatively small, in the tens of thousands, but this continually grew until by 2005 over a million Filipinos were working outside the country.
By 2016, the income generated from Call-Centers in the Philippines may exceed the income from remittances by expatriate workers to the Philippines; for decades this has been the single largest source of foreign exchange for the country.
Over the past ten years, business process outsourcing (BPO) which encompasses call centers, health-care information management and computer animation, etc. has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of the country's $272 billion economy.
The UK has announced changes to the transit visa scheme, which will hopefully encourage visitors to stop over in the UK while en-route to other destinations.
The announcement was made by Home Secretary Theresa May, and is particularly aimed at Chinese passengers. Currently, Chinese nationals have to obtain a UK visa, even when they are only changing flights within the UK, however it is hoped that these new reforms will persuade more people to stop over in the UK, and improve UK-Chinese relations.
Almost 50% of London-based businesses are calling for the UK government to reform the Tier 2 visa system over concerns about a shortage of skilled workers.
A recent business survey was carried out by KPMG and the Confederation of British Industry into skills shortage in London. The results show that over half of the companies asked have had difficulty in finding workers with relevant skills for their business; This is especially true for STEM skills (science, technology, engineering and maths). Employers also as always are looking for literacy, numeracy and communication skills.
A former UK deputy Prime Minister has called for foreign students to be excluded from the UK government's immigration figures, explaining that students are 'not the sort of people causing the anxiety about immigration.'
In an interview aired on BBC radio 4 in August 2014, Lord Heseltine, former Deputy Prime Minister under John Major, and now a Conservative life peer, spoke about his concerns that including foreign students in plans to reduce non-EU migration will risk damaging the UK's reputation abroad.
New records were set for the numbers of Filipino visitors traveling to the UK. In the 12 months prior to March 2014, 49,000 visas were issued to Filipinos. There was a 27% increase in the number of tourist and business visitors over the previous year.