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Immigration news

There are still nine months until the UK's next general election. The main parties are preparing for a lengthy campaign and have already hinted at details of some of their policies, although their full manifestos will not be published for another few months. It has become clear that immigration will be a key issue on which all the parties will attempt to differentiate themselves.

The Indian outsourcing firm Infosys is being sued for discrimination in a US court. The case revolves around Infosys' use of H-1B 'specialty occupation' non-immigrant (temporary residence) visas. Infosys denies any wrongdoing.

The case was brought by Layla Bolten, a US national and an experienced IT professional with a degree in computer science. Ms Bolten was hired by Infosys in 2010 after President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly known as 'Obamacare') was passed by Congress in 2010. She was employed to work as a tester on the new IT systems required for its implementation.

The UK's Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, says that the UK coalition government has scrapped plans to reduce annual immigration to below 100,000 annually.

Mr Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party which is the junior partner in the UK Coalition government with David Cameron's Conservatives, said that the Conservatives had been 'fixated' on meeting the commitment to reduce immigration to below 100,000 annually and that this had made it harder for the government to tackle problems in the UK's immigration system.

John Vine, the independent chief inspector of the UK's borders and immigration services, has announced that he will leave his post on 31st December this year, six months before the end of his current contract.

Mr Vine has said that he is leaving his position because he wants to move on. He said 'Leaving at the end of the year and before the next general election, rather than in July 2015 when my term is due to end, makes sense.'

A group of 35 illegal immigrants were found inside a shipping container last month, at Tilbury Dock, Essex, in the UK after dock workers heard screaming and banging from inside.

When the container was opened up it was discovered that one man had unfortunately died, and the rest of the group, which included 13 children, required medical treatment for dehydration and hyperthermia. Two adults and two children were admitted to Southend Hospital, but have now been released. It is understood the group are now seeking asylum in the UK.

The Australian immigration system is said to be in disarray, after documents leaked last month show that the system has been subject to widespread fraud for a number of years.

The documents, which were leaked to Fairfax, one of Australia's largest media companies, paint a picture of a system which has been virtually destroyed by budget cuts and privatisation. According to one report, the investigations department has been so deskilled that it is unable to investigate fraud any more.