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The fees for many UK visas will rise on 6th April. Most rises are modest (4%) but the removal of a 25% discount for the dependent relatives of main applicants for visas under the UK's points-based visa system applying from within the UK means that these applicants will face massive increases.
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A committee of MPs has warned the UK's Coalition government against selling Tier 1 (Investor) visas at auction.
Last month, the government's independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) suggested that the government should auction off 100 'premium' investor visas each year with a reserve price of £2.5m each. These would allow their holders to qualify for UK citizenship within months.
But the Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons urged the government to reject this advice. The committee met on Thursday 20th March 2014.
Research suggests that the Hispanic community will become the largest single ethnic grouping in California during March 2014. It is expected that Hispanics will then make up 39% of the population overtaking the 'white' population which accounts for 38.8%.
There is a growing Hispanic population in the US and many US political commentators predict that this will have a significant impact on US immigration policy in the years to come.
A group of MPs from the Conservative Party, the party of Prime Minister David Cameron, have urged Mr Cameron's government to abandon its commitment to cut immigration to below 100,000 every year.
The group, Conservatives for Managed Migration, is led by the MP for the Cities of London and Westminster constituency, Mark Field. It was officially launched on Tuesday 25th March 2014 and has about 12 members.
A group of Chinese citizens who had applied for Canadian visas are considering suing the Canadian government after it terminated the Immigrant Investor Program (IIP). Canada scrapped the IIP in February. All applications were terminated and the Government fees returned. It is estimated that some 65,000 people were waiting for visas.
Michaelia Cash, Australia's Assistant Immigration Minister, has announced an investigation into the 457 temporary work visa. She has established a public inquiry which will look into the level of 'rorting' or abuse of the 457 visa.
It will investigate whether the requirement for 'labour market testing' (LMT) should be scrapped. LMT was introduced by the last Australian Labor government to prevent abuse of the 457 visa.
LMT requires Australian businesses to advertise vacant positions in the Australian media before nominating a foreign worker for a 457 visa to fill the role.