Immigration news

The Australian immigration minister, Scott Morrison, and the trade minister Andrew Robb have announced that business visas for Chinese applicants will now last for three years. They will be multiple entry visas allowing applicants to enter and leave the country as many times as they wish.

The intention of the change is to boost trade between the two nations. Until now, business visas have only lasted for one year. Australia has also increased the number of flights between Australia and China in an attempt to boost trade.

The UK's Prime Minister, David Cameron, is considering creating a new 'Cabinet-level' Immigration Minister post, according to the online newspaper The Huffington Post. The Immigration Minister would not be a full member of the Cabinet but would attend most Cabinet meetings.

Currently, the immigration minister is a junior minister in the Home Office who does not sit in the Cabinet and reports to the Home Secretary. The Huffington Post says that Mr Cameron is considering creating the new cabinet level post at the time of his next cabinet reshuffle at the end of May.

A former Romanian Prime Minister, Petre Roman, has told journalists in China 'We welcome immigrants from China'. Mr Roman said that there are already around 40,000 Chinese people living in Romania and said that they are 'well accepted' in Romanian society.

Mr Roman travelled with other European politicians as part of the Club of Madrid, a group of former democratic leaders. They were invited by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs.

Irish citizens rushed to apply for Canadian working holiday visas after Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) began accepting applications at 8pm on 13th March 2014. 3,850 visas were available. CIC received that number of applications within 11 minutes and stopped accepting further applications leaving many applicants disappointed.

Will Hutton, a noted UK author, economist, journalist and academic, has said that the UK should 'auction residential visas to the world's super-rich'. The proceeds should be spent on building houses, training the young and unemployed and creating jobs. This would send out the message that 'immigration is beneficial'.

The Australian immigration minister Julie Bishop has announced that Ukrainians in Australia will be able to extend their visas; the political instability in their home Country means that it may be unsafe to go home.

Ms Bishop was speaking on 5th March 20014 as the crisis in the Ukraine intensified. She issued a statement saying that Ukrainians currently in the country may apply to have their visas extended if they expire.

'Subsequent applications may also be made if the situation of unrest in the Ukraine is further deemed by the government at that time to warrant a further extension'.