Immigration news

The UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has recommended that there should be changes to the Tier 1 (Investor) visa because they say it is of questionable benefit to the UK taxpayer. One of their recommendations is that the UK should auction off 100 premium investor visas each year in a sealed auction.

The UK has had an investor visa since 1994. The Tier 1 (Investor) visa was instituted as part of the UK's five-tier visa system in 2008. The MAC's chairman, Professor David Metcalf has previously questioned the value of the Investor visa route.

The new Indian ambassador to the United States, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has told journalists that India is concerned at possible immigration reform legislation in the US that would make it more expensive for international outsourcing firms to apply for H-1B visas.

Mr Jaishankar told the AFP news agency that there could be tit-for-tat reprisals against US trade interests in India. He said that if the US Congress made it more difficult for Indian outsourcing firms to work in the US then he would be less likely to help American companies with problems in India.

British employers are advertising for Romanians to come to the UK and fill job vacancies. The highest number of vacancies is in the health care sector. NHS trusts throughout the UK are seeking doctors and nurses. There are also many vacancies in care homes for the elderly and in social work but it seems that Romanians are no longer interested in working in the UK.

David Willetts, the UK's science minister, has blamed a fall in the number of students coming to study in the UK from the Indian sub-continent on the 'lively' press in India and Pakistan.

Mr Willetts told Total Politics magazine that falls in the number of students from India and Pakistan studying at UK universities were caused by a false perception that the UK was not welcoming to genuine students.

He says that the number of Chinese students in the UK has continued to rise because the Chinese press has 'completely understood' the British government's position.

The European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor has delivered a speech in which he said that EU immigration has been of great benefit to the UK. He added that claims by the UK government that EU citizens were coming to the UK to claim benefits were completely untrue.

Australia's former immigration ministers Chris Bowen and Brendan O'Connor have been criticised for decisions to grant visas to a Pakistani asylum seeker, Fawad Ahmed, and to change the law so that Mr Ahmed's citizenship could be granted more quickly.

Mr Ahmed entered Australia and claimed asylum in 2010. He said he had been threatened by the Taliban and feared for his life. He was granted Australian citizenship in July 2013 despite the fact that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection had advised that his asylum claim did not appear to be justified.