Immigration news

A referendum held in Switzerland has narrowly backed the introduction of tighter immigration controls. 50.3% of those who voted supported the introduction of the controls and, according to the Swiss system of direct democracy where referendums are binding, the controls must now be introduced.

The result was announced on Sunday 9th February 2014. It came as a surprise because polls had predicted that the 'no' vote would win fairly comfortably. The vote was instigated by the right wing UDC party. The Swiss government and industry bodies had urged Swiss voters to vote against the motion.

Sir James Dyson, the founder of the Dyson technology company, best known for its vacuum cleaners, has slammed the UK's Coalition government for its immigration policy which, he says, is putting British jobs at risk.

Sir James, who is thought to be worth £3bn, wrote an opinion piece for The Financial Times entitled 'Stop kicking out bright foreigners, or put British jobs at risk. He says that in 2014, there will be 61,000 engineering positions in the UK that will go unfilled and says that, if companies can't find the engineers in the UK, they will be forced to go elsewhere, thus costing British jobs.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced that the Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) and the Federal Entrepreneur Program (FEP) will be terminated. The two programs were once Canada's main investor and entrepreneur programs but both had been suspended for some time.

In a statement, CIC said that the move will 'eliminate a large and longstanding backlog of applications, and pave the way for new pilot programs that will actually meet Canada's labour market and economic needs'.

On January 30th 2014, senior Republicans in Washington released a one-page document 'Standards for Immigration Reform' which sets out the principles behind their efforts to pass immigration reform in the House of Representatives (known as 'The House') in the coming months.

The statement was launched by the 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan and the Speaker of the House John Boehner, two senior Republicans who favour immigration reform. It lays out the principles behind immigration reform for House Republicans and outlines laws that they would like to see passed.

By Alex Owen

The leadership of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives in Washington has published a statement about its intentions for immigration reform. It is a short document, only a page long and short on detail. But what could it actually mean for the US immigration system.

A senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party, the UK's third biggest political party, has urged Liberal Democrat activists to 'keep engaging' with eastern European communities in the UK to help it in the European elections this May.

The EU elections will decide which parties hold the UK's 73 seats in the European Parliament. EU citizens living in the UK will have the right to vote in the elections.