Immigration news

As we reported on 16th December, the Australian government was recently defeated in its attempt to reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs).

These visas were used by the last Conservative government of Australia before 2007 to confer to asylum seekers the right to reside in Australia for three years; The government would then reassess the circumstances of the applicant to see if he or she was still at risk. Only if he or she was still deemed to be at risk in his or her homeland would the visa be renewed beyond the initial three year period.

US sources report that the lower house of the US Congress, The House of Representatives, may vote on a comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2014. The vice president, Joe Biden said early in December that 'it's going to happen'.

The UK's Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, has announced a new benefits test which is designed to discourage jobless migrants from within the EU from coming to the UK to claim benefits.

The new test will require EU immigrants to provide details of their English ability and explain what steps they have taken to find work.

A report by a UK think tank suggests that if the UK's Coalition government is successful in reducing immigration to below 100,000 a year this could lead to reduced growth in the economy of 11% by 2060. This would, the report says, result in lower incomes and higher taxes for UK residents.

The research has been carried out by the Institute of Economic and Social Research, which calls itself 'Britain's longest established independent research institute' (it was founded in 1938).

The UK's deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has criticised plans prepared by the UK's Home Office to limit the number of immigrants coming to the UK from within the EU. He said that the proposals, which were contained in a document leaked to UK paper The Sunday Times, were 'illegal and unworkable'.

The Sunday Times published proposals from a leaked Home Office paper on Sunday 15th December 2013. The main proposals were

The UK Prime Minister David Cameron faces pressure from activists in his Conservative Party to extend the immigration controls on citizens of Romania and Bulgaria living and working in the UK-. Controls barring most Romanians and Bulgarians from working in the UK are due to expire at midnight on 31st December 2013.