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An Australian trade union alleges that two multinational companies deliberately abused the 457 visa scheme to employ Hungarian construction workers in a Sydney suburb on pay which was about 40% of the going rate. The Australian Fair Work Ombudsman is investigating the claims.
The EU's population rose by 1.1m in 2012 to 505.7m with 882,200 (80%) of this rise caused by net immigration according to Eurostat, the body responsible for collating statistics for the EU. Eurostat has just released population statistics for 2012.
Within the EU there was considerable variation in population growth levels. The population grew in 17 countries, mainly richer, western countries such as Germany, the UK and France. The UK's population grew by 400,000 over 2012 of which about 150,000 is attributed to immigration.
The UK's immigration minister Mark Harper has predicted that there will not be a huge surge in immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when controls preventing most Bulgarians and Romanians from travelling to the UK to live and work expire on 31st December 2013.
Mr Harper told journalists that there would be no repeat of the events of 2004 when eight countries joined the EU at the same time. Unlike in most other western European Union countries nationals of these eight Countries were free to work in the UK on joining the EU.
There are fears that the Latvian Immigrant Investor visa may close altogether following intervention by the Latvian President Andris Berzins. Mr Berzins has sent a bill, which would result in significant changes to the Latvian Immigrant Investor visa programme, back to the Latvian parliament, the Saiema, for 'reconsideration'. Mr Berzins says that the law contains 'obvious contradictions'.
Former Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Paul Ryan has told a conference that the Republicans want to remodel the US immigration system from 'family based immigration to an economic-based immigration'. Mr Ryan told the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council conference that this would require a 'step-by-step approach' and possibly as many as 'seven or eight different pieces of legislation.
An influential committee of the UK's House of Commons has criticised a proposal in the government's immigration bill which would require landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants.
The Home Affairs Committee says that this is likely to make it more difficult for all foreign nationals to find accommodation in the UK as landlords may prefer not to rent to foreign nationals rather than face a fine for renting to an illegal resident.