Immigration news

There are fears that the Latvian immigrant investor programme may close after one of the parties in the country's ruling Coalition called for it to be scrapped. A spokesman for the right wing National Alliance said that his party believes that the permit scheme is pushing up the price of property and so making it unaffordable for ordinary Latvians to buy property.

The US Supreme Court ruled in June 2013 that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) 1996 is unconstitutional. This means that it is no longer permissible in the US to treat same-sex spouses differently from heterosexual spouses. The US government has since changed the law so that same-sex partners and spouses can now apply for US family-based immigrant visas.

DOMA was passed in 1996 with bipartisan support with the stated aim of "defending marriage". To that end, section 3 of DOMA denied certain federal benefits and legal rights to same sex spouses.

The UK's ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Andrew Pocock, has told a Nigerian newspaper that the UK has yet to decide whether to introduce a system of security bonds which would be paid by some applicants for UK visas. Dr Pocock said that the scheme had not yet been adopted as a policy and said that 'it is simply something that is being discussed in the UK'. He added that, even if it is introduced, it will only affect a tiny proportion of Nigerians travelling to the UK.

The UK's Office for National Statistics has released figures which show that the latest net migration figure has risen by 23,000. In the year to December 2012, the UK net immigration figure stood at 176,000. In the year to September 2012, net immigration was 153,000. This will be an embarrassment for the government which has pledged to reduce the net immigration figure to below 100,000 by 2015.

Australian government figures show that there has been a large increase in the number of working holiday visas issued. These visas are for young people from overseas and enables them to live and work and holiday in Australia for one year extendable in some situations for another year. It seems likely that in future years the number of visas issued will increase yet further as citizens of more countries become eligible to apply.

A noted UK celebrity chef has said that his restaurants would close immediately if it were not for immigrants coming to the UK from Europe.

Jamie Oliver, perhaps the most famous chef in the world, has made numerous television programmes and sold millions of books. His wealth has been estimated at over £150m. In the UK, he has over 30 restaurants. Most are part of his Jamie's Italian chain. His other chain of restaurants the 'Fifteen' chain has three restaurants that provides training for disadvantaged young people.