Topical:
Boris Johnson, the colourful mayor of London, has used his weekly column in UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph to call for Australians and New Zealanders to be given the same rights to live and work in the UK as are currently enjoyed by EU citizens.
Mr Johnson is currently in Australia. He said that, while there, an Australian teacher, Sally Roycroft, handed him a letter in which she said that she had been a successful teacher in Haringey, North East London, for some time.
A strike by Canadian visa and immigration staff has continued into its fourth month; there is currently no sign of the dispute being resolved. Some overseas students at Canadian universities are facing disruption to their academic studies because of the delays in obtaining visas. This is a particularly bad time for this to happen as the new academic year will start soon.
US government figures show that an increasing number of Australians are choosing to live and work in the US. British government figures show that, over the same period, fewer Australians have chosen to live and work in London, traditionally the first port of call for Australians looking for a new home overseas.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced that the first new permanent resident visas have been issued under the new Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP). Two successful applicants were welcomed at ceremonies in Toronto and Calgary by the new immigration minister Chris Alexander and the former immigration minister Jason Kenney.
The FSTP opened in January 2013. It was designed as an immigration route for skilled tradespeople. Up to 3,000 permanent resident visas can be issued in the first year.
On Sunday 18th August 2013, David Miranda, a Brazilian citizen was travelling from Germany to Brazil. He took a connecting flight to Heathrow where he was due to fly on to Rio de Janeiro. At Heathrow, he was detained by UK law enforcement officers for nine hours under anti-terrorism law.
A senior Republican Congressman has said that he is opposed to the creation of a 'pathway to citizenship' for all illegal immigrants in the US. This may signal a hardening of attitudes of Republicans in Congress against immigration reform.
The US Senate passed a bill in June 2013 that would, if it became law, create such a pathway for most of the estimated 11.5m illegal immigrants living in the US. For the bill to become law, however, it must also be passed by the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives (known as The House).