Immigration news

Official figures show that the economic crisis in southern Europe may be speeding the rate of immigration within the European Union. The figures suggest that 1.08m people moved to Germany from within the EU in 2012. They moved from countries in southern Europe such as Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy as well as from countries in eastern Europe such as Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia and Poland. The total figure was some 13% higher than in 2011.

An officer of the UK's National Union of Students (NUS) has criticised the UK's Coalition government saying that its immigration policy makes international students 'feel unwelcome with ever more onerous restrictions'. Daniel Stevens, the International Students Officer at the NUS, says that he fears that the government's tough talk and policies on immigration are creating an atmosphere that will deter foreign students from coming to the UK.

The latest figures from the Canadian government show that there are now over 300,000 workers in Canada with work permits allowing them to work for one or two years under the Canadian Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). The number of work permits has grown rapidly in recent years. In order to work in Canada under the TFWP, workers must first apply for a TFWP work permit and then a Canadian entry visa.

The number of TFWP workers in Canada trebled between 2002 and 2011. Over 192,000 Temporary Foreign Workers entered Canada in 2011 alone.

The UK government says that it intends to pass legislation that they say will encourage people who want to contribute to the country but discourage those who want to take advantage of the UK's social benefits. The proposed legislation was revealed by Queen Elizabeth II at the state opening of parliament in Westminster on Wednesday 8th May 2013.

Brendan O'Connor, the Australian immigration minister has been forced to admit that he had no evidence to support his claim, made on Australian TV last week, that about 10% of subclass 457 temporary work visas had been 'rorted', or obtained fraudulently.

On Sunday 28th April 2013, Mr O'Connor claimed that 10,000 foreign workers were in Australia with fraudulently obtained 457 visas. He appeared on Sky News and said ''Insofar as numbers, I believe that the areas where there's been an illegitimate use of 457s numbers are not negligible. I would say it would exceed 10,000.'

Canada's construction industry is suffering from a shortage of workers. A Canadian construction industry association, BuildForce Canada, has estimated that there may be a shortfall of 250,000 workers by 2021. Most of these workers will be required to replace 210,000 workers who will retire during the next eight years.