Immigration news

Senator Chuck Schumer, one of the so-called 'Gang of Eight' Republican and Democrat senators who are working on a comprehensive US immigration reform bill has said there is 'substantive agreement' on the principles of the bill. Speaking on 1st April 2013, Senator Schumer added 'It's not a done deal. We have to draft the legislation. We have to have the group of eight sign off on the specific language but we have substantive agreement on all major issues between the eight of us now'.

A new report shows that immigration is helping to boost the US housing market. The report prepared by the Mortgage Bankers Association suggests that between 2010 and 2020 immigrants are expected to account for 35.7% of homebuyers and 26.4% of new home rentals.

The report is called Immigrant Contributions to Housing Demand in the United States: A Comparison of Recent Decades and Projections to 2020 for the States and Nation. It says that 'immigrants are an important and growing source of demand (for housing) that has bolstered housing markets in recent decades'.

The Institute for Government, a London think tank which aims to encourage more effective government, has questioned whether the abolition of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) announced last week is a good idea.

Sir Ian McGee, a former senior civil servant and now a fellow at the Institute, has issued a statement saying 'Restructuring creates an impression, superficially, of action to solve problems. The acid test is will performance improve as a result? It is unclear that the organisation…will be significantly improved simply by shuffling the pieces'.

Rupert Murdoch, the international media mogul, has criticised the Australian government's public pronouncements on skilled work based immigration saying that they have been 'disgraceful and racist'.

A global poll conducted by Gallup suggests that around 640m people around the world, 13% of the world's adult population, want to emigrate. Most, but by no means all of these come from Asia and Africa; most want to move to find new opportunities in Europe or North America.

The poll found that over 150m people worldwide, about 4% of the world's population, would like to move to the United States. A further 45m want to move to the UK and 42m to Canada. Large numbers also want to move to France, Australia and to Saudi Arabia.

Canada's new Start-up Visa Program (SUVP) was launched on April 1st 2013. The new visa allows foreign entrepreneurs to pitch their idea to a panel of Canadian investors. If the investors choose to make 'a significant investment', then the entrepreneur concerned will be granted a permanent resident visa by the Canadian immigration authorities. 2,750 visas will be available in the first year.