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The chief executive of the UK Border Agency Rob Whiteman has announced that he is intending to raise fees for UK visas and immigration, nationality and citizenship applications. There will a huge increase in fees paid by dependants applying from within the UK. The changes will come into force on 6th April 2013 providing that parliament approves them. This is normally a formality. The fees will almost certainly increase from 6th April 2013.
The new Australian immigration minister Brendan O'Connor, has announced that he has evidence that one of the country's main temporary work visas is being abused by Australian companies to undercut Australian workers and has announced a crackdown. Mr O'Connor said that some Australian firms were employing people on Temporary Work (Skilled) Standard Sponsorship (Subclass 457) visas (better known as '457 visas') claiming that their roles were skilled when they were not.
Jason Kenney, the Canadian immigration minister, has announced that over 250,000 people gained Canadian permanent resident status in 2012. This, he said, means that Canada experienced record immigration during the seven years between 2006 and 2012.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Mr Kenney's governmental department, says that 30,250 more people gained permanent resident status each year between 2006 and 2012, under the Canadian Conservative Party government of which Mr Kenney is a member, than had done so between 1995 and 2005 under the previous administration.
Figures released by the UK's Home Office show that only seven Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visas were issued by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in 2011. In the year to September 2012, the first year in which the Exceptional Talent visa was available, there were 51 Exceptional Talent visas granted to main applicants and 21 more to dependants, a total of 72.
After an unexpected reshuffle of the New Zealand government's cabinet in January, the new immigration minister, Michael Woodhouse, gave a speech on 14th February to the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment in Christchurch.
Two new bills have been introduced in the US Congress this year which would make it compulsory for employers to use the E-Verify system before taking on new employees. E-Verify is a system that enables US employers to check that a prospective employee is eligible to work in the US.