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The UK Government has announced that it expects to reduce the level of student immigration into the country by almost a quarter million over the next five years, due to stricter visa rules.
A Home Office report said that the new student visa rules should lead to total net student migration from outside the European Union being reduced by 230,000 between 2011 and 2015.
According to an article in Engineering and Technology Magazine (E&T), the science and engineering industry in the UK is concerned that the recent tightening of British immigration laws will make it more difficult for the sector to recruit skilled workers.
The UK Government has launched a consultation on proposals to tighten immigration law concerning the Tier 2 and Tier 5 temporary worker route, and the overseas domestic worker route. The Government consultation will also consider proposals to break the link between temporary employment-based immigration and settlement.
A new study released by the Brookings Institute finds that highly skilled migrants in the United States have started to outnumber lower skilled immigrants.
According to the report, The Geography of Immigrant Skills: Educational Profiles of Metropolitan Areas, one in seven US residents are immigrants, and constitute about one in six workers.
"The share of working-age immigrants in the United States who have a bachelor's degree has risen considerably since 1980, and now exceeds the share without a high school diploma," the report said.
Michigan state governor Rick Snyder has a new initiative to attract foreign investors and entrepreneurs to help boost the US state's ailing economy.
The Global Michigan initiative is a scaled-up version of an earlier initiative that the governor implemented on a more local level in the city of Ann Arbor.
"He has long been interested in this topic and sees the value foreign nationals can play in the new economy," Amy Cell, senior vice-president of talent enhancement at the Michigan Economic Development Corp told the Detroit News.
Slovakia may start implementing the European Union's blue card immigration scheme in July, if approved by parliament. The EU blue card is designed to make it easier for non-EU skilled migrants to live and work within the 27 member bloc.
"The Blue Card will enable foreigners from [non-EU countries] to live and work in Slovakia," said Natália Hattalová, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry in a press release.