The Australian government has announced three new English language test options for student visa applicants which will help alleviate the current shortage of available testing places.
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Australian immigration minister Chris Bowen and the Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism, Martin Ferguson have publicly railed against a proposed amendment by Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison that would make passing the character test for obtaining a visa significantly more difficult.
"Mr Morrison's lack of forethought is astounding – he has failed to consider the most basic impacts of such a proposal," Bowen said in a statement.
New Zealand, whose economy depends heavily on skilled immigrants, is experiencing a slump in newcomers following the recent earthquake and the global financial crisis of a few years ago, according to new statistics released by the government.
The number of people immigrating to New Zealand during the first nine months of the current financial year was 28,675; This represents a significant reduction in immigration to New Zealand compared to the 33,526 migrants who emigrated to New Zealand during the same period in 2008-09.
Low skilled immigration into the UK, mainly from EU countries, is one of the factors that has resulted in an increase in net immigration into Britain even as the Government attempts to clamp down on immigration numbers.
666,000 foreign-born people were working in the British labour market during the first quarter of 2011. During the first quarter of 2002, there were only 298,000 foreign-born workers working in the British labour market.
2010 saw the greatest increase in UK immigration in five years. This is due to a big reduction in people leaving the UK and an increase in the number of Polish migrants coming to the UK. The net immigration figure increased by almost 100,000 in the year to September 2010.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently proposed significant improvements to the USCIS Immigrant Investor Program, the EB-5 Program. This should lead to faster processing of immigrant investor applications.
There are 10,000 immigrant visas available each year under the immigrant investor scheme. You can come under the EB-5 immigrant investor scheme if you create at least ten jobs in the US and invest US$1 Million or invest US$500,000 in Targeted Employment Areas and/or Rural Areas.
USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas had the following to say: