Topical:
Ireland, formerly one of the star economies of the EU, is now facing an emigration crisis of historic proportions, according to a new report.
The study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found that 60,000 Irish people emigrated abroad in the 12 months leading up to April of 2010. Another 40,000 are expected to emigrate in the next 12 months.
A new study says that Germany needs to reduce skilled labour gaps by increasing immigration and hiring more women.
The number of potential workers in Germany is expected to fall by 6.5 million to 38 million, resulting in severe skills shortages and serious consequences for the German economy.
The report says that its possible to increase the number of people in the workforce by 3 million workers through the integration of more women into the workforce. However, increased immigration will still be needed to provide enough workers for the looming skills shortage.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Defense Secretary Liam Fox will arrive in New Zealand on 20 January 2011 to hold talks with NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully. Part of their discussions will cover concerns over the UK's planned immigration cap.
The cap is the UK's attempt to lower immigration from outside the European Union and is set to go into effect in April of 2011.
Reconstruction efforts in flood-stricken Queensland are expected to make it more difficult to recruit skilled labor for the Australian building industry, causing industry stakeholders to call for more skilled immigration.
Business groups have called on the Federal government to ensure immigration rules do not adversely affect their ability to hire overseas workers. Housing Industry Association chief economist Harley Dale said the government should consider changes to its immigration programs, as the reconstruction effort was likely to exacerbate skills shortages.
Australia has seen a sharp drop in student immigration from India, says the Australian High Commissioner to India Peter Varghese. He said that this is due to tougher student immigration requirements by the Australian government. He did not feel the reduction in student immigration is due to bad publicity following attacks on Indian students.
The European Commission (EC) wants to implement a common immigration policy directive which may make it easier for companies to bring in key-staff members from overseas on a temporary basis.
The EU has been working on a number of measures to make skilled immigration easier for European businesses.