Immigration news

The number of illegal immigrants arriving by boat to Spain fell by fifty percent in 2010, according to Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba.

Last year, 3,632 people were detained by Spanish immigration control.

Arrivals in the Canary Islands, the most widely used route for illegal immigration from Africa, fell by ninety percent to 196 people. Over the last decade, the number of people illegally crossing into Spain from Africa has dropped by 80 percent.

According to Rubalcaba, the number of people illegally arriving by road or air also fell in 2010.

Scottish Universities are warning the UK Government that Scotland will have one of the strictest visa regimes in the World for foreign students if the Government goes ahead with its plans to reduce student immigration.

According to the United States Government Accountability Office (GOA), 47 percent of all H-1B visa holders between 2000 and 2009 were born in India.

"Between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 2009, the majority of approved H-1B workers (initial and extensions for both employers subject to the cap and cap-exempt employers) were born in Asia," GOA said in a report.

UK Business Secretary Vince Cable has attempted to calm fears of Indian business interests over the planned immigration cap set to take effect in April of 2011. Cable insists that the UK will remain open for business for Indian firms and has repeated his assurances to Indian businesses in a trade mission to Mumbai on 17 January 2011.

A new Statistics Canada study shows that highly skilled migrants in Canada earn significantly lower salaries than migrants in the United States.

From 1980 to 2005, highly skilled Canadian immigrants saw their earnings drop dramatically in comparison to native-born Canadians. As of today, new male immigrants to Canada with university degrees earn about 50 percent less than their Canadian-born counterparts. However, the gap in the United States is much lower, at 30 percent.

A new study by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) finds that low-skilled immigration to the United States benefits consumers, employers and skilled workers.

"In contrast to the broad consensus that exists regarding the benefits of highly skilled immigration, the economic role of low-skilled immigrants remains one of the most controversial questions in the immigration debate," the MPI said in a press release.