Immigration news

Uncertainty surrounding the special immigrant visa (SIV) programme for Afghans will continue despite the Donald Trump’s Presidency. Following a fiercely contested battle in the Senate, Congress guaranteed that the scheme would remain in place throughout the coming presidential term.

The Afghan immigration visa programme enables Afghanis - who have aided US-led coalition forces in the fight against the Taliban as construction workers, firefighters and interpreters - to resettle in the US due to the risk of being tortured or killed by the terrorist group if they returned home.

The war of words between the Turnbull government’s Peter Dutton – Australia’s Immigration Minister and Labor leader, Bill Shorten intensified recently when Mr Dutton accused Mr Shorten of ‘blatant hypocrisy’ over 457 visas.

The Turnbull administration slammed Shorten for comments he made, stating that Labor is ‘the party of Australian jobs.’ The government hit back following the release of new figures revealing that the number of foreign workers in Australia ‘boomed’ when Shorten was the country’s employment minister.

Some important changes to the Tier 2 visa system came into force on 24 November, 2016.  The Home Office has announced that the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) route will be subject to the immigration health surcharge (IHS).

Julie Kirchner, the former executive director of anti-immigrant organization FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) referred to by the Southern Poverty Law Center as being a “Hate Group” has been installed as the new chief of staff at US Visa US customs and border protection (CBP) by the Trump administration, in a move that seems to suggest that the President fully intends to stick to promises made to anti-immigrant supporters.  Many would say that the restrictions on US visas advocated by FAIR are extreme.

The controversial Immigration Skills Charge for many Tier 2 Visa holders is about to be introduced from 6 April 2017.  This change to UK visa policy will make it even more expensive and difficult for employers with tier 2 sponsorship licences wishing to employ non-EEA migrants on Tier 2 visas.   To potentially save thousands of pounds it may be worth considering applying in March 2017 and hopefully avoid the immigration skills charge.

UK business leaders have launched a scathing attack on Migration Watch UK – a self-proclaimed, independent, non-political think tank, which campaigns for tighter UK immigration rules – after the organisation claimed that the Tier 2 visa system and Tier 2 Sponsorship Licence scheme had a ‘negligible effect on the ability of companies to recruit skilled workers from non-EU nations.’