Immigration news

A new Tier 4 visa pilot scheme was launched by UK Immigration on 25 July, 2016 for a period of two years.  This will allow non-EU students on Masters Degree programs on courses of 13 months or less from four top UK universities to remain in the UK for up to six months following completion of their studies; students applying for tier 4 visas to study at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Bath, and Imperial College London, will be able to stay six months longer to find jobs via the Tier 2 visa program.

According to a study carried out by Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, UK immigration faces 140 years’ worth of visa applications if all European nationals, currently in Britain, applied for residency in the aftermath of Brexit. Experts say that the Home Office would struggle to cope with a deluge of permanent residency filings.

According to a report published by US immigration reform group, FWD.us, which is backed by Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, voters in so-called critical ‘swing states’ hold adverse views towards Donald Trump’s US immigration plans, which involve deporting 11 million undocumented migrants.

Swing states are US states where the Republican and Democratic parties have similar levels of support among voters, which are viewed as important in determining the overall result of a Presidential election.

Complaints from volunteer organisations and small farm owners in Australia continue to grow as a result of strict Federal Government rules imposed on Australian Working Holiday 417 Visas. Volunteer groups say they’re lacking valuable workers because of new legislation introduced in August 2015.

As reported by Workpermit.com on 18 March, 2016, British Airways (BA) IT staff accused the airline of abusing Tier 2 visa rules during a 45 minute protest opposing plans to outsource and offshore IT jobs to India.

GMB national officer, Mick Rix sent four letters to former Home Secretary and newly installed UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, arguing the case for IT jobs not to be outsourced to India and highlighting the potential security implications of doing so.  Rix claims that the Home Office has effectively ‘stonewalled’ the GMB.

Canada’s Building Trades Union (CBTU), which represents more than half a million Canadian construction workers, has presented proposals to a federal parliamentary committee that’s reviewing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Under the proposals there would be more foreign nationals working in highly-skilled construction jobs.