Immigration news

A new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report - from the Office of the Inspector General – has revealed that US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued hundreds of US green cards (properly known as lawful permanent residence) to incorrect addresses, sparking national security fears. The report expresses concerns that green cards may have 'fallen into the wrong hands.' This is not relating to temporary work visas such as the L-1 intra-company transfer, H-1B for professional level employees, and E-1 Treaty Trader visa or E-2 Treaty Investor visa.

"Immigrants are like poisonous snakes that bite the hand of the person who lets them in," according to the leading candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, Donald Trump. His recent slur aimed at immigrants is the latest in a long line of derogatory comments against migrants and illegal immigrants.

A new poll shows 'overwhelming support' across Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK for the right to live and work freely in each other's countries. However, the UK is going in the opposite direction by increasing the Tier 2 salary threshold for permanent residence making it harder to stay in the UK.

The poll, carried out by the Royal Commonwealth Society – an educational charity and private members club that's existed since 1868 to promote the British Commonwealth – revealed that most respondents favoured the removal of barriers to live and work across the four nations.

Workpermit.com recently reported that the Australian government had resisted calls to scrap the so-called 'backpacker tax', which is set to come into force in July 2016. However, campaigners opposed to charging working holidaymakers higher taxes have been left confused as to whether a federal review of the proposed changes is actually taking place.

British Airways (BA) IT staff have accused the airline of abusing Tier 2 visas rules at a recent 45 minute protest against plans to outsource and offshore IT jobs to India. Protesters were joined by the extreme left-wing Labour Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell, who is also the MP for Hayes, where BA's headquarters is based at Waterside, Heathrow.

Jamaican-born model, Alexia Palmer, is set to sue Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, for $225,000 (£158,000) for violation of H-1B non-immigrant visa wage laws among other things. Palmer has accused Trump Model Management – a model and talent agency founded by the billionaire tycoon in 1999 – of a breach of contract, mail fraud, racketeering and violating H-1B visa salary laws.