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Immigration news

A recent study by Ireland's Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) says that Ireland is ahead of most European Member States in 'linking labour market intelligence to migration policy.' The new study by ESRI found that the Irish work permit system performs well in adapting to skills shortages and skills surpluses.

The ESRI attributes the excellent performance of the Irish work permit system to the systems in place to allow entry of immigrants with the necessary skills for the Irish economy in proven skills shortage areas.

UK Immigration Minister, James Brokenshire, faced questions from MPs at a Scottish Affairs Committee meeting on Wednesday, 9 December 2015, over the possibility of re-introducing a post-study work visa scheme in Scotland. Robert Wright, Economics Professor at Strathclyde University, along with two immigration lawyers were also in attendance at the meeting to provide evidence.

US Senators Bill Nelson of the Democratic Party and Jeff Sessions of the Republican Party have filed legislation that will cut the H-1B visa quota by 15,000. The legislation if passed would also mean that H-1B visas from the quota are granted to the highest earning H-1B visa applicants first.

Senator Nelson said: "By reducing the H-1B visa quota and asking for those visas to be issued to high wage earners first, this bill directly targets outsourcing companies that rely on low-wage foreign workers to replace equally-qualified US workers."

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the expansion of the H-2A and H-2B temporary non-immigrant work visa to include Colombian citizens from 18 January 2016. The H-2 visa permits US companies to recruit foreign workers on a temporary basis, provided they complete temporary labor certification to show that there are no American workers to take up certain short-term job vacancies.

The Northern Territory in Australia is experiencing a shortage of hospitality workers, resulting in businesses struggling to recruit staff and business closures. Demand for overseas nationals with working holiday visas is high, with many businesses reliant on them for survival. A report by the Australian Hotel Association (AHA) reveals that traders in Darwin, in the Northern Territory are struggling to recruit staff.

The number of South Korean citizens applying for a US work visa has risen sharply according to reports from the country's Ministry of Employment and Labor. Over the last three years - 2012-2015 - the number of applications made by South Korean nationals for a US immigrant work visa has surged, increasing by about 80 per cent.

Another popular type of visa, a non-immigrant visa, is the L-1A or L-1B intra-company transfer visa that can be utilised by S Koreans and others to transfer staff from overseas to the US. There is no visa quota for the L-1 visa.