It seems that not only the lower cost of living but the continental weather condition also attracts the people. In Australia, the cool temperatures and outdoor activities attract the people from all around the globe to experience its exotic beaches and picnics. The Foreign Currency Direct’s research showed that people living in Australia and New Zealand enjoy the same standard of life with relatively very low cost of living than those immigrants who are living in other top destinations in the world like France or Spain.
As it is a known fact that the cost of living in New Zealand is about three times cheaper than in the UK with an exceptionally beautiful weather & environment, which promotes a healthy living. Because of this fact many UK nationals are getting attracted in due course to settle down in Australia or NZ. This instance could also be used on many Indians who wish to move abroad for a better living. For them the great life style of Australia and plenty of opportunities attract them to choose it as their immigration destination. Australia offers a great many opportunities and promises a great future for people who are skilled and wish to commit to the country as its future inhabitants, the benefits of which are many, as provided by the Australian government.
Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney highlighted that Immigrants should be able to speak either fluent English or French before applying for a Canadian citizenship. The Minister, demand stricter language requirements as the federal government will be looking to improve its programmes. There are examples in Canada of people being there for over 15 years and still unable to speak any of the language.
Further elaborating at an immigration conference in Toronto, the Minister said, “Someone who has been here for 15 years and cant speak English or French is basically locking themselves out of the vast majority of jobs and is isolating themselves sociallyâ€. Adding to that he said, “I think we should look at ways where we can increase the requirements for linguistic competencies for immigrants and citizensâ€.
The Minister also sighted an example of “straight forward pathways†and the need to work on it to foreign credential recognition. Fluency or working knowledge of English language and a demand to produce a high competence is widely criticised by various immigration companies. Over 35,000 Indians visit Canada every year, making India the second largest source of immigration for Canada after China.
In spite of recession, the youngsters from Chandigarh city wants to pursue their education from abroad and famous foreign shores still remain their favourite. The Princeton Review published a survey which reports that Chandigarh is going to be the largest market in India to outsource maximum number of students abroad for further studies. According to the institute’s findings, about 84,000 students from India went abroad last year out of which about 7000 alone were from Chandigarh, Bangalore remains the first with Delhi and Chennai being the second from India to send highest numbers of students abroad.
The most taken field of study field remains Engineering whereas the most popular study abroad destinations are USA, UK, Canada and Australia. As per the records, the numbers of students taking tests of TOEFL, GRE and SAT have supposedly risen in the area. Ms. Nidhie Modi, the group’s executive director said, “We compiled the data after examining reports of students applying in foreign institutions from various consulates to explain the methodology adopted to arrive at the present findingsâ€.
It has been widely observed that affluent students from the city generally opt for foreign shores to follow their further studies, making it one of the most acknowledged states to send students wanting to study abroad. Whereas, it is really interesting to notice that Chandigarh alone has about 1200 educational consultants making it almost double the number in any city of the country. There has to be a reason behind that which is now clearly been found out by the survey.
While the students are planning for their destination abroad at this time of the year, recession hit countries are waiting to see foreign students enrol in their colleges or universities. This simply indicates that the institutes are waiting to see the impact of recession in educational fields. Unlike last year the youngsters going abroad on student visa was touching the sky in countries like USA, UK, Canada and Australia. Till last year the number of students going to Australia was around 97,000 from India and UK also issued around 30,000 student visas. India became leading nation from where the maximum number of students enrolled in colleges and universities with a record of 94,563 students in USA during 07-08.
But after recession, the Australians are experiencing a slump in the study abroad enrolment this year with around 14.9% decrease in US cases between October 2008 to January 2009. However, as it has been observed that it is too early to predict whether there will be an overall fall this year for foreign student’s applications. As it is observed that because of recession there has been a cut in the scholarships and financial aids provided to foreign students which makes it less alluring for them to apply. However, the whole picture whether recession is behind the study abroad plans of students would be clearer between April and July this year when it is the peak time of students applying for visas.
Canadian Minister for Immigration, Jason Kenney who was recently in India, acknowledging the impact on students said, “We will be actively promoting our colleges in India. Among the advantages that Canada offers to Indian students is the fact that they get on the fast track to the job market and permanent residence. Joining the campaign to allure more foreign students, Britain has also launched a new visa category for students called the Tier 4 for foreign students. “Most education agents feel that the new system will be well received. The one year Masters programme in the UK is value for money and helps Indian students enter the job market quickly. There are scholarships under the UK-India Education & Research initiative also makes the UK an attractive destinationâ€, said Sally Goggin, first secretary Education, at the British Council.
Whereas other countries like New Zealand and France are hoping that the impact of recession would be positive other than negative on education market. The point system of NZ gives extra points to students who graduate from their universities to get the permanent residentship as well as jobs. Whereas France has now started a system where students can stay back for 6 more months and look for a job. Bigger countries like Australia are trying to attract Indian students by launching expensive campaigns work 3.5 million $. “Australia is still an attractive campus destination and not one of the countries which are worst hit by recession. The financial sector is still stable and still provide employment to people,†was said by Anthony Pollock, Chief executive and managing director of IDP education Pvt Ltd
It is reported that U.K. is going to introduce a new student visa system from March 31 this year. This new student visa system will place greater responsibility on universities and colleges in an attempt to sort out genuine students from hoax students. The system would be called TIER-4 of the point based system (PBS) needing the applicants to score 40 points in order to be qualified for the student visa. Out of 30 points for a genuine visa, 30 points will be given to a valid visa letter issued by a licensed sponsor and 10 points for sufficient monetary resources for the course fees and sufficient monetary resources.
The visa letter would be a proof and responsibility by the university that would show the institute as the sponsorer and would undertake the responsibilities of a student for his/her capability to study in U.K. Chris Dix, Regional Director (South Africa and Gulf UK Border Agency) said, “Under TIER 4 we will see education providers taking the responsibility of ensuring a perspective student’s ability and English language proficiencyâ€.
Mr. Dix Further elaborated and said, “Many students receive multiple offer letters which makes it increasingly difficult to keep track of the exact university they enrolled in. This new visa system will allow a student to be tied down to only one institution. This will further ensure that those going to UK on a student visa are infact there to study. This would allow the authorities to keep track of foreign students enrolled in a particular institution even if they receive multiple offer letters. A student would only be able to use one offer letter to apply for the visa, wherein if the student wished to change the institution he/she will have to obtain permission from UKBA.
Highlighting new aspects of the new system, Mr. Dix said, “Students who successfully complete a bachelors or higher study degree can apply for work permit under TIER-1 (Post study and highly skilled workers) within a year of graduating in the UKâ€. Also the benefit of the new system would be that it won’t be necessary for the student to return to India as they can switch from a student visa to work visa directly from the UK itself.
According to a report published in Geneva in beginning 2009 claimed that rich world will need more foreign workers in spite of the slump in world economy. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that “despite the current downturn, rich nations will continue to need foreign workers to fill jobs their shrinking work forces cannot or will not doâ€.
The 4th Migration Report by Geneva based inter governmental body also highlighted that today there are more than 200 million migrants around the world. According to the report, “As compared to the famous notion that developed nations require and usually compete for highly skilled immigrants but there is a need for low skilled workers as wellâ€. According to one of the senior editors of the Migration Report, Gervais Appave, “Planning migration is especially important during recessions in the global economy such as the one we are witnessing today. The Asian financial crisis in the 1990 demonstrated the need for immigrant workers continues even during economic destitution.
“There are always jobs that the host population don’t want to do,†was quoted by the IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya. Jobs that she indicated were mostly in the sectors like- heath care, domestic care, service industry etc. In 2005, Europe hosted the largest number of immigrants. The demographic data suggests that ‘today most of the migrant workforces come from Asia and by 2030, 40% of global workforce will be provided by China and India alone’.
France has introduced new rules for work and residence permits to facilitate professional mobility between India and France and Indian students keen on working in France. According to Jean-Yves Lavoir, Chef de La Mission for Professional Immigration, French Ministry of Immigration, who is here to create awareness about the rules, the ‘Skills and Expertise’ residence permit is a temporary permit, valid for upto three years at a time, on a renewable basis.
It is directly delivered by French consulates and enables the holder to engage in a salaried or business activity in France. It is designed for foreign nationals who have the potential to carry out a professional project, in areas spread across a vast canvas that encompasses scientific, industrial, commercial, cultural and humanitarian activities. The ‘Intra-company transfer’ permit has been created to facilitate intra-group mobility within international company groups or establishments. This gives its holder permission to work and is valid upto three years at a time, on a renewable basis, for employees expatriated by their company to a French subsidiary or reassigned within the same group, Ms. Lavoir said.
Despite the fact that the number of skilled migrants in UK rose to almost double in 2008 than in 2007, the UK still needs many skilled immigrants to keep its economy going. The fact that recession has hit many countries but the demands for skilled immigrants are still on the rise. Many of the immigrants going under the first tier system of UK visa do not require any job offer in the UK, but their potential as a highly skilled immigrant needs to be demonstrated apart from sufficient money resources and ability to speak English. The number of applications of tier 1 visas in 2008 was almost 4800 which are supposed to double this year.
However, the system of tier 1 would be more rigorous this year and the authorities would be focussing on quality and ability of the individuals of the applications for immigration. Mr. Chris Dix, Regional Director South Asia and Gulf of the UK Border Agency said, “The surge in the number of highly skilled immigrant’s applications from India is quite surprising. We also feel that the UK will now need more talented and motivated individuals to help us recover from the economic slumpâ€. It should be noticed that a new category has also been added to the tier 1 which includes students who have a degree from a UK institution for post study work in UK upto 2 years. This would allow brilliant students to live and work in the UK even after completing their graduate studies, which would give them a pathway for a permanent residence in the UK.
‘The Sydney Morning Herald’, a daily newspaper of Australia reported the upcoming immigration policies in Australia. It highlights that in order to preserve jobs and keep up with the present employment rate in global meltdown and financial crisis, the government will lay a cut in immigration for the first time for Australia in more than a decade. Seemingly, the immigration Minister Chris Evans will announce a 14% cut to the skilled migration programme due to which there will be a slight decrease from 115,000 to 133,500 of workers entering Australia per year. Whereas it is a well known fact that majority of migrants in Australia contribute to the population of skilled migrants.
Due to recession and global meltdown the unemployment rate in Australia has gone down to 5.2%. The fact of global meltdown and financial crisis was also recognised by the senator of Australia who was quoted saying, “The economic circumstances in Australia have changed and it is prudent to reduce this year’s migration intake accordingly in Australiaâ€. There will be a change and updates in the skilled migrant list. Some occupations will be amended and some will be deleted from the list. For example: Trades in building and manufacturing will be removed. However, professions still experiencing skill shortages will be immune. Such as doctors, nurses and engineers, IT workers etc. It was emphasised that many a skilled professions would be given preference to the domestic workers of the country instead of importing workers from foreign countries.
According to a report, Britain’s recession will have little long-term impact on immigration levels and the number of arrivals will remain high.
The report which was commissioned by the Government’s Equalities and Human Rights Commission says social and family links to the UK, a desire to learn English and economic slowdown in home countries will deter immigrants from leaving. It also suggests the flow of immigrants into the UK will pick up as the economy improves. The report is expected to add to the debate about the impact of the recession on migration amid ministerial claims that it will lead to a drop in the recent record numbers of arrivals to Britain.
The number of international students in London has soared by nearly 3,000 in a year. Study London, which represents the capital’s universities, said its figures show London is the world’s most popular destination to study. So as it is expected that many a students will choose London as their destination to study in 2009, the results would be still unexpected and the impact of recession would be seen only with the passage of time.
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