With ageing population and impending labour problem, this year Canada is accepting the highest ever number of immigrants from across the globe. With the introduction of fast track immigration, the entire procedure had grown simpler for the immigrants, who could seek immigration under different categories of skilled worker category, federal investor category and Quebec investor category.
The Canadian government had implemented major changes to ease the influx of talented and hard working immigrants to fill shortage in its labour market, therefore, applicants falling under Canada’s 38 priority occupation list (POL) and Australia’s critical skill list (CSL) were processed on the fast track system and the aspiring candidates got decision within a short span of 6-12 months. Now businessmen could easily make it to their dream destination as permanent residents under the Canadian Federal Investor Programme and Quebec Investor Programme without worrying about clearing IELTS.
With just two years business experience and having net worth equivalent to CDN 8,00,000, the businessmen qualify for this opportunity enabling their entire family to immigrate.

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admin Immigration Immigration, Immigration to Canada

Vetassess, the Australian assessment body, just announced that they are going to implement a new policy from 01st January 2010 for the assessment of all people who are applying to immigration to Australia. The changes made by the assessment body would be applicable for General Professional Occupations and not applicable to the Trade Occupations. Vetassess is responsible for many occupation assessments some of which are:

−    Office Manager (ASCO) 3291-11
−    Urban and Regional Planner (ASCO) 2523-11
−    Property Manager (ASCO) 3293-13
−    Construction Project Manager (ASCO) 1191-11
−    Financial Investment Advisor (ASCO) 3213-11

Currently, VETASSES only demand that an applicant have a qualification ‘comparable to the Australian standard’ in order to receive a positive assessment, with no criteria set regarding the qualification content or work experience. However, in order to receive a positive skills assessment through Vetassess from 1 January 2010, applicants will now need to have:

−    A qualification that is in a ‘highly relevant field of study’ to the nominated occupation;
−    Between 1 year and 3 years (depending on occupation) of ‘relevant employment’ to your nominated occupation

This clearly sets the bar higher for Vetassess applicants, demanding that they present far more evidence demonstrating their experience and study as it directly correlates to their nominated occupation. The changes have the potential to affect anyone in a general professional occupation who is looking to be assessed under Vetassess, but especially those who lack the necessary qualification or work experience to be positively assessed in their nominated occupation under the new rulings.  As per the Vetassess statement made after the changes have been announced, “DIAC will continue to accept all VETASSESS Skill Assessments from both the old and new system provided that your nominated occupation remains on the Skilled Occupation List and VETASSESS is the designated assessing authority for that occupation.  However, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship may ask you to have a current VETASSESS assessment if there is a significant gap between the date of assessment and the date of applying for your visa.”

A number of immigration pathways have been tightened due to restrictions implemented by both the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and the various Australian states and territories. As a result, some migrants could find that without the ability to receive a positive skills assessment from VETASSESS in a specific nominated occupation, they will lack any route to Australia. According to VETASSESS if you lodge a complete application before 31 December, you will be assessed under the current rules (with the further recommendation that applicants ensure to send their applications no later than 18 December, in order for VETASSESS to receive the application in time). However, if anything is missing from your application, then it is likely you will be assessed under the new criteria. Even if you feel confident that you will qualify under the new criteria, it would still be preferable to be assessed under the current familiar criteria and be in the best position possible to avoid any potential hurdles to your immigration to Australia

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admin Immigration Immigration, Immigration to Australia

UK constricts Immigration Policies keeping Elections in Mind

UK makes an ‘immigration policy’ move that could unfavorably impact entry of foreign immigrants including those coming from India into the country. As the British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown announced in his first speech on immigration in 18th months that UK vows to tighten immigration rules to restrict the number of professionals coming to UK under any kind of immigration scheme.

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admin Immigration Immigration, UK Immigration

While the Indian people are looking towards West as an immigration destination they leave a spot in Asia, equally capable of providing the same opportunities or may be more than the West. Perhaps the West and other nations have now acknowledged the fact that ‘Singapore’ could be a very good destination for immigrating and settling down as well.

According to the Gallup Global Immigration Survey, Singapore is a top destination for immigration abroad. Based on the survey, if you were to take up all the people who wish to immigrate to Singapore, the present adult population of Singapore would jump from 3.6 million (present) to 13 million.

The Potential Net Migration Index (PNMI), Gallup released the present figures of people wishing to immigrate abroad. The PNMI is estimated as the number of adults who wish to leave a country permanently subtracted from the estimated number who wish to immigrate to the country, as a proportion of the total adult population. The higher a positive PNMI value, the greater the potential of net population gain the proportional to the population size. Based on the PNMI, Singapore emerged tops with the highest PNMI value of 260 per cent, followed by Saudi Arabia (180 per cent), New Zealand (175 per cent), Canada (170 per cent) and Australia.

However, analysts have studied that PNMI for Singapore is necessarily not surprising since Singapore has a small size and a strong, stable economy. According to the United Nations’ 2009 Human Development Report, Singapore is already a popular immigration destination. It ranked No.10 in the world in terms of the share of immigrants as part of total population, at 35 per cent. The UN report also showed that Singapore had a relatively low emigration rate of 6.3 per cent. “If most of those who say they want to come here are mostly economic migrants from other Asian countries, I won’t be surprised because Singapore’s economy is doing quite well relatively,” Dr Chua Beng Huat, a sociology professor at the National University of Singapore, told the local media when asked to comment on the Gallup survey findings.

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Immigration, if unchecked, in any form is dicey now a days keeping in mind the fanatic activities going around the world. Apart from just the extremist activities there are various checks that the immigration authorities ought to undertake. The UK Border Agency has been widely criticised for failing to stop illegal immigrants who pose as students. Reacting to the situation, the UK Border Agency has taken various methods following their critique and has responded to the allegations for such a failure.

In response to the same allegations, Head of the Points Based System, Jeremy Oppenheim said, “The points-based system means that only those colleges and schools who provide quality education and take responsibility for their students will be licensed to bring in foreign students. Schools and colleges are inspected by accreditation bodies and the UK Border Agency to ensure they are genuine. Before we tightened controls, around 4,000 UK institutions were bringing in international students; this currently stands at around 2,000. Anyone coming into the UK must satisfy the Border Force officer that they meet the immigration rules and will comply with any conditions attached to their visa. If they cannot, the officer can and will refuse entry.’

However many immigration officers have warned their authorities that the new rules designed to ensure that no bogus student enter UK, are not working.  Foreign students are supposed to show sufficient funds if they wish to come to UK to ensure that they can support their stay in the country. The UK Border Agency insisted that it is compulsory for all the entrants to satisfy the immigration rules. Many immigration officers at the big international air ports of UK like, Heathrow Airport are stunned to see the number of people entering UK on student visas. The numbers of people entering UK are so many in numbers that sometimes the queues they stand in stretch for hundreds of yards down the terminal. The airport authorities reported that there could be chaos and problems in future if the checks aren’t properly ensured.

Many interesting cases have been reported by media about bogus students and how they enter UK. As reported by an immigration officer about a recent case of an Indian woman in her 50s who presented herself as a student enrolled in an advanced course, despite the fact that she could barely speak English. The Immigration officer said, “She was going to do an ACCA accounting course, of which when asked in Hindi what ACCA meant, she didn’t have a clue. She wasn’t even able to say in her own language what the course was going to entail.”

It is likely that anyone coming in to the UK must satisfy the border force officer that they meet the immigration rules and will comply with any conditions attached to their visa. If they cannot, the officer can and will refuse entry ensuring that only genuine students with proper knowledge about the course would enter UK.

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admin Immigration, Study Abroad Immigration, UK Immigration, Uk Student Visas

The overnight closure of some Australian colleges in Australia sent jitters to the students of those campuses. The Meridian International School and the International College of Creative Arts, both in Melbourne, and the Meridian International Hotel School and International Design School, with campuses in Melbourne and Sydney, closed on Thursday. They provide tuition in hospitality, design, English, fashion and secondary education. However, the outcome of the sudden closure was not very surprising as several hundred international and local students rallied and protested against this sudden action of the college authorities.

The administrators however stated that it would be unlikely that the company that owned the colleges is in a position to refund students their fee amount or pay anything to the staff members.  The Global Campus Management owned about four college campuses in Sydney and nine in Melbourne, all of which are now closed. The act of sudden closure has however left an uncertain future for almost 2,700 international students and about 370 staff members.

Speaking on the issue Voluntary administrators PPB Corporate Recovery stated that it was unlikely that students are going to receive any funds from the organization. Some of the students were only few weeks away from completing their courses. However, keeping in mind their future it is a possibility that these students may be relocated to some other colleges so that they would be able to complete their courses or they could be covered by insurance.  “We’re working closely with the Commonwealth and state authorities, they have various schemes available. I think they are organizing meetings next week with the students and they will be dealing with them on a one-by-one basis,” he said.

As far as the staff’s payments are concerned, the employees would be paid as they are covered by the government’s safety net scheme. Mr. Parbery said, “The administrator had also received inquiries from parties showing interest in buying the collapsed colleges. We actually have got some people that have on the twelfth hour come to the company and want to talk to us. We will have some initial discussions with those parties.”

The students, on the other hand, were shocked and shaken by the sudden actions of the company that owned their colleges. Many students talked to the media and told their wailing stories. Vanun Mathun and Prachi Bhanot told the local newspapers that they have each paid the college $7,000 for a summer semester after being pressured by the college managers in the last month. They had no idea whether they would get any money back.

Taking actions on the same, The Australian Education Union (AEU) has called for tougher industry regulations for private training centres. The President of AEU, Angelo Gavrielatos said a new set of tough national standards were needed to reduce the risk of students and teachers being left in limbo in the future. He said, “There is a growing number of private colleges collapsing and it’s the students who pay the price. There is no doubt many of these problems are due to the unchecked privatization of this sector”. He called for minimum teaching qualifications for staff, a requirement for providers to demonstrate their financial viability and a proven track record in providing education. The government of Australia, keeping in mind the education standards and the comfort of International students would introduce stricter registration measures for private education providers next year.

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admin Immigration, Study Abroad Immigration, Study Visa Australia

As reported by a local newspaper New Zealand is one of the most desired choices of people who wish to immigrate outside their home countries. A global survey by Gallup Shows, the adult population of New Zealand would balloon to more than 11 million if it were to take in all adults who wish to settle there, making it the third most desired place for immigration.

Calculating on the basis of Potential Net Migration Index (PNMI), New Zealand came third.  The PNMI is calculated on the number of adults wishing to leave a country permanently subtracted from the estimated number who wish to immigrate to the country, as a proportion of the total population. A higher positive PNMI value means the larger the potential for net population gain proportional to the country’s population size. New Zealand posts the third-highest positive PNMI across 135 countries surveyed, with a net migration index value of 175 per cent, behind Singapore’s 260 per cent. Canada registered fourth on 170 per cent and Australia had 145 per cent.

Appreciating the research project on immigrants, Paul Spoonley, Professor and Head of the Research Project from Massey University said that the results were interesting and somehow not surprising keeping in mind the global sentiments. He said, “Economic migrants see countries like Singapore as a centre for opportunities, but lifestyle migrants will choose New Zealand for the quality of life, education and peace that it offers. New Zealanders are perceived overseas to be friendly and welcoming, and in the wake of a global terrorism threat, the fact that we rank highly on the peace scale makes it even more attractive to be living here.”

As per the Global Peace Index which lists about 140 countries in terms of a variety of factors based on domestic peacefulness and international relations, New Zealand was ranked as the world’s most peaceful country this year. At the bottom end of the Gallup scale, the Democratic Republic of Congo scored minus 60 percent, meaning more than half of its people want to leave the country permanently than settle in it. The poll interviewed about 260,000 people aged 15 and older in 135 countries. The survey found that around 700 million people, or 16 per cent of the world’s population, wanted to migrate permanently if they had the chance. Stating to which, the report quoted, “This translates to more than the entire adult population of North and South America combined.” With 165 million saying they would like to move to America permanently if they could, the United States was the most desired destination overall in terms of absolute numbers.

Other destinations include Britain, Canada and France (around 45 million each), Spain (35 million) and Saudi Arabia (30 million). On the other hand, a study released by the Department of Labour, New Zealand states that increasing immigration numbers will boost the economy, reduce production costs, increase goods and services competitiveness and benefit exporters, domestic investment and consumer spending.

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admin Immigration Immigration, NewZealand Immigration

New Zealand needs a lot of skilled labour force to make further progress. The input of Asians in the skilled labour market is very significant and needs to be further analysed.  Addressing to the issue of the requirement of more skilled labour in New Zealand, Chinese MP Raymond Huo who has been voted down in parliament on the same issue a number of times, says he will be continuing his fight to have an Asian Advisory Board on Auckland’s new Super City Council through a private member’s bill. He said, “The Asian population is projected to hit 400,000 in Auckland within seven years, and the council will not be representative of the people if it did not have an input from this community.
Speaking on the issue as defined by the Chinese MP, Prime Minister John Key has ruled out the possibility of having Maori seats on the new council, but Mr. Huo said he wasn’t seeking an Asian seat, although the Asian population will be growing at a much faster rate than Maori because of immigration. The Prime Minister of New Zealand stated, “We are not seeking an Asian seat, simply a statutory link to the governing body that will advise on issues that affect the Asian community.” He also said that Auckland is the “seventh largest cities” with people of Chinese, Indians and many other foreign origins outside their own countries in percentage terms and would continue to grow and seek more immigrants because of the current immigration policy. The present Asian population in Auckland is third only to European and Maori, and is projected to grow by 51 per cent up to 2016, compared with 46 per cent for the rest of New Zealand, stated the Prime Minister.
Arguing to that Mr. Huo said, “Ethnic minorities have also always been under-represented on Auckland’s councils, with only 4 per cent being Asian, 4 per cent Pacific, 9 per cent Maori while 84 per cent are European. We need a more balanced representation if Auckland is truly to become a Super City.” Contradicting the move by the Asian representative, Auckland University’s Professor of Asian Studies Mr. Manying Ip says the progress to get Asian representation was “sensible” and something “policymakers cannot ignore” because Asians made up 13 per cent of the Auckland population.

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admin Immigration Immigration, NewZealand Immigration

Legatum Index Lists Australia one of the best places to live

Australia is now listed as one of the luxurious and best places around the globe to live. Living in Australia has now come up towards the top of an index of the world’s most prosperous countries. According to the new Legatum Institute’s Index Australia has been ranked as the sixth most prosperous country of the world. The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index is also the world’s only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing of mankind. The Index finds that the most prosperous nations in the world are not necessarily those that have only a high GDP, but are those that also have happy, healthy, and free citizens. Now in its third year, the Index builds on the previous versions with expanded data and refined analysis and assesses 104 nations covering 90 percent of the world’s population. The measurements for the index were based on various factors.

The index provided by the institute ranks each nation based on wealth and happiness factors and surprisingly Finland came top followed by Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. However excluding the European nations, Australia was ranked as the best place in the world to settle down in terms of happiness and wealth. The index also looked at 104 countries in total which analysed and speculated them against 70 variables including quality of life and material wealth.

The survey results also stated that the rankings given are not necessarily based on the economic wealth of the state but are based on those that have happy, healthy and free citizens. The results also indicate that immigrating to Australia is very popular among many foreign nationals including UK.  Considering the top 10 variables in mind including personal freedom, health, safety and security, education, economic fundamentals and democratic institutions, immigrating to Australia was ranked in the top. People wishing to be wealthy and happy are also advised to move to Canada, as according to the ranking index, Canada is placed right after Australia in seventh place overall. The results are also a good way to offer some light on what constitutes success and prosperity of a country making it a worthy place to live.

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Agriculture is the new buzzword in the job industry. With the Growth of population and urbanisation all around the world, we are diverting our minds from the most important ingredient of life; Food. Every individual eventually is working to bring food for their families, along with other necessities for a comfortable life. Agriculture industry is going to grow in the next coming few years. Many countries like UK, Canada are now realising the same. The farming sector of UK is experiencing a deficit for certain jobs in growing agriculture industry. The shortfall in job market has been a cause of concern for many. There is also a growing alarm that skill shortages would hinder the UK’s ability to produce enough food as about 60,000 new employees are needed in next ten years to make up for the shortfall. The only vision for this as adopted by UK is that more and more people could enter and take up the jobs in the sector on work visas.

What is seen as a small problem right now could become a major problem in later stages. As UK’s ageing work force is on the verge of retirement is mainly the prime problem which threatens the farming and food production industries. The agriculture job sector does not allure many British workers as they consider it as unattractive and as a result the shortfall in the farming sector would need to be filled by people from abroad who desire to work and live in UK.

Lantra, the farming sector skills council revealed their findings to MP last week on the issue. Their findings reveal that 41 percent of the people working in agriculture are over 50 years of age out of which the average age of the farmers was 55 and half of them did not have any successors to run their farms after they retire. However, in farming industry 31 percent of the vacancies are hard to fill as there are skill shortages in UK as compared to 21 percent shortages in any other industry. Obviously there are going to be provisions and measures to help UK recruit skilled workforce in the industry. Immigrants on work visas to UK are likely to play an important part in helping the country’s agricultural industry to flourish and provide the food that is needed to feed the UK’s growing population.
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admin Immigration Immigration, UK Immigration