Canada's 2014 immigration plan to 'drive economic growth'

On 28th October 2013, immigration minister Chris Alexander announced Canada's immigration plan for 2014. Mr Alexander announced that he intended to keep total immigration at between 240 and 265,000. Of these, 63% or 164,500 will be economic migrants. 68,000 will be admitted under the family stream and 28,400 will be admitted under the humanitarian stream.


Mr Alexander announced that two visa programmes will be significantly expanded; the Canadian Experience Class and the Provincial Nominee Program.
 

The Canadian Experience class (CEC) enables people who have been working in a skilled or managerial position in Canada for over 12 months to apply for a Canadian permanent resident visa. They will be able to bring dependent family members with them. 15,000 CEC visas should be granted in 2014. Applicants must also meet Canada's admissibility criteria which are

• A clean criminal record
• Good health
• Ability to speak English or French to the required standard.

 

 

Provincial Nominee Program

The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) allows Canadian provinces and territories to nominate applicants of their own choice to Canadian immigration for permanent residence. Mr Alexander announced that 44,000 to 47,000 permanent resident visas will be issued under the PNP in 2014, up from 41,000 in 2012.


The PNP was designed to encourage immigrants to settle outside Canada's main population centres in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.


All of Canada's provinces and territories have signed up to the PNP apart from Quebec, which has its own immigration programs and Nunavut, the newest of Canada's territories which was created as a homeland for indigenous Inuit people of northern Canada in 1999.

 

 

Provinces nominate applicants for residence

Under the PNP, provinces can nominate non-Canadians for permanent resident visas. An applicant will get the process under way by applying to his chosen territory or province under the PNP.


Most applicants for permanent residence under the PNP will have to have an offer of work. That territory or province then decides if the applicant meets its requirements. If he does, the territory or province will nominate the applicant for permanent residence.


The application is then sent to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the federal immigration department headed by Mr Alexander, where, providing that the applicant meets Canada's admissibility criteria, it should be accepted.

 

 

Each territory, province has its own criteria

Each province and territory has its own list of criteria that it requires in applicants. Many are seeking graduates, particularly those with higher degrees. Work experience in the territory or province of your choice is also extremely helpful. British Columbia requires almost all applicants to be working in British Columbia at the time of registering an expression of interest. Other territories and provinces do not.


Skilled workers and tradespeople with valid Canadian trades certificates are also much in demand.


The PNP has had considerable success in distributing people arriving in Canada more evenly around Canada. In 2000, 80% of new Canadian permanent residents settled in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. By 2012, this had fallen to 58%.

 

 

Expression of Interest

Mr Alexander also announced that Canada is intending to move to an 'expression of interest' (EOI) system for selecting applicants for Canadian permanent residence. Australia has used an EOI system since 2012.


Former Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney announced that he was keen to follow Australia's lead. Mr Alexander has said that he hopes to introduce an EOI system in Canada in 2015.


Under the EOI system, an applicant would register an initial EOI with CIC. Taking the application at face value, CIC would then assess the application. CIC would keep in touch with Canadian employers to monitor the demand for workers with particular skills.

 

 

Priority cases

The following applicants will be treated as priority cases

• Applicants with skills that are particularly in demand,
• Particularly strong candidates,
• Candidates with offers of permanent work in Canada.

Selected candidates will be invited to apply for a permanent resident visa. They would then provide evidence of employment, work experience, qualifications and so forth. Applicants who are not invited to apply will be removed from the pool after a while.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in Canada. Please visit our Canadian page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/canada.html

House Republicans back US immigration reform bill

Two Republican members of the House of Representatives have endorsed a comprehensive immigration reform act that would radically overhaul the US immigration system. The Act is broadly speaking the same as a bill of the same name already passed by the Senate. The Senate's version of The Act was drafted by a bipartisan group of eight senators known as the Gang of Eight.


Representative Jeff Denham of California announced his support for this Act, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act 2013 ('the Act') on 26th October 2013. On Tuesday, 29th October, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, from Florida also announced her support for the bill.


Ms Ros-Lehtinen issued a statement which read 'It's important to keep the conversation going in trying to fix the broken immigration system. I favor any approach that will help us move the negotiations forward. Other Members may soon produce a bipartisan product that may also deserve support and I'm cautiously optimistic that we can pass meaningful immigration reform'.

 

 

Two down 229 to go

These two Republicans are the only Republican members of the House of Representatives (or 'the House' as it is known) who have openly backed the Act. There are 435 seats in the House, of which 231 are held by Republicans. 200 are held by Democrats.


The Democrats hold the balance of power in the Senate with 53 seats to the Republicans' 45 but the Act required 60% support to pass so it required Republican support.


The Act was passed by the Senate by 68 votes to 32 on 27th June 2013.

 

 

Tea Party Republicans oppose reform

However, it must be passed by both houses of Congress; the Senate and the House, to become law. The balance of power in the House is held by the Republicans and many of them have been elected with the support of the radical right-wing Tea Party faction. The Tea Party has no manifesto but its members are largely anti-big government, anti-immigration and, above almost everything else, anti-President Obama.


The fact that the President has made immigration reform a priority for his second term is enough for many right-wing Republicans like Representative Ted Cruz from Texas to oppose the Act.
However, they also oppose the bill on the grounds that it would create a 'pathway to citizenship for many of the 11.5m people currently living illegally in the US.

 

 

Republicans oppose comprehensive reform

Republicans oppose this for many reasons. Their main stated objections are

• To grant citizenship to those in the country illegally would reward their illegal behaviour (living in the US illegally)
• To grant an effective amnesty to illegal immigrants would encourage other people to enter the US illegally. There should be no amnesty, therefore, until the border is completely secure, they say.

  Speaker of the House John Boehner, a Republican, has invoked 'The Hastert Rule' which would mean that he will not even allow the House to vote on the Act unless a majority of Republicans support it.

Democrats say that there must be reform because the US is missing out on global talent. The Act, if it became law, would

• Create a 'pathway to citizenship' for illegal residents immigrants. They would have to pay a $500 fine, learn English and pay back taxes
• Increase the annual number of H-1B temporary skilled work visas' from 85,000 to over 150,000. This figure could rise above 200,000 if demand was high
• Allow graduates from US universities with higher degrees to apply for green cards
• Increase spending on border security by $4.5bn over the next four years
• Abolish country quotas for US employment based green cards.

 

 

Democrats believe some Republicans scared to support bill

Washington Democrats believe that there are enough Republicans who support reform for the bill to be passed by the House but, if they do, they have not said so publicly, so Mr Boehner can stil rely on the Hastert Rule.


Pro-reform campaigners are seeking to put pressure on Mr Boehner and on House Republicans. FWD.us, a campaign group set up by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and other high profile figures from the US IT industry saying that the US IT industry needs to be able to recruit the best talent from around the world to succeed.


Hispanic groups have been lobbying in Washington all year and, on 29th October 2013, a group of right wing religious conservatives, farmers and businessmen also visited Washington to lobby Republicans to support reform.

 

 

Manufacturers press Republicans to pass reform

Todd Bingham, president of the Utah Manufacturers Association said that he wanted to 'tell [Republican] leadership in the House that we're not interested in waiting two years. We need to address this now'.


Even President Obama urged House Republicans to think again. Aware that many Tea Party Republicans would vote against the Act just to spite him, the President appealed to their self-interest. A recent GALLUP poll shows that over two thirds of Americans support the main proposals in the Act.


However, Tea Party Republicans do not seem to be in the mood to listen to the President's warnings or to the polls.

 

 

Republicans punishing Obama for 'failure to compromise'

They are angry that the President refused to back down and water down his Affordable Health Care Bill (known as 'Obamacare') when House Republicans refused to authorize the US federal budget earlier in October. This led to a shutdown of the federal government for two weeks.


Representative Raul Labrador said 'for us to go to the negotiating table with President Obama after what he has done over the last two and a half weeks, I think would be probably a very big mistake'.
However, a recent poll shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans seem to disagree with Mr Labrador. A CNN poll found that 75% of Americans believe that it was the Republicans who were to blame for the recent gridlock in Washington, not the President.

 

 

US public blames Republicans

The poll found that most Americans believe that obstructive Republicans should not be re-elected at the next election in 2014.


It may be that the US will have to wait for that to happen before the immigration system can be reformed.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United States. Please check our USA page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/usa.html

London mayor is 'only UK politician who is openly pro-immigration'

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has told an audience at City Hall, the home of London's government, that he is 'probably about the only politician I know of who is actually willing to stand up and say that he's pro-immigration'.


He continued 'I believe that when talented people have something to offer a society and a community, they should be given the benefit of the doubt'. He added that he was 'the descendant of immigrants'.


Mr Johnson is indeed out of step with other UK politicians in the tone and content of his pronouncements on immigration. He has frequently said that London businesses need to be able to employ talented people from overseas.

 

 

Free Labour Mobility Zone for UK and Australia

He has also called for the UK to enter into treaties with Australia and New Zealand to create a Free Labour Mobility Zone which would allow the citizens of these countries to work freely throughout the zone.


He has also given his support to the parliamentary pro-immigration pressure group Migration Matters saying that the UK needs 'a well-managed migration system that secures our borders and allows the brightest and the best to come here, contribute and thrive.'


He accompanied the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne on a recent trip to China and supported the Chancellor's announcement of a new, simpler visa application system for Chinese tourists and businessmen.

 

 

Labour turned 'complete bind eye' to immigration

However, Mr Johnson has also said that the UK must crack down on illegal immigration. He blamed the decision of the former Labour government of the UK 'to turn a complete blind eye [to illegal immigration] that undermined immigration in the eyes of many people in this country [the UK].


He said it was necessary to be 'very tough' with illegal immigrants because 'they are undermining the credentials and hard work of everybody else'.


In July 2013, appearing on a phone-in on London commercial radio station LBC, Mr Johnson called for an amnesty for illegal immigrants who have been in the UK for twelve years or more. However, he added that the UK should be 'much tougher in [its] approach to borders'.

 

 

Johnson's great grandfather was Turkish minister

Mr Johnson is the great grandson of a Turkish journalist and politician Ali Kemal. Ali Kemal married an Anglo-Swiss woman, Winifred Brun in 1909. Ali Kemal returned to Turkey alone in 1912 and remarried.


During the First World War, the children lived in England with their mother. Because Turkey fought on the side of Germany in that war, the two children of Ali Kemal and Winifred took on their grandmother's maiden name of Johnson to avoid discrimination. They did not change the name back after the war.

 

 

Ali Kemal lynched

Ali Kemal was lynched by a mob in Turkey in 1922 during the Turkish War of Independence, perhaps because of his vocal opposition to the persecution of Armenians or perhaps because he was a vocal opponent of Kemal Ataturk, who eventually became Turkey's first President.


Mr Johnson is considered to be possible future leader of the UK's right wing Conservative Party.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United Kingdom. Please visit our UK page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/uk.html

Boehner 'hopeful' that US immigration reform will happen this year

The speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, has said that he is 'hopeful' that 'the House' will pass immigration reform this year. He told journalists on October 23rd 2013, 'I think immigration is an important subject that needs to be addressed and I'm hopeful [that it will be]'.


However, Mr Boehner refused to answer journalists' questions as to when he might introduce a bill. Democrats may be sceptical about Mr Boehner's claim to be 'hopeful'; as speaker, Mr Boehner is responsible for putting bills before the House for a vote. He has so far refused to put a bill already passed by the Senate before the House because a majority of Republicans oppose it.


Under the US system, for a bill to become law, it must be passed by both houses of Congress; the upper house, the Senate and the lower house, the House of Representatives. In July, the Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act 2013 (The Border Security Act'). This bill would, if it became law, introduce comprehensive immigration reform. Mr Boehner has so far refused to put that bill before the House for a vote, thereby preventing it from becoming law.

 

 

Hastert Rule

Mr Boehner says that 'the Hastert Rule' prevents him from doing so. The Hastert Rule is an informal principle which has no basis in the Constitution. It is named after the former Republican speaker Dennis Hastert who was speaker from 1999-2007. The rule means that a speaker of the House will only put legislation before the House if 'a majority of the majority' that is to say, over half of all members of the larger party in the House support it.


The 'rule' is not really a rule at all and even Speaker Hastert said in 2013, 'The Hastert Rule never really existed. It's kind of a nonentity as far as I'm concerned'. Nonetheless, many speakers of the House use their position to prevent the House from voting on bills brought by the opposing party. Democrats are urging Speaker Boehner to waive the Hastert Rule and allow a vote on the Border Security Act.


But, so far at least, Mr Boehner has refused. The House has 435 seats. There are currently 231 Republicans, so for Boehner to allow a vote without breaking the Hastert Rule, at least 116 Republicans will have to express support for the bill. At present, there are nowhere near that many.

 

 

Boehner 'standing in the way of democracy'

Democrats claim that Boehner is thwarting the will of the people. They cite polls which show that about 60% of Americans support reform. House Democrats believe that there are enough Republicans in the House who support the Act for it to become law if Mr Boehner will allow a vote.


Mr Boehner has broken the Hastert Rule five times already in 2013. Democrats are hopeful that he will do it again. But Mr Boehner is under great pressure from right-wing Republicans elected since 2009 with the support of the right-wing Tea Party movement.


These Representatives are against 'big government' and have done everything that they can to thwart President Obama since they reached Congress. Their opposition to the President has led them to vote against almost any legislation that the Democrats have proposed.

 

 

Tea Party Republicans particularly angry at the moment

They are currently particularly angry after they attempted, and failed, to make the President reform his 'Obamacare' health insurance programme in return for authorising the federal budget. The Tea Party contingent is said by Washington commentators to be particularly keen to prevent the President from scoring any 'victories' in the remainder of the political year.


The President has promised to make immigration reform a priority of his second term. This will make the Tea Party Republicans particularly keen to thwart him.


The Tea Party Republicans are also largely against the Border Security Act. This is mostly because the bill, which aims to comprehensively reform the US immigration, will establish a 'pathway to citizenship' for most of the 11.5m people living in the US illegally. Republicans, and particularly Tea Party Republicans, say that to do so would be to reward people for breaking US law (by entering or remaining in the US illegally).

 

 

Proposed changes to immigration system

The Border Security Act would

• Increase spending on border security
• Establish a 'pathway to citizenship' for the most illegal immigrants. It would take over thirteen years for those who apply to become citizens
• Award permanent resident visas (or 'green cards') for foreign students who receive doctorates and PhDs from US universities
• Increase the number of H-1B 'specialty occupation' temporary work visas granted each year from 85,000 annually to a maximum of about 200,000 annually
• Create a 'w-visa' for low-skilled workers in agriculture and construction
• Require US employers to check the employment status of all workers against the E-Verify system before employing them

There are only five weeks left before Christmas when the House could vote on the Border Security Act. A Democrat Representative, Linda Sanchez of California, asked 'Speaker Boehner, what are you waiting for?' at a Washington news conference.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United States. Please visit our USA page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/usa.html

New Australian immigration minister: I'll be tough on 457 fraud

The new Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison has said that he will be 'tough' on those abusing the 457 temporary work visa. Speaking at an immigration conference in Canberra on Monday 28th October 2013, said 'you will not hear from this government that migrants take Australian's jobs'.


Mr Morrison became immigration minister in September 2013 after the right-wing Coalition won the national election on 7th September. In opposition, as immigration spokesman, he opposed changes introduced to the 457 system by the Labor government to prevent abuse of the system.


Mr Morrison and the then leader of the opposition (now Prime Minister) Tony Abbott, argued that there was no compelling evidence of widespread abuse of the 457 system so it was not necessary to introduce measures to prevent abuse.

 

 

Unions complained of abuse of 457 visa

Earlier this year, in the run up to the general election, Australian unions had complained that some employers were nominating foreign workers for unskilled positions, were paying them less than Australian workers and were thereby disadvantaging Australian workers.


The 457 visa became an electoral issue. The Labor immigration minister Brendan O'Connor told journalists in March 2013 that he believed that about 10,000 457 visas, about 10% of the total, were obtained by 'rorting' or abuse of the system.


Australian industry groups said that this was not the case. The Coalition, then in opposition, condemned Mr O'Connor's claims as electoral politics.

 

 

No evidence of 'rorting'

In June, Tony Abbott, then leader of the opposition, said that Mr O'Connor had 'claimed that there were some 10,000 examples of rorts and wasn't able to produce any evidence at all'.


He said that there were actually probably closer to 200 rorts a year, and added that 'no system is perfect'. He said that Labor was using the issue to look tough on immigration to win votes.


Labor rushed through reforms of the 457 visa regime in June. The main provision of this act was the introduction of a requirement for employers to carry out Labour Market Testing before employing a foreign worker with a 457 visa.

 

 

Labour Market Testing should be introduced in November

The LMT regime is due to be introduced in November 2013 but Mr Morrison has said that he is keen to scrap the requirement which he says would be expensive for businesses to carry out and unnecessary.


But, Mr Morrison says, he will still crack down on abuse. He told Australian journalists 'If the 457 program is abused, it will be undermined and its critical values to Australia will be diminished. I'm asking industry and employers to help the government protect this vital asset for the Australian economy by making sure it is used properly, in the right circumstances and is not abused'.


The Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) allows foreign workers to work in Australia providing that they are sponsored by an Australian employer which is approved by the Australian immigration department.

 

 

Australian employer should try to find settled worker before nominating

They must be nominated to fill a skilled role and the Australian employer should have tried and failed to find a settled Australian worker to fill the role.


A 457 visa entitles its holder to live in Australia for up to four years. Holders can enter and leave the country as often as they wish, can live anywhere in the country, providing they continue to work in the nominated position, and bring their dependent families with them.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in  Australia. Please visit our Australian page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/australia.html

Half workers in some factories are immigrants, says UK PM

David Cameron, the UK's Prime Minister, has said that young Britons are being outcompeted for jobs by foreign workers because of their 'can do attitude'. Mr Cameron said that there was a danger that young UK nationals might lose out when looking for work. He said that they should be given 'experience of work, of timekeeping and all the things it means to have a job'.


Mr Cameron was speaking at the Mini car plant in Oxford. He said that the UK's education system had failed young Britons. There was also a disincentive to work because of the UK's welfare system.

He said 'immigration, welfare and education are totally linked'.
 

Mr Cameron said the UK should

• improve its education system so that school-leavers were able to compete with foreign workers for jobs
• Reform the welfare system to make work pay and
• 'have sensible controls on immigration'

 

 

Half the workforce in some factories from eastern Europe – Cameron

Mr Cameron said that it was possible to 'go to factories in our country where half the people come from Poland, Lithuania or Latvia'. Mr Cameron said that 'you can't blame them. They want to work. They see the jobs. They come over and they do them'.


The Daily Mail newspaper reports that there are 29m people working in the UK. Of these, records show that 4.4m come from countries other than the UK. In 2003, the Mail reports, only 9% of the UK workforce was from overseas. That figure has risen to 15% in 2013.


There are, according to official statistics, a total of 683,000 people from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, from Poland, Hungary and Slovenia currently working in the UK. There are a further 141,000 from Bulgaria and Romania.

 

 

UK must get education system right

Mr Cameron said that the UK must 'get our education system right so we are producing young people out of our schools and colleges who are fully capable of doing these jobs'. He also said that the benefits system should be reformed so that 'it does not pay to be out of work'.


Mr Cameron said that 'the danger for a country like Britain is, yes, you see the economy recover, yes you see jobs coming , but you leave behind people who have not got the right qualifications from school'.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United Kingdom. Please visit our UK page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/uk.html

Murdoch says Australia needs more immigration

The Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch has used a speech in Sydney to call for Australia to become 'the world's most diverse nation' because of the 'incredible political advantage' this would bring.


Mr Murdoch was speaking at Sydney Town Hall as a guest of the Lowy Institute, a right-wing policy institute. It was established by Frank Lowy, the founder of the Westfield Shopping Centre group. Mr Murdoch gave the 10th annual Lowy Lecture. He travelled to Sydney from his home in the United States.
 

He told his audience that 'The 21st century is Australia's for the taking'. He said that Australia could become a major economic power if;

• It maintained its entrepreneurial 'have a go' culture
• It Increased immigration and
• It positioned itself to profit from 'disruption' caused to the global economy by innovation

 

 

Murdoch emigrated from Australia

Mr Murdoch is an international migrant himself. He was born in Australia, made much of his fortune in the UK and now lives in the US, having adopted US citizenship in 1985 to enable him to own US television stations.


He told his audience that immigration would help Australia thrive. He said that the story of Frank Lowy was now 'the story of Australia'. Mr Lowy travelled to Australia from Slovakia, via Israel before setting up a deli delivery business.

 

 

Lowy immigrated to Australia

Lowy was born to a Jewish family in what is now Slovakia in 1930 and left at the age of 15 for Israel where he fought for Israeli independence from the British. He then left for Australia at the age of 22.
Mr Murdoch said 'The nations that lead this century will be the ones most successful at attracting and keeping talent'.


He said that Australia was already outstripping the US as a nation of immigrants. He said 'We think of the United States as an immigrant nation - and rightly so. But the percentage of foreign-born in the United States - a country currently wracked by a self-defeating debate over immigration policy - is just about 12 per cent. In Australia, it is double that'.

 

 

'An incredible competitive advantage' - Murdoch

Mr Murdoch said that this was ''an incredible competitive advantage'. He explained 'A nation as small as ours will increasingly depend on trade. The more people we have with ties to other parts of the world, the greater our advantage when we seek trade relationships with these nations'.


Mr Murdoch also praised migrants for their drive and acumen. He said 'What immigrant would leave family and history far behind for a life of indolence? People come here because they seek a better life for themselves and their children, and they believe in opportunity'.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in Australia. Please see our Australian page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/australia.html