Canada's Federal Court dismisses immigration case of would-be immigrants

A Canadian judge has ruled that the country's immigration minister, Jason Kenney, did not break the law when he terminated applications for permanent residence visas from some 280,000 applicants in July 2012. On Thursday 18th April 2013, Justice Donald Rennie said that he understood that those affected would see Mr Kenney's act as 'unfair, arbitrary and unnecessary' but said that it was not illegal and so he had no powers to overturn it.


In 2012, The Canadian government passed the Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act which allowed the government to terminate applications for permanent residence visas made under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), Canada's main immigration programme for skilled workers. In June 2012, Mr Kenney announced that he would terminate all applications made to the FSWP before 28th February 2008.


Some people had been waiting for their applications to be processed for up to eight years. They were understandably aggrieved to have their applications terminated. But Mr Kenney said that the termination of the cases was necessary to get rid of an unwieldy backlog of cases which was preventing the system from working properly. Some 280,000 people were affected.

Applicants argued that Kenney's decision was unlawful

Last autumn, a group of 1,400 of the applicants who had had their applications terminated launched a legal challenge to Mr Kenney's decision in the Canadian Federal Court. They argued that Mr Kenney's decision had been unlawful because the Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act was discriminatory and breached Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The case came to court in January 2013. The judge delivered his verdict on 18th April.


In his summing up, Justice Rennie said 'the applicants have waited in the queue for many years only to find the entrance door closed. They see the termination of their hope for a new life in Canada to be an unfair, arbitrary and unnecessary measure'. However, he said that the Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act was 'valid legislation, compliant with the rule of law, the Bill of Rights and the Charter' and he said that the applications had been 'terminated by operation of law' and that, therefore, the court could not overrule the Act or Mr Kenney's decision.


Lawyers for the applicants are considering whether to appeal the judge's decision. They have until 2nd May to do so.


The FSWP is Canada's foremost immigration programme for skilled workers. Around 55-60,000 people annually gain Canadian permanent resident status via the FSWP. By 2012, there was a backlog of 624,516 applications waiting to be processed. Some people had been waiting for eight years. The FSWP waiting list has now been reduced to under 100,000 and Mr Kenney has said he expects there to be no backlog by the end of 2014.


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

US Congress announces June vote on immigration reform

The US Congress has announced that it will vote in June on the immigration reform bill prepared by the so-called 'Gang of Eight'.


The Gang of Eight is made up of four Republicans and four Democrats who have been working on the bill since January. The Republicans include the former Presidential candidate John McCain and the youthful darling of the right Marco Rubio who, many believe, will challenge for the presidency in 2016. The Democrats include veteran New York senator Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin of Illinois.


When he was re-elected in November 2012, President Obama promised to make immigration reform one of his biggest priorities during his second term. In February, the President said that he was happy to leave the drafting of a new law which would comprehensively reform the US's immigration system to the eight senators although he would be prepared to step in if they failed to reach agreement.

Security and citizenship

Last week on 16th April 2013 the Gang released The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. If it becomes law, it will:

• Lead to greatly increased security measures along the US's border with Mexico to try to cut illegal immigration
• Create a 'pathway to citizenship' for the estimated 11m illegal immigrants currently living in the US
• Create systems for tracking foreign nationals in the US on temporary visas
• Increase the number of H-1B graduate-level, temporary work visas that are granted annually from 65,000 to 110,000 immediately with a possibility that the figure could rise to a maximum of 180,000 annually
• Increase the number of permanent resident visas (or green cards) granted to highly skilled professionals
• Create a new 'w-visa' which will allow low-skilled workers, such as agricultural labourers, to work in the US
• Require all US employers to check all their new employees are allowed to work in the US using an improved 'E-Verify system – an electronic register of those with permission to work in the US.

'Common sense measures the majority of Americans support' - Obama

After the draft Act was released, President Obama said that the bill contained 'common sense steps that the majority of Americans support' but right-wing anti-immigration activists are less enthusiastic. Roy Beck of NumbersUSA said 'I never expected the bill to be this bad'.


In order to become law, the bill will need to be passed by both houses of the US Congress; the Senate, currently controlled by President Obama's Democratic Party and The House of Representatives which is currently controlled by the Republicans who are traditionally more opposed to immigration. Washington commentators say that the bill is likely to pass the Senate without difficulty but will have more difficulty in The House.


At the launch of the bill the Republican members of the Gang of Eight were keen to stress the practical advantages of the bill. Senator Rubio, himself the son of Cuban immigrants, said that it was 'in the US national interest to bring undocumented migrants on to a legal footing (according to UK paper The Guardian). Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina said 'If we don't have legal immigration to supplement our declining population you are committing economic suicide'.

'An open invitation to enter the country illegally' - Lamar Smith

But Republican opponents of the Act in the House were scathing in their condemnation. Representative Jeff Sessions of Alabama said that the bill would 'economically devastate low-income American citizens'. Representative Lamar Smith of Texas said that the bill was 'an open invitation to enter the country illegally'.


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

2014 H-1B quota reached on April 5th 2013

The demand for H-1B visas this year has been extremely strong. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received 124,000 applications for H-1B visas by 5th April 2013.


Every fiscal year, USCIS issues 65,000 H-1B visas to foreign graduates enabling them to travel to the US to work in a 'specialty occupation'. It also issues a further 20,000 H-1Bs to foreign graduates with advanced degrees such as master's degrees.


The US fiscal year begins on October 1st. (Fiscal Year 2014 will begin on October 1st 2013). USCIS accepts applications for each fiscal year from the preceding April 1st. So USCIS began accepting applications for H-1Bs for 2014 on 1st April 2013.


Study Migrate offers a variety of programmes in United States. Please check our USA page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/usa.html

UK immigration grants new Tier 4 Sponsorship licence to LMU

The UK's Home Office has issued a new Tier 4 sponsorship licence to London Metropolitan University (LMU). The Home Office made the announcement on 9th April 2013 and said the licence would be effective immediately. LMU's previous Tier 4 sponsorship licence was revoked on 29th August 2012.


A Tier 4 sponsorship licence allows a UK educational institution to sponsor potential students from outside the European Economic Area to apply for a UK Tier 4 student visa. You cannot obtain a Tier 4 visa unless you are sponsored by a licenced UK educational establishment.


On 29th August 2012, the UK Border Agency, which was until 1st April 2013 in charge of UK immigration control, revoked LMU's sponsorship licence. The UKBA claimed that it had done so because LMU had not put systems in place to ensure that international students

• Spoke university-standard English
• Attended lectures while at LMU and
• Had valid Tier 4 visas entitling them to study at LMU.

Over 2,000 students told to leave

The UKBA decision meant that LMU was no longer allowed to teach international students. Over 2,000 international students already studying at LMU were told that they would have to find new courses elsewhere, obtain sponsorship from the new university and apply for a new Tier 4 visa (costing £716) from the UKBA if they wanted to continue their study in the UK, otherwise they would have to leave the country.


The decision caused considerable controversy. The National Union of Students condemned the decision as did Universities UK, the umbrella body for UK universities. It was rumoured that the decision caused a cabinet rift between Home Secretary Theresa May who supported the UKBA on the one side and Chancellor George Osborne and Business Secretary Vince Cable who opposed it on the other.


The vice chancellor of LMU, Malcolm Gillies, said that the UKBA decision was 'outrageous'. He said that LMU had made every effort to comply with the UKBA rules but said that UKBA rules were self-contradictory and almost impossible to comply with.

Judge allowed students to continue their studies

LMU immediately issued a statement saying that it would challenge the UKBA's decision in court. At an initial hearing in September 2012, the judge, Mr Justice Irwin, made an order that those students who were already studying at LMU should be allowed to continue with their studies for the time being, until the case was heard.


He also ordered that 1,000 students who were about to start courses in October should be allowed to do so, providing they had the correct visa. He barred LMU from sponsoring any further international students until the case was heard. The case is expected to come to court soon.


The UKBA was abolished on 1st April 2013 at the order of the Home Secretary, Theresa May. Mrs May announced her decision on 26th March 2013 and said she had decided to abolish it because it was 'not good enough'. Many people agreed with Mrs May. A committee of MPs, The Home Affairs Committee, whose job it was to scrutinise the work of the Home Office and the UKBA, issued many damning reports about the agency.


The chairman of the committee, Keith Vaz, a Labour MP, welcomed Mrs May's decision saying that it would enable the UK to gain control of its immigration system which has been out-of-control for years.

UKBA dismantled after scathing criticism

Last month, the committee released a highly critical report about the running of the UKBA which said that between July and September 2012, the UKBA processed just 14% of postal applications for Tier 4 visas within its target time of four weeks and just 18% of Tier 1 visa applications. Mrs May announced that it would be abolished it the next day.


The Home Office issued a statement on 9th April saying that it was now satisfied that LMU had put right all the flaws in its systems and so could have a new licence.


The statement read 'Home Office inspection teams looked at areas of concern that led to the revocation of the university's licence last year and have worked with university staff to ensure they have appropriate processes for recruiting and monitoring their international students'.


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

US – Pro-immigration rallies held across America

Thousands of people demonstrated in Washington D.C. on Wednesday 10th April 2013, in favour of immigration reform. There were smaller, co-ordinated demonstrations in cities across the US.


400 coaches brought protestors to Washington where they protested near the White House. Reporters say that the mood of the crowd was optimistic because progress has been made on proposed immigration reform and a draft Act of Congress is expected to be revealed shortly laying out the details of the reform which could transform the US immigration system.


The so-called 'Gang of Eight'; a group of eight senators, four Republican and four Democrat, have been working on the draft Act since January and last week two of the senators said they were hopeful that they were close to reaching a deal.

'Conceptually, we have agreement' – Graham

Chuck Schumer, (Democrat, New York) and Lindsay Graham (Republican, North Carolina) both spoke out on 1st April saying that they were hopeful that a deal was in sight. Mr Schumer said that although 'it's not a done deal' there was 'substantive agreement'. Mr Graham said 'There are a few details yet but, conceptually, we have agreement'.


Though the details of the bill have not yet been revealed, commentators expect that the bill to propose

• Further strengthening the Mexican border
• Providing a 'pathway to citizenship' for many of the 11m foreign citizens currently living illegally in the US
• Providing more employment based (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3) permanent resident visas (or green cards) to foreign graduates of US universities. There may also be an increase in the annual quota of H-1B visas.
• Rolling out the 'e-verify' system nationally. E-verify will enable US employers to check the immigration status of workers before hiring them.

'Our presence is finally being heard'

One demonstrator, Susana Martinez, told The Guardian, a UK newspaper, 'This is the most upbeat mood that I have ever seen in the past 15 years. There has been a lot of pressure from the Latino community even though this is something that affects various immigrant groups. Our presence is finally being heard'.


President Obama pledged to make immigration reform a major priority in his second term. He has left the details of the act to the Gang of Eight and is not involved in the drafting of the Act but the White House has prepared an alternative bill in case the Gang of Eight cannot agree.
While both Republicans and Democrats agree that reform of the system is necessary, they have not managed to cooperate to reform it. This is because

• Over recent years, there has been less and less cooperation between the parties as the Republican Party has moved ideologically to the right
• The parties are evenly balanced in Washington with the Republicans holding the House of Representatives and the Democrats holding the Senate. Consent of both houses is needed for a proposed Act to become law.

Many grassroots Republicans oppose reform

Because this bill has the support of some senators from both parties, proponents of reform hope that it will pass. However there is a possibility that it will not be passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives because many grassroots Republicans are implacably opposed to the creation of a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.


In a letter to UK newspaper The Financial Times, Mr William W Chip of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington anti-immigration think tank, said that it would increase net immigration to the US from Mexico and reduce wages for low-paid workers. Other Republicans object that allowing illegal aliens to become citizens rewards criminal behaviour.


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

One billion people crossed international borders in 2012

In 2012, one billion people made an international trip, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. David Scowsill of the WTTC said 'this is an astounding milestone. There is an inexorable growth in the number of people who want to travel around the world'.


Most of these journeys will be for the purpose of leisure and tourism. France and the USA are the most popular tourist destinations though there is also strong growth in tourism around the world. Though the overall numbers are still low, there has been considerable growth in the tourism industry in countries such as Guatemala, Ivory Coast and The Dominican Republic.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, the top five travel destinations are

1. Paris
2. London
3. New York
4. Anatalya, Turkey
5. Singapore

210,000,000 migrants globally

It is also clear that the numbers of migrants globally have increased enormously in recent years. The World Economic Forum and the United Nations believe that 3% of the world's population; around 210,000,000 people, are migrants.


But many more would like to leave their homeland for a new life. A recent Gallup poll found that 13% of the world's adult population – around 640,000,000 people would like to emigrate.


150,000,000 would like to go to the US alone. There is no one reason why people want to emigrate. The Gallup poll suggested that a great many wanted to emigrate to countries in North America and Europe in order to find economic opportunity.


Often, it would seem that poor conditions at home give people an incentive to emigrate while existing relationships between countries may help potential émigrés to decide where they want to go. This point is illustrated by the case of Liberia.


Liberia has a population of about 4,100,000. It is a desperately poor country with the third lowest per capita income in the world. It has also been riven by civil war since 1989. It is placed 174th out of 186 countries on the Human Development Index, which measures the quality of life around the world. It is therefore not surprising that many Liberians want to emigrate. But, there is a particular reason why 37% of Liberia's population, some 1,500,000 people want to emigrate to the USA. This can be explained by the strong links between the two countries. Liberia was settled by large numbers of freed slaves from the US from 1820 onwards and has been the recipient of a great deal of US aid since the Second World War.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of immigration and study programs in USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Please visit our website for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/programs.html

Immigrants boost US housing market

A new report shows that immigration is helping to boost the US housing market. The report prepared by the Mortgage Bankers Association suggests that between 2010 and 2020 immigrants are expected to account for 35.7% of homebuyers and 26.4% of new home rentals.


The report is called Immigrant Contributions to Housing Demand in the United States: A Comparison of Recent Decades and Projections to 2020 for the States and Nation. It says that 'immigrants are an important and growing source of demand (for housing) that has bolstered housing markets in recent decades'.


The report says that immigrants have been important players in the housing market in traditional 'gateway states' such as New York and California, where immigrants would usually settle on arrival in the US, for years. For example, between 2000 and 2010, immigrants were responsible for 82.2% of the growth in new house sales in California and for 65.1% of the growth in new house sales in New York. Immigrants were responsible for the majority of the increase in new house sales in six other states too; Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio and Michigan.

Immigrants will continue to boost housing growth

The report predicts that demand from immigrants will hold up in those states and will be responsible for the majority of the growth in six states between 2010 and 2020; New York, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Michigan.

But the report writers say that, between 2000 and 2010, immigrants began to buy houses in significant numbers in states that were not previously popular with immigrants. For example, they were responsible for 34.1% of the increase in house sales in Georgia and 24.8% in North Carolina.


The report says it expects this demand to level off but remain significant between 2010 and 2020.


The report also says that demand for housing from immigrants after the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007 prevented the housing crash from getting any worse. It says that, while the main cause of the crisis was the mis-selling of mortgages, a reduction in the number of native Americans who were buying houses also contributed to the collapse in prices. Had immigrants not made up the numbers, the falls in property prices would have been greater.


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