UK opposition leader says immigration is 'too high'

The leader of the United Kingdom's Labour Party Ed Miliband has given an interview to the BBC's lunchtime news programme The World at One. In an interview on Thursday 4th October 2012, the opposition leader told BBC journalist Martha Kearney that he thought that immigration into the UK, particularly low-skilled immigration was 'too high'.

Mr Miliband was a member of the last Labour government which was voted out in 2010. He has previously admitted that that government did not do enough to address public concerns on immigration. Census records suggest that there was net inward immigration of 3.2 million people during the 13 years of the last Labour administration. Some of that immigration comprises people who came from Central and Eastern European countries that joined the European Union in 2004; Poland, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Because there is a single labour market in Europe, a citizen of an EU country can in general work easily in another EU Country. However, EU countries were entitled to place temporary restrictions on immigration from the new member states that joined in 2004. Most existing European member states put suchBulgaria controls in place. In particular, France and Germany did so. However, the Labour government of the UK did not do so. It said that such controls were not necessary and said that it had estimated that only 13,000 Eastern Europeans would come to Britain each year. Over 250,000 came in 2010 alone. Official estimates suggest that there are now approximately 775,000 eastern Europeans resident in the UK. The Labour government was criticised for this failure to limit their numbers in 2004. When Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007, the UK put restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens working in the UK.

Mr Miliband said that he was concerned about immigration but said that the coalition's policy of attempting to put a cap on immigrant numbers would not work. He said that most immigration came from within the European Union and that the government had no control over that because of the free movement of labour throughout the EU.

Mr Miliband said that it was important to ensure that, when people came to the country, they came in a way that delivered economic benefits for all rather than in a way that saw immigrants undercutting people in the UK by working for less.

He said that he was now 'less sanguine' that he had been when he was in government 'about the effects when people come in. If there is an open Europe, we must have the highest standards at work.' Mr Miliband said that jt would be necessary to police firms to ensure that unscrupulous employers did not pay low-skilled immigrants less than the minimum wage and to ensure that gangmasters did not exploit immigrants on building sites.

Ms Kearney pressed Mr Miliband to say whether he thought immigration was 'at a good level'. Mr Miliband said 'in terms of low-skilled migration, it is too high and I want to do something about it.'

On 3rd October 2012, Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, told the Labour Party Conference that the government should take 'much stronger action' on illegal immigration.

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Australia cancels 10,000 student visas

Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship has revoked over 10,000 student visas in the last financial year. The majority of these visas were cancelled because students failed to comply with the requirements of their courses.

A DIAC spokesman told The Age newspaper that over 3,000 visas were cancelled because the holders were not genuine students. Two were cancelled on character grounds and 15 were cancelled because the holder provided bogus evidence in support of their claim. The remaining 7,000 visas were cancelled because students failed to comply with the requirements of their course.

Australia, like the UK, Canada, and the US has a large 'export education' industry. DIAC says that 461,477 international students enrolled in Australian educational establishments in the year to August. This figure includes universities, language schools and high school. Though the figure is high, it is a reduction of 7.6% on the previous year's figure.

The Australian export education market was worth AUS$16.3bn per annum in 2011/12. However, the secretary general of the International Association of Universities, Eva Egron-Polak, said that Australia is facing increasing competition for students not only from the established export education providers such as the UK, the US and Canada but also from Asian countries such as China and Malaysia.

Ms Egron-Polak said that there are now as many non-Chinese students studying in China as there are Chinese students studying abroad.

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US firms finding it harder to get L-1B 'specialized knowledge' visas

US firms are concerned that it is getting harder to transfer skilled staff from offices outside the US using the L-1B visa.

Fifty leading US companies, including Microsoft and Oracle, wrote an open letter to President Obama in March 2012 complaining about the increasing difficulties they were facing in importing staff to the US using the L-1B 'specialized knowledge' visa. The letter dated that 'American jobs and the US economy are being harmed'.

L1-B visas are temporary work permit visas which allow companies with offices in the US and elsewhere to transfer staff from foreign offices providing they have 'specialized knowledge' of a particular area of expertise which makes them invaluable to their company. They must also have worked for the firm for at least one year. L-1B visa holders are entitled to bring their family with them and are entitled to stay in the US for five years.

After the expiry of the five year period, visa holders must leave the US for at least 1 year (and continue working for the same company) before applying again. Firms are concerned that US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials are rejecting applications on spurious grounds.

Denise Rahmani is director of the Oracle US immigration program. She has responsibility for preparing Oracle's L-1B visa applications. If Oracle wants to bring a worker to the US from another part of the company elsewhere, she will submit the paperwork to USCIS. She told Businessweek magazine in June 2012 'it used to be that none of them got rejected [whereas today] it feels like the roll of the dice every time.'

Oracle says that, in 2011, 38% of L-1B visa applications were rejected. US government figures show that 27% of all 20,000 L-1B applications made in 2011 were rejected. Companies believe that the decisions are random and ill-informed.

Ms Rahmani says that one Oracle employee was refused entry on the grounds that he did not possess 'specialized knowledge' of a certain Oracle programme despite the fact that he had written the guidebook on it. She said 'They [USCIS staff] don't seem qualified to judge and assess what we deem as the right resource to do a job or deliver a project.'

US lawyers and companies complain that USCIS is under-resourced. It has only 250 case workers to cope with 423,000 applications for temporary work visas which are filed annually. Reports suggest that USCIS staff carry out hasty internet research in support of their decisions to approve or reject applications.

The USCIS understaffing problem is also affecting applications for L-1A management visas and H-1B specialty occupation visas.

USCIS director Alejandro Mayorkas has accepted that there are problems with USCIS's ability to make consistent decisions but also suggests that companies cannot 'transfer without limitations' when there are US workers who can do the job.

Glen Matthews, a dual qualified Canadian and US immigration lawyer says 'America is now losing the race for highly skilled workers and foreign corporate expansion to Canada.'

Mr Matthews says 'in the 18 years I have practiced US immigration law, I have never experienced such resistance to L1 visa petitions.' He says 'USCIS are denying…petitions and challenging even the strongest of cases. What message does that send? America does not want you!'

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Obama tells Hispanic TV station that biggest failure was on immigration

President Obama gave an interview to Univision, a Spanish language broadcaster on Wednesday 19th September 2012 and said 'my biggest failure so far is we haven't gotten comprehensive immigration reform done.' However, he said that his failure was largely caused by the Republicans in Congress; particularly the 20 Congressmen who were on the record as supporters of reform but who had refused to cooperate with Democrats to change the law.


Mr Obama made a commitment to reform the immigration system in 2008 when he was the Democratic candidate for the presidency. Jorge Ramos, the Univision news presenter, said 'At the beginning of your government you had control of both chambers of Congress and yet you did not introduce immigration reform.'


The President replied that, in his first year as President, he had concentrated purely on the economy. He added that he had been unable to persuade any Republicans to support his government's plans for immigration reform. He admitted that he had found it difficult to get legislation passed through Congress and expressed frustration with the US Congress, which is described by commentators as 'gridlocked'.


The two main parties in Congress, the Democrats and the Republicans, are evenly balanced in both houses of Congress; The House of Representatives and The Senate. Since elections were held in 2010, the Republicans have a small majority in the House of Representatives, while the Democrats retain a small majority in the Senate. In both chambers, the numbers of Democrats and Republicans are fairly evenly balanced but the DREAM Act would need to gain majorities in both houses in order to become law. Therefore, without bipartisan support, it will be very difficult for the proposed Act to become law. Commentators say that political divisions in America are becoming more entrenched and Congressmen are less and less willing to work with their opponents to pass compromise legislation that contains elements that please both parties.


Many Americans feel a growing frustration with 'Washington'. President Obama told Mr Ramos 'you can't change Washington from the inside. You can only change Washington from the outside. That's how the big accomplishments got done, because we mobilised the American people to speak out.'


The Republican candidate for the upcoming presidential election, Mitt Romney, jumped on President Obama's words yesterday and said they were an admission of defeat. 'The President threw up the white flag of surrender again,' he said; 'His slogan was 'Yes we can'. His slogan now is 'No we can't'.'


Immigration has become a major area of difference between Democrats and Republicans in the election, which will be held on November 6th 2012. The President has again committed himself to reforming the system in the first year of his second term. Mr Romney told an audience of Hispanic businessmen in Los Angeles last week that he wants to see reform too.


Mr Romney supports states like Arizona that have taken a hard line on illegal immigration. He has said he supports the deportation of illegal immigrants. He says the US must 'regain control of our borders'. He has accused President Obama of making reforms to the immigration system in order to win votes from Hispanic voters.


The President supports 'The DREAM Act' which would grant permanent residency to many illegal immigrants who came to the US as children. Mr Romney has said that, if he becomes President, he will veto the DREAM Act if Congress passes it.

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Australian Prime Minister says immigrants have duty to integrate

Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard attended the first Australian Multicultural Council lecture in Canberra on Wednesday 19^th September 2012 and gave a speech in which she said that immigrants to Australia have a duty to abide by the law and to learn English. Ms Gillard spoke before the main speaker, Frank Lowy, the founder and chairman of the Westfield shopping mall group.



Ms Gillard spoke days after violent demonstrations in Sydney involving Muslims protesting against the creation of a Youtube film in the USA which is said to insult the Islamic prophet Mohammed. The demonstrations became violent and 400 demonstrators were involved in violence with the police outside the US consulate in the Sydney district of Hyde Park.



Eight protestors were arrested and charged with public order offences and two policemen were taken to hospital. Police Superintendent Mark Walton said that more arrests were likely once video footage of the riots have been examined.



Since the unrest, Muslim community leaders have condemned the violence as did politicians from all major political parties. However, fundamentalist pressure groups such as Hisb-ut-Tahrir condemned those who condemned the violence as 'anti-Islamic'.



The group issued a statement which said "the major issue with events in Sydney is not the violence, but the anti-Islamic agenda peddled by media and politicians, We encourage Muslims to continue in their noble work of resisting Western attacks, accounting the political establishment and media, and redoubling efforts to establish Islam and the Caliphate in the Muslim World."



Speaking at the inaugural Australian Multicultural Council Lecture event, Ms Gillard, who migrated to Australia from Wales as a child, said 'Multiculturalism is not just the ability to maintain our diverse backgrounds and cultures. It is the meeting-place of rights and responsibilities where the right to maintain one's customs, language and religion is balanced by an equal responsibility to learn English, find work, respect our culture and heritage and accept women as full equals.'



She added 'What we saw in Sydney at the weekend was not multiculturalism but extremism'.



The deliverer of the inaugural AMC lecture was Frank Lowy, a Jewish émigré from what is now the Czech Republic who arrived in Australia in 1952. He went on to establish the hugely successful Westfield property company. He spoke of 'a great unwritten deal' which migrants to Australia entered into. The deal enabled them to honour their cultures and religions while conforming to the values and norms of Australian society. He said 'with privileges come obligations,' saying that migrants must learn about the Australian system of government, respect the law and participate in civic institutions.



Mr Lowy said that the riots showed that that multiculturalism was 'a work in progress'. He added that the fact that many Muslim leaders had condemned the violent protests showed the strength of Australian multiculturalism.

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US Congress unable to agree on technology work visas

Republicans and Democrats are unable to reach agreement in the United States Congress over legislation that would allow more foreign-born graduates from US universities to get visas allowing them to work in the US. There are currently two bills before Congress which would grant more visas to science and technology graduates. One was sponsored by the Republicans and the other by the Democrats. Because they will not support each other's laws, it seems that neither bill will be passed. This situation is called 'gridlock' and commentators say that, because of hardening attitudes among Congressmen and women, Congress is becoming gridlocked increasingly frequently.


Earlier this year, the Republicans introduced the STEM Jobs Act 2012. The act proposes the reallocation of 55,000 visas currently issued under the Diversity Immigrant Visa program. These visas would be issued instead to graduates from US universities in the STEM subjects; Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Republican member of the House of Representatives Lamar Smith said 'We could boost and spur job creation by allowing American employers more easily to hire some of the most qualified foreign graduates of US universities'. Mr Smith said that any of the graduates might come up with a technological innovation which, in turn, might create 'a whole new industry'.


However, Democrats oppose the Republican act because of the commitment to cut the Diversity Immigrant Visa program. This program was introduced in 1990 to encourage citizens from countries with lower rates of immigration to the US to apply for visas. More Democrats supported the STEM Jobs Act until the clause reallocating the visas from the Diversity Immigration Visa program was introduced to the Act.


Since the introduction of that clause, Democrats have withdrawn their support for the STEM Jobs Act and introduced an alternative act; The Attracting the Best and the Brightest Act 2012. The Democrats' act would enable some technology graduates to get a two year work visa. The academic requirements would be stricter than under the STEM Jobs Act. It would not see jobs cut from the Diversity Immigrant Program and would guarantee equal pay with equivalent American workers for visa holders.


Congress is now split almost entirely on party lines with Republicans and one or two Democrats supporting the STEM Jobs Act and the majority of Democrats supporting the Attracting the Brightest and The Best Act. Despite the fact that both parties say they want to increase the number of visas granted to able technology graduates, because they will not compromise, it seems that neither bill will be passed and no new visas will be granted.


The STEM Jobs Act will be voted on in the House of Representatives on Tuesday but, because it would require a two thirds majority to pass, without support from the Democrats, it has no chance of becoming law. US political commentators have noted that recently elected members of Congress are increasingly strident and less willing to compromise and, as a result, it is increasingly difficult for any legislation to pass.


American industry bodies The Information Technology Industry Council, The Consumer Electronics Association are both backing the STEM Jobs Act. In a joint statement they said 'Hiring advanced degree STEM professionals is a key to creating and retaining jobs in a variety of sectors in our innovation economy.


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Younger Britons less likely to oppose immigration

A survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of the Extremis Project suggests that younger Britons of all political persuasions are less likely to support anti-immigration or anti-Islamic policies than older ones. The Extremis Project describes itself as 'a platform for independent, objective and evidence-based research on extremism and terrorism'


YouGov questioned 1,725 British adults in an online survey. They were asked to say whether they would be more or less likely to support a party that supported various policies that have been supported by right wing parties throughout Europe. The four policies were
• To stand up to political and business elites
• To stop all immigration into the UK
• To prioritise British values over other cultures and
• To reduce the numbers of Muslims/presence of Islam


The survey found that 41% of the sample would be more likely to vote for a party that promised to stop all immigration into the UK against only 28% who said that they would be less likely to support such a party. 37% of people would be more likely to support a party that promised to reduce the numbers of Muslims in society against only 23% who said they would be less likely to do so.


The poll asked those taking part to reveal what party they had voted for at the last general election and their ages. The different reactions to each policy by voters of different ages and political affiliations was then calculated.


The survey found that 74% of those that said that they had voted Conservative in the last general election said they would be more likely to support parties that prioritised British values. Over half of Conservative voters would support a party that promised to stop all immigration and 49% said that they would favour a party that promised to reduce the numbers of Muslims in the UK. Large numbers of Labour and Liberal Democrats also favoured these policies but the greatest numbers were found among Conservative voters.


However, Matthew Goodwin, who instigated the research and is an Associate Professor at Nottingham University, says that the generational difference between older and younger Conservative voters means that, despite the fact that many of their voters seem to favour anti-immigration and anti-Muslim policies, it would not provide the Conservatives with a lasting political advantage to adopt them as part of the party's manifesto. This is because of the sharp generational difference of opinion between younger and older Conservative voters.


While 66% of Conservatives aged over 60 would favour a party that promised to halt immigration, only 28% of Conservatives aged 18-24 would be. In fact, 71% of Conservatives aged 18-24 said that they would be less likely to support such a party, if they expressed a preference. Similarly while 63% of Conservatives over 60 would favour a party that said it would reduce the numbers of Muslims in the country, only 28% of 18-24 year old Conservatives felt the same.


Professor Goodwin, who is also a Fellow of the Chatham House says that 60% of all 18-24 year olds declare themselves to be less likely to support any party that espoused policies opposed to Islam or committed to ending immigration.

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