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Australian immigration has decided to stop the processing of the main general skilled migration visas from 8 May 2010 to 30 June 2010. This temporary suspension includes all primary applicants for the following Australian general skilled migration visas:
Recently, Canada Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Dr Eric Hoskins the Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration signed an extension to the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement (COIA).
Almost all the results have come in for the UK General Election. As expected there have been significant gains for the Conservatives. The Conservatives are expected to increase their MPs in parliament by about a hundred. The Labour Party will lose about ninety seats and the Liberal Democrat will lose about five seats. This means that for the first time in over thirty years there will be a Hung Parliament. No single political party will have enough of a majority to form a Government by themselves.
Australian immigration had previously stated that the new Australian skilled occupation list would be announced on 30 April 2010. This has now been delayed to sometime in May 2010. The Australian Government has said that the new skilled occupation list would focus on higher level skilled occupations and trades.
Immigration Minister Kenney recently launched a new interactive online resource, part of the official Canadian immigration website that covers civics, history, and citizenship specifically for students and teachers.
With the UK General Election on 6 May 2010 little more than a week away there is continuing talk of a possible "Hung Parliament" in the UK. This is a parliament where no single political party has enough seats to form a Government. Leaders of the two largest political parties in the UK David Cameron for the Conservatives and Gordon Brown for the Labour Party have both said that voting for the Liberal Democrats is more likely to lead to a Hung Parliament which they say will result in political uncertainty.