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The Washington Post has published an article penned by Bill Gates in which he voices his opinions on the need for the government to reform immigration laws to help keep America's edge in the global economy. Bill Gates is well known for his lobbying efforts to increase H-1B visa caps.
In response to concerns over allowing children to visit Canada and the United States, the U.S. government announced last week that new passport rules to be implemented in January 2008 will be altered.
Children younger than 16 years old will not be required to have passports so long as they have parental consent.
Historically, immigration enforcement has focused on people who are in the United States illegally. During 2006, immigration became a very heated political topic and focused more attention than usual on the issue.
Some surprising statistics began to emerge as people began to debate what to do about illegal immigration.
According to a recent press release, on 19 February 2007, the Australian government intercepted a boat containing 85 men trying to illegally enter the country. The boat was spotted about 50 nautical miles off of Christmas Island by an Orion P3 aircraft.
The boat was later intercepted in the early hours of 20 February by HMAS Success, an Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment vessel.
A survey conducted as part of FEMAGE (Needs for Female Immigrants and their Integration in Ageing Societies), a project designed to gather knowledge to aid the integration of immigrant women, found that education and economic background played a large part in a person's perception of immigrants in their country.
In an interim report, the Commission on Integration and Social Cohesion is recommending that spouses of immigrants into the United Kingdom "should" have to pass an English language test to qualify for immigration.