Topical:
The Italian Government is yet to approve the regional workpermit quotas for the year 2002, which are normally approved in the beginning ofthe year. This means that for the time being employers can obtain Italianwork permits only under very limited circumstances. If you wish to employhighly skilled employees who are being transferred to the Italian branch of thesame company this may still be possible.
Recent changes to the Migration Occupations in Demand List by DIMIA mayaffect the number of points skilled migrants intend to claim on their visaapplication points tests.
Major changes include the removal of the following occupations:
Electronics Engineers Nurse Managers Nurse Educators and Researchers Cabinetmakers Furniture UpholsterersIf you have nominated one of the occupations above and your visa applicationhas already been lodged with DIMIA, then you will still be able to claim MODLpoints.
Australia, which has a popular points-based independent immigration programme (the ‘General Skilledcategory’), has centralized the administration of this system in a newspecialized Skilled Processing Centre in Adelaide, Australia.
Hitherto, points-basedapplications were submitted to and processed by overseas diplomatic offices suchas Australian Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates.
As always, there is sprice to be paid for such moves – happily in this case it is modest; chargesfor General Skilled migration visa applications have also been Increasedslightly from AUD$1075 to AUD$1125.
The British Government recognises that there is an acute shortage of teachersin the UK. To make it easier to employ teachers from 1 April 2002 to 31 December2002 it will be possible for teacher agencies to apply for work permits. This is a very important concession byWork Permits UK the Government Department that deals with work permits, andcould mean that in future other types of agencies are also permitted to applyfor work permits. In fact there is a recruitment and employment agencies reviewby Work Permits UK to consider these issues going on between 18 March 2002 and14 June 2002.
The British Government has revised the Information Technology occupationsthat it regards as being in short supply in the UK.
The following occupations are not required to be advertised in either anational newspaper or a recognised IT trade journal. All other IT positions mustbe advertised to show that the British employer has attempted to recruit withinthe UK.
For jobs which are listed below the person must have the relevant skills andexperience listed on the linked annex as well as having either a relevant degree or a degree with at least 12months relevant work experience
MAJOR CHANGES TO UK IMMIGRATION LAWS ANNOUNCED IN "WHITE PAPER".
The home secretary David Blunkett's white paper, "Secure Borders, SafeHaven", was released on Thursday 7th February.
It is a wide ranging document dealing with how economic migrants, asylumseekers and new citizens would be dealt with.
The white paper's main proposals are:
Legal migrantsThe working holidaymakers scheme, under which Commonwealth citizens, mainlySouth African, Australian and New Zealand single 17 to 27-year-olds, come to theUK for two years, would be extended to eastern Europeans. A consultation