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On 21 April Statistics New Zealand announced that permanent migrant arrivals fell 64 percent to 10,010 in the 12 months ending March 31 from 27,980 a year earlier, citing unadjusted figures. Just two days before that, Immigration Minister Paul Swain announced that the country had changed rules to make it easier for international students to work and study in the country, the Xinhua news agency reported.
A study done by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics finds that immigration is beneficial to the UK economy. The study criticizes the main UK parties for pledging to curb the free movement of labour into Britain.
Far from posing an economic threat to British residents' jobs and wages, the study concluded that immigration had "many economic benefits" including helping fund the pension system.
The United States is currently undergoing the largest wave of immigration in over a century, reports CBS news on April 20. But what makes this wave like no other is that so much of it is illegal. There are approximately 11 million illegal immigrants now in the United States. That equals the population of Ohio. These immigrants are coming for jobs, of course. But to be hired by an American factory, they need documents.
Sanwar Ali of Workpermit.com recently addressed students of Spain's IESE, a business school which is currently on the list of MBA programmes of the UK's Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) MBA provision. Ali updated students on the changes made by the UK government on 12 April 2005 to the HSMP scheme, touching on the recent immigration debate in the UK.
In light of the upcoming elections in the UK and the important role immigration is likely to play, we bring you a look at what each party proposes on immigration controls, refugees, ID cards, and work permits, as compiled by The Guardian.
Immigration controls
Canada announced on 18 April several changes to its immigration rules intended to attract talented students, to help families unite and to cut waiting time for approved immigrants.
To compete for talented foreign students, Canada will permit foreign students to work off-campus while studying and also for one year after obtaining their diplomas. The Government of Canada is investing $10 million a year for five years to support these two initiatives.