Immigration newsletter 26 Feb 2014

Do you have a professional level contract in the UK paying at least £180 per day? If so, we can help you find a sponsor and obtain a UK Tier 2 (General) skilled worker visa. It is easier to switch if you already have a Tier 1 PSW visa or a Tier 4 student visa. The UK Tier 1 Entrepreneur scheme may also be an option. Why not contact the London office on 0344 991 9222 for further details.

Get ready! US immigration to open for H-1B applications on April 1st

The annual H-1B quota period starts again from 1 April 2014. It is likely that the whole quota will be used up in the first few days of April 2014.

If you are a US employer seeking to employ graduate level workers from abroad, we can help you apply for an H-1B visa. You need to start preparing right away.

It is likely that US immigration will only accept applications until 7th April 2014 before holding a lottery to choose the applications they will consider for further processing. If your application is not in by 7th April, it won’t be entered into the lottery, so call us today.

Senior US Republican says immigration reform unlikely and blames Obama

John Boehner, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, has said that House Republicans will probably oppose any immigration reform legislation because they distrust President Obama.

In January, Mr Boehner said that it was ‘time to deal with this very important issue’ and released a document laying out the kind of immigration reform that he hoped Republicans might support.

However, within days, Mr Boehner told journalists that any reform was unlikely and blamed the President. Washington insiders believe that Mr Boehner has had to pull back from reform because right-wingers in his party will not support any reform at all.

Republican strategists fear that the party’s failure to agree on immigration reform may damage its chances in the next presidential election in 2016.

Canada's immigration minister hints at new investor program

Recently, Chris Alexander, Canada's immigration minister, announced the closure of the Canadian Immigrant Investor Program, a visa program aimed at wealthy foreigners who wish to gain Canadian permanent residence.

Mr Alexander has told a Chinese newspaper that the program was scrapped because of visa fraud; Applicants when applying had to promise to live in Canada but many Chinese primary applicants sent their family to Canada but continued to live in China.

Mr Alexander says wealthy Chinese applicants should consider applying for two new visa programs which will open later in 2014; an Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Fund and a 'business skills' visa program.

Wealthy Chinese migrants forsake Canada for Australia

Chinese nationals have lodged more than 90% of applications Australia’s for new Significant Investor Visa since it opened in November 2012. The Significant Investor Visa allows wealthy foreigners to obtain Australian residence visas in return for a $5m investment. Of 545 applicants so far, nearly 500 are Chinese.

So far 65 people have been issued with four-year temporary resident visas. If they spend 160 days in Australia over the four years, they will be eligible for permanent resident visas.

Canadian citizenship rules make integration more difficult

A report from a Canadian think tank says that it has recently become harder for some immigrants to gain Canadian citizenship.

Recent changes to the Canadian citizenship test, emphasises Canada’s history, and language ability. The Government says that this will ‘enhance the value of Canadian citizenship’. But, the report says that the changes have made it harder for those who do not speak English or French as a first language and those with lower levels of education to become citizens.

Immigrant sells WhatsApp to Facebook for $19bn

Jan Koum, a Ukrainian immigrant to the US, has sold his company, WhatsApp, to Facebook for $19bn. Mr Koum left Ukraine with his mother in 1993 because of anti-Semitism.

When they arrived in California in 1993, they were so poor that they relied on government 'food stamps' for survival. He taught himself computer programming using cheap, second-hand books.

He worked for Yahoo for ten years before setting up WhatsApp. WhatsApp is a smart phone app which enables people to send text messages. It currently has 450m users.