With immigration becoming a major issue of debate in the United Kingdom, the government of the nation has finally reviewed its immigration policy. The new policies have brought about a strict on immigration especially from the non-European nations. Till the policies are implemented, a temporary limit would be set up for the time being.

As of now, the temporary limit is 24,100 for the non-European migrants. This number would be enforced till April 2011 when the revised policies would be implemented. With the aim of lowering the levels to those of the 1990s, strict measures are being put in place.

As promised by the Government during its election campaigns to reduce the rate of immigration in the UK, the government is fulfilling its promise made to its public. At the same time, this cap might have dire effects on the economy of the nation. This has been warned by many people which including both the employers in the nation as well as the Education Secretary.

For instance, the Indian food industry in the UK is booming far and wide in the nation. For this industry to boom in the nation, cooks and chefs from India are a must who could contribute to this industry. It was seen that despite recession, this industry continued to boom with many people developing a taste for the Indian cuisine.

With India being one of the major sources of potential skilled migrants to the United Kingdom and with one industry more or less dependent on the Indians, the question is whether right measures are being taken by the government?

It is agreed that a cut has to be made on the level of immigration. At the same time, it cannot be imposed at such a cost where in the development of the nation’s economy is at stake.

More so, with the policies being changed, this would obviously mean delays in the timelines for processing. With stricter policies in place, all that one could do is simply speculate over the issue.

According to a Bloomberg National Poll, of every ten US citizens, more than seven persons feel that the US economy is still in recession and is in conflict regarding a balance between the federal budget deficit and the lack of jobs in the nation.

The poll which was conducted last week projected similar concerns of the local people as well as the experts. This concern is whether or not the focus should be on creating more opportunities for employment or put a curb on spending. Of the ten local citizens, seven feel that generating more opportunities for employment should be main objective.

There has been a lot of skepticism regarding Obama’s administration and its stimulus program with the public being leery of more spending. More than half of the participants in the poll feel that the deficit is perilously out of control.

The main issue here is the excessive spending catering to the jobless people. In June, the unemployment rate made a record at 9.5%. With this, the public is somewhat skeptical on another extension pertaining to benefits of the unemployed. This extension is being delayed in Congress and would cost another $34 billion.

The survey was conducted by an Iowa based company, Selzer & Co. As per the projections brought out by the White House in February, this year the deficit is expected to be more than $1.5 trillion that is about 10.6% of the GDP. Except for the UK, the US deficit is a higher percentage of GDP when compared to any other industrialized country in the world.

Seeing the statistics of this year’s June month, it has been noticed that a rise of 31 per cent has been seen in the quantity of Indian shoppers who are emptying their wallets in the UK. This has been proved by a study conducted by Global Blue, a financial company, which also shows that an 89 per cent increase has been witnessed in the number of luxury items brought by Indians in the month of June.

This report has brought into highlight one major facet linked with the enhancement of UK’s economy from the hands of rich Indian tourists. It also indicates the enhanced global mobility of rich Indians on a booming economy.

On one side, where Britain was struggling out of recession and employment losses, its luxury retail business gained an enhanced hike, courtesy the rich Indian tourists who flock in huge numbers to the country. People from China too flock in a huge number.

Reports point out in the direction that Luxury stores in London’s West End are always flooded with rich Indian tourists. Some of the popular brands are Miu Miu, Prada and Jimmy Choo.

According to Vice President of Global Blue Nigel Dasler, Indians travelers are increasing in huge number day by day, hence applauding India as one of the most critical markets for the UK. This facet may indicate that wealth is growing at a nice pace in the country.

It has been speculated that the sales would hike by a huge margin with the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the cards.

Indian cuisine is going places making a place for itself amongst foreign cuisine. Indian food being spicy and nutritious is gaining popularity in many foreign countries. This constant increase in its popularity cannot be stopped by problems like recession and strict laws of immigration.

UK has tightened its immigration laws for foreigners but it has least affected the Indian food industry in Britain. Admirers of Indian food are growing with time resulting in the expansion of Indian food restaurants and growth of the annual turn over. Ready made Indian meals are occupying most of the shelves in the London supermarkets.

Though now days, lesser number of people are going to Indian restaurants but the industry survey reveals that those entrepreneurs who have converted their restaurants to fast food take away businesses are scaling new heights of success.

Many well-established and recognized restaurants have invested a lot of money on its expansion.  Despite this, it has become difficult to hire talented and experienced cooks from Asian countries .Imposing cap on the immigration of foreigners have definitely created a serious problem for Indian restaurateurs but they are managing somehow. Presently the cap is temporary but with permanent cap, it will become more difficult for entrepreneurs to hire Indian chefs. One can imagine that if Indian food industry is growing with strict immigration, then how much more it will grow with relaxed immigration laws. The new policy is definitely stopping the Indian food industry to grow to a maximum extent.

Bradford has invested about five hundred thousand pounds which has given rise to many jobs in Indian restaurants. In fact, encouraged by Bradford, many other places like Leicester, Birmingham, London and Manchester have also invested a lot for the growth of Indian restaurants.

Seeing the demand of Indian food, many small joint restaurateurs have converted their small take away food joint into full-fledged restaurants. Some have even expanded their sitting capacity of their restaurants. Many Indian restaurants are thriving by supplying cheap ready made Indian food as it is quite popular with people because spicy and delicious Indian food can be afforded at reasonable rates.

A lot has been happening on the immigration front in Canada. In the meantime, while Canada has reduced the number of occupations from the list for Federal Skilled Workers Program, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada has also been talking about welcoming more economic immigrants to the country in the year 2010. In fact, the Canadian immigration department is looking to streamline the immigration plans for this year in order to bring more economic immigrants.

The country’s authorities are in favor of gaining more and more economic immigrants in order to make sure that the Canadian employers have the appropriate number of skills they require, while the country works towards recuperating from the recession. People are referred to as Economic Immigrants who apply under the categories of:

• Skilled Workers;
• Business Immigrants;
• Provincial Nominees;
• Canada Bonds Investors Permanent Residence visa; and
• Caregivers.

The Canadian immigration department every year designs a plan as to how many immigrants the country intends to gain under the immigration programs for economic workers, as well as humanitarian and family migrants. The usual cap for these immigrants ranges from 240,000 to 265,000, and the country has a track record of attaining the mid range of the expected immigrants each year. But, for 2010, immigration department expects to achieve the upper end of the range, with its new plan to welcome more economic immigrants.

The Citizenship and Immigration Canada hopes to increase the number of federal skilled workers and the provincial nominees in order to attain the goal, without hurting the original number of immigrants entering Canada under the family and humanitarian categories. The countries authorities think that economic immigrants are the need of the time, which is likely to grow in years to come!

The most prestigious and significant financial summit that is G-20 summit is going to be held in less than fourteen days. And amongst all the countries which come under G-20, Canada is going to host such prominent event.

Besides holding the unique position of hosting the event, Canada also stands a position of a country with strongest economic condition in the world. The problem of financial crisis nations such as Europe and North America underwent serious job recession phase but Canada remained unharmed and maintained its economic balance during that difficult phase.

Presently Canada stands as one of the strongest country amongst all the developed countries which forms the special group of G-7 countries. Canada holds this position because of its low debt, stronger economic condition and rising level of immigration. Canada has an upper hand over other countries because of the availability of rich resources and better demographics as comparable to other G-7 countries.

Canada’s rising level of immigration shows that many immigrants prefer going to Canada over other countries for settlement and business investment. An introductory data conducted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada proves the validity of this point very well. In the year 2009, a large number of immigrants were given the Canadian visa. According to the data collection, more than 50,000 foreigners were admitted to Canada.  This is quite impressive number as the population of Canada is 34 million people only. Today Canada is that one country where the profits of any investment are going to be in abundance. The investors will be enjoying various benefits such as corporate earning, dividends and permanent residency of Canada for those who are planning to give their contribution in the Canadian economy.

If you want to invest or start your business in Canada, then you can hire any immigration and visa consultancy which would help you in your visa application process.

Getting a H-1 B visa was a dream for many Indians a couple of years ago, since it gives them the green signal to live there great American dream, by working or setting up business in the United States. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency responsible for the issuance of H-1B visas has revealed that it has experienced a cut in the number of application it used to receive for H-1B visas last year. The agency fears that this year also the trend is likely to be followed, since it has received only eighteen thousand applications until last month for the country’s financial year which starts in October.

The fewer number of applications that the USCIS is receiving definitely indicates that the US is once again going to miss the expected number of H-1B holders. Indians in regular category are entitled to a total of 65,000 H-1B visas, while in the student’s category, 20,000 are issued. When we see the 3-year old records, we would be able to notice that the cap was exhausted within one day. During that time, the US immigration agency had to perform lottery for allotments when it received about 1.5 lakh applications for H-1B visas.

There are a number of factors that are accountable for the free fall of the H-1B visa applications. Some of them include, low wage rates; and high unemployment rates ever since the recession hit the world. In particular, petitions from IT professionals have fallen in a dramatic way. In fact, professionals from India with H-1B visas are no more interested in realizing their plans to prolong their stay in the US.

In 2009, prominent IT companies in India altogether collected only 4,762 approved H-1B visas, whereas the number was 20,530 in the year 2006, where TCS alone had collected 3,046 visas. They included Tata Consultancy Services; Infosys Technologies, Wipro Technologies, as well as other arms of US-based organization, such as Cognizant. Moreover, only 4 Indian companies made to the top H-1B visa applicants in 2009, compared to 8 in 2006.

Immigrating to an all-new country and settling down there and start a new life all over again is a stressful process. Many people find it exciting, while there are some who are hit by hard time facing all the hassle over at the new place. Of course, when you cannot find the comfort of your home country in the new country at the beginning, life seems to become hell. At the same time, many people take up the new challenge with smile. Along with taking up the challenge, you will need some important information in order to make your life smooth in the new place.

If you are looking forward to immigrate to the United States, the first thing you may need to look for a job. With a secured job and with other essentials, you can lead a satisfactory life in the US. Well, after the global recession hit the world economy, you may find it difficult to secure a job for you, especially in a new country. For you information, the US has a number of career centers, which can be of great help for you. Any legal immigrant can take the help of these centers in finding a job or acquire training on professional occupations.

For immigrants in the US, it is very important that they have the proficiency of English language. The career centers also cater to those who want to hone their skills on the language. Besides, there are high schools and community colleges in every US state that provide English learning classes. With a good communication skills, especially on the US official language can help you grab the best opportunities!

Britain has one of its youngest Prime Ministers in the last two hundred years. At the age of 43 for both the Prime Minister as well as the Deputy Minister, it seems like the times of the young are here to stay. But if looked outside the Parliamentary walls, is it the same outside on the streets?

Post recession, recent studies have shown that the youth in Briton are getting anxious when it came to the less number of jobs available and the increasing taxes at the same time.

According to Aviva which is a leading health insurance company, around 54% are planning on immigrating to other nations in search of employment opportunities. Most of them prefer Australia but would want to shift on a temporary basis. Another 43% feel that working abroad for a year or so would help them through the recession. However, 20% prefer to work overseas for around three year and another 25% do not mind settling abroad.

As per another survey, known as the Third Annual NatWest International Personal Banking Quality of Life Report states that many expatriates of British origin are happy to live abroad and do not intend to come back anytime soon.

Employment opportunities overseas cater to better incomes, less stress levels as well as better standards of living which provides for more leisure time. Of all the expatriates, 19% Brits wanted to get back home in Britain. This percentage has reduced when compared to the data collected in 2008 when in 26% of the people wanted to get back.

Additionally, most of the fresh graduates are opting for European nations such as France, Germany and Spain not only because of the jobs but this would also help them repay their student loans. With this, they would also be able to find jobs of their choice such as those in the creative sector and healthcare.

On the other hand, the aging population is also a major concern as the nation would be short of workforce. The average age of the nation was 39 years in 2008 which is being speculated to increase as per the Office of National Statistics.

23% of the Britain’s population would be above the age of 65 years by 2033 with only 18% who would be around 16 years of age or even younger. At that point of time, the average age would be 40 years.

With such problems rising ahead, it does not make sense to put a cap on immigration. The British government seriously needs to work on all its policies pertaining to immigration especially when the country would be the one in most need!

According to a recent international survey, continuous shortage of the skilled workers in Canada is gradually hampering the nation’s employer’s growth plans. The survey further depicts that the position of Trades personality is one of the hardest positions to fill in the country.

On one hand, we have the impact of recession which has hiked the number of employment seekers, similarly, on the other hand, the employers too are facing some of the tough times in filing their required positions, reason being that they are failing to get the right skilled people to match the required requirements needed by them.

A survey says that 31 per cent of all the employers on a global basis and 21 per cent in Canada are facing huge problems in getting the right employees for their key skilled positions.

Byrne Luft  from Manpower Canada stated that employers are going through a rough patch, especially in the condition where there are jobs available. No doubt a “jobless” recovery is seen, but the key skilled positions are still left unfulfilled.

Amongst the toughest positions to fill in Canada, position for tradesperson is the hardest to fill, followed by sales representatives and technicians to name a few. So if you one of the above, ensure that you move towards Canada as all the employers are waiting for you. Other hardest positions to fill are secretaries, nurses and teachers.

The survey involved as long as 35,000 employers in 36 nations.