With immigration cap being set in by the UK government for immigrants coming from the non-EU nations, another turn of events has taken place now. This time, it’s the cut on Aussies walking into Britain. This has come about after a release which stated new figures projecting an increase in the total immigration to UK.

Prior to elections, a promise was made by the Conservative Party a few months back there would be a cap on the total immigration and would be brought down to less than 100,000 in a single year. This would be done by lowering the total number of economic immigrants from nations such as Australia and so on which are not a part of the European Union.

However, the recent figures projected that the net immigration saw a rise when compared to last year. There was an increase from 163,000 to 196,000 which clearly shows that there would soon be a steep cut in immigration.

Already, the government of David Cameron has implemented an interim cut of 5% on the total number of skilled migrants who are being granted a visa. These include those people who are not the citizens of the European Union nations. At the same time, the employers are being consulted with regarding how to go about implementing long term cuts which would be executed next year.

The Australian firms which are functioning in London intend to join the British companies to participate in the process of consultation which would take place in the coming weeks. They believe that the British government should not make it tough for the foreign employees to come to Britain or to hire foreign skilled migrants.

The main reason behind this sudden rise in the number of immigrants has been the constant influx of foreign migrants to study where as less Britons were leaving the nation. This number dropped to 36,000 last year from 90,000 in 2008. So, the only way to bring about a balance is to cut down on net immigration. At the same time, being a member of the EU means that the EU citizens have to be permitted free access into the nation at all times. This leaves the nation with no choice but to cut down on the immigration from the non-EU nations.

The British government is finally implementing a cap on its annual intake of skilled migrants from next April. This would definitely pose difficulties for many applicants especially the highly-skilled professionals from India, specifically those working in the field of services and healthcare.

According to Damian Green, the Immigration Minister for Britain, there would be an annual quota. The first of these quotas would begin in April next year which would be executed for Tier I and tier II. Tier I caters to the highly skilled professionals where as Tier II caters to those applicants who already have a job offer in prior. He also said that Britain is not attempting anything strange in its annual quota.

An interim quota has already been implemented in the meantime which has started from July 2010 till March 2011 before the final cap is set. This involves a limit of 5,100 for tier – I and around 20,000 for the Tier II category. As of now, this can be considered as a short respite for the IT professionals from India. The Indian IT industry is completely dependent on Intra Company Transfer or the ICT route to send professionals to Britain. This has not been included in the interim quota with talks being on with the associations from the industry regarding the use of ICT after April next year.

On the issue, Mr. Som Mittal, President for Nasscom said that the industry of technology feels that these quotas should not be executed on the ICT professionals. According to the data, these professionals reside in the nation for less than two years, so it is not related to immigration but instead is about trade. Mr. Mittal would also be meeting the Migration Advisory Committee to discuss this matter in London.

According to Corporate America, the biggest brands in technology would not have made it to their current position without the much needed skilled migrants from overseas. Big brands such Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Google to name a few, could not have made it to the top spot otherwise.

According to a report which has been made for the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC) and the American Council of International Personnel (ACIP), a strong defense is seen especially towards India. Such terms have been mentioned 43 times followed by China and Chinese with nine references.

When it comes to the ACIP, their objective is to cater to the relevant resources as well as the support which is required for the development of placement, mobility as well as the training of the highly academically qualified professionals throughout the world.

This report has come about when many measures have been taken recently to curb immigration. All the major high tech firms see it as the role of the highly qualified immigrants for their success. Many examples have been cited with reference to immigrants in the report. The H1-B program has been the key to all these developments which took place in the realm of technology. For instance, Orkut which was created by Orkut Buyukkokten is from Turkey. He received his PhD from Stanford University and later on joined Google as a software engineer.

A research by William Kerr from the Harvard Business School and William F. Lincoln from the University of Michigan has also been referred to in the report. This research projects a connection between the increased patent filings and the H-1B admissions. This has been found for both the companies as well as the cities.

The report also has a special section known as the “Hyperbole about Indian Company Use of H1-B Visas”. This part caters to the H1-B visas granted to the Indian professionals who come and work in the United States.

It has been said by British government that the nation has gained from immigration from India. At the same time, now the nation wants this rate to be controlled in order to increase the gains as well as reduce the total number of migrants walking into the nation. This is when compared to the level of immigration in 1990s.

Damian Green, the Immigration Minister for Britain on his visit to India said that the nation is also assessing the provisions for the student visas. This is being done to bring about aid to those who are the best and the brightest and could pursue their higher education. At the same time, it could also prevent those who pretend to have an intention to study in order to get a job. He also said that he is in the nation to explain the amends brought about in the UK immigration policies as well as the reasons behind them. At this point of time, the government of UK is working on limited economic immigration.

The Immigration Minister also mentioned that it has been decided to bring about a zero limit when it comes to unskilled migration. At the same time, the government wants to attract the best and the brightest of the entrepreneurs and investors who could aid in the economic growth of Britain. This does not mean there is a contradiction in reduction of immigration levels and at the same time, wanting to bring about more investment and skilled migrants to the nation. Both are possible together.

Answering questions he also said that about hundred illegal migrants on an average are being deported from UK each month. With this, about two hundred more Indians have been detained in various prisons in the nation. The Minister also met with the Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal as well as the DGP to seek cooperation with regard to illegal migration to Britain from Punjab.

A populist solution has been followed by both- Julia Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister and Tony Abbott, the Leader of Opposition. This approach has been adopted in order to develop the infrastructure of the nation by cutting on the number of skilled migrants walking into Australia.

However, it seems as if some of the major factors have not been considered while planning. Contrary to the Rudd government which had plans for a “Big Australia” by 2050, the current government intends to cut down on immigration. As per Gillard and Abbott, it is important for the nation to be sustainable first so that it is able to accommodate the large numbers of immigrants walking into the nation each year.

At the same time, many critics have been arguing of this reason as being invalid. The main reason being that immigration has proved that there has been an expansion in the domestic economy of the nation. More so, the nation has had huge benefits when it came to regional communities. Also, not much has been done when it comes to the constant shortage of labor in the nation. This is only expected to increase in the coming decade as about 3.3 million baby boomers are walking towards retirement.

So, sustainability is not the main concern here as said by the leaders above. However, it does need more skilled migrants who can work, manage and establish urban planning in regional areas which need such development. Growth in population would lead the returning of raw commodity exports into the domestic economy which would be expanding. This would automatically create new jobs, thus hiking the economy further. This would strengthen the links at a global platform.

Above all, whatever happens, the nation would require more immigrants in the future to cater to its economy without which the economy would slowly crumble due to the lack of skilled workers.

The Congressional cap on the H1-B visas has been slammed by the corporate world in the United States. The US government has been asked to permit the markets to decide on the numbers of skilled migrants from overseas (including India) to be eligible to work in the nation.

According to a latest report called as Regaining America’s Competitive Advantage: Making Our Immigration System Work, the greatness of the nation is in its openness towards new people and innovations. Not allowing such highly educated migrants to look out for opportunities who cater to further competition amongst the firms in the US would mean weakening and reducing the competitiveness of the employers in America. The plan that would suit the best for the nation is the one which caters to innovation and freedom instead of limitations. This report has been developed by the US Chamber of Commerce, American Council on International Personnel as well as the Representative Body of the American Businesses.

As per the above report, the best plan would lead to an easy way for the US firms to sponsor highly skilled migrants for green cards. This can be done by removing the labor certification as well as the immigration quotas which are based on employment where in an applicant has to be in queue for about six to twenty years.

At the same time, catering green cards to those who have graduated from institutions in the United States would also cater to retaining innovators by the employers in the US. All in all, it would be strengthening for the nation itself to keep the doors open for these highly skilled migrants. Freedom and not restriction has to be the choice.

In their search for skilled migrants from Britain, the Government of Australia is organizing an employment expo in September in London. This expo is catered to getting skilled workers from the UK to match the needs of the employers in Australia. As per the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), Australia needs those skilled in medical services, engineering or trades. This is because the nation is still very short of skilled workers in a wide range of industries.

The Skills Australia Needs Expo would cater to those industries which are critically short of skilled professionals. These include construction, mining and health industries. This expo would also be host to major employers from Australia and their representatives and state and territorial governments from Australia.

In 2005, the Australian Expo Program was first started. As of now, about twenty three Australian employment Expos have been organized. Of these, eight have been held in UK. In 2009, some of the key features of this expo were:

• About thirty eight exhibitors which include the Government organizations, Australian employers as well as companies into relocation service participated.
• The number of skilled workers was above 1800 who had visited this expo.

According to DIAC, 90% of those who attended this expo recommended more such expos to their friends. At the same time, 80% felt that they can meet the right sponsor for Australian migration.

After putting the alterations to the Skilled Occupation List in action on 1st July, 2010, the Australian immigration department is all set to have arrangements for the priority processing of the petitions filed by overseas people under the skilled migration visa program. The arrangements have been revealed by the nation’s immigration and citizenship minister, Chris Evans.

The arrangements in the aspect of priority processing take the changes to the Australian SOL, and annulment of the MODL, as well as the List of Critical Skills into consideration. The arrangements have been in force since July 14, 2010, which apply to applications under certain visa categories that have been already filed with the Australian immigration department. The arrangements also take the applications that are yet to come in future into account.

The processing arrangements made apply to specific migration schemes. They are:

• Employer Nomination Scheme or ENS;
• Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme or RSMS; and
• General Skilled Migration or GSM.

Now, let us have a look at the order (the first being the matter of highest priority) of the priority processing of the applications under these schemes.

• Petitions from individuals who have been sponsored by Australian employers under the Employer Nomination and Regional Skilled Migration Schemes.
• Petitions from individuals nominated by state/territory for a nominated job position which is mentioned in that state’s migration plan.
• Petitions from individuals who have chose an occupation included on the SOL.
• Other petitions are subjected to processing on first-come-first-serve basis.

According to the Australian immigration officials, the priority processing has been considered in an attempt to comply with the various changes brought in to the nation’s migration program pertaining to the skilled migrants. According to them, the priority processing is likely to bring in the skills that the Oz economy needs.

After the nation’s Finance Minister, this time a demographer opposed the new Australian Prime Minister’s idea to limit the immigration level over the years to come. The Australian National University professor McDonald believes Australia should attract more skilled migrants in order to help its economy grow. According to him, immigration is one of the most important factors of labor market and it plays a vital role in the expansion of a nation’s economy.

The demographer expressed his views regarding the importance of immigration in Australian economy in a seminar hosted by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia earlier this week. The director of the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute at the Australian National University also pointed out that the growth of mining and other industries definitely implies that Australia requires skills in order to meet the labor shortages. He further cleared it that Australia cannot expand the economy without letting people from outside to enter the nation.

At the time when the new Australian PM Julia Gillard is talking about her disbelieve in ‘Big Australia’ policy, the demographic expert said that the nation’s intake of 44,000 permanent migrants in the 2008-2009 year was not sufficient to meet the labor requirements. Out of the total intake, Australia received only 30,000 new skilled workers, which did not satisfy the current labor demand. Because of this, many employers in Oz had to rely upon temporary workers to address the labor shortages.

Canada has currently joined the league of popular immigration destinations around the world where immigration is accountable for population growth. The Statistics Canada revealed that the country current population is over thirty-four million. As per the figures stated by the agency, until April 1, the country recorded a population of 34,019,000.

Canada’s big population is a contribution of migrants from across the world. Reportedly, the official figure recorded in April was up 88,000 from the figure recorded in early this year. Big population, mostly contributed by immigration has been a concern for many countries like the Australia and the United Kingdom. But, it seems Canada is not that concern about the issue of growing population, instead the country is concerned about its aging population.

The Canadian government has recently implemented measures to attract more and more overseas skilled migrants to the country. Because, the country strongly believes that immigrants make an integral part of the country who contribute to the country’s society and economy.

Almost every province in the country saw population increase in 2010’s first quarter. Out of the all, provinces in the west have experienced higher population growth. One of the provinces is Saskatchewan, which recorded the largest quarterly population growth since the year 1972. Exception is Nova Scotia where there was no record of people immigrating during the quarter. Moreover, there was no population increase in the province, which is the result of more deaths and fewer births.

The increasing number of inhabitants in Canada surely indicates that the country’s policy to encourage more and more people to immigrate and work is working so far, especially in its Western provinces!