Archive for July, 2008

The current technique used to test immigrants for tuberculosis (TB) is insufficient; this is according to a report composed by a group of researchers entitled, ‘Epidemiology of laboratory confirmed tuberculosis in Victoria, 1990 to 2004.’

In terms of current law, the department of immigration requires all those migrating to Australia to be tested for TB via an x-ray. Although a positive result does cause outright visa refusal, but the application will not be processed until the TB has been treated.

Despite this 80% of TB sufferers in Australia are non-Australian born immigrants. This, it has been suggested is due to the techniques were cases of latent TB are likely to be missed. And it is due to this that researchers believe that the current system needs to be amended.

The researchers therefore propose that testing for latent TB should take place and follow-up consultations should be encouraged post arrival in Australia.

Australia has been taken over by the US as the destination of choice for British and Irish travellers, reports the Telegraph.

According to a survey of 17, 500 respondents by guidebook publisher Lonely Planet, the US was rated tops, followed by Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Thailand.
The UK tourists interviewed in the survey also said that America is the country they would be most likely to visit.

Australia had previously been the most popular destination for four years in a row.
For the first time the UK has appeared in the top ten choices as more and more Brits opt for the cheaper local holiday options.

The fact that the US was selected comes as a surprise to many who often criticise them for their bureaucratic immigration system. However the weakening pound have made America attractive in terms of the favourable exchange rate compared to the strong euro. 

A recent news article by ABC Australia raises an interesting issue of immigration being a major contributor to greenhouse gasses.

The report states that demographers at Melbourne’s Monash University fear that whilst immigration is increasing to a country the amount of emissions which are being produced and subsequently polluting the environment are too increasing.

They argue that population growth is the main driver of emissions but it’s being largely ignored by many a government as few are aware of such dangers.

The article reads that “researchers forecast that Australia’s population will grow from the current 21 million to 31.6 million by 2050 with almost 10 million of the people making up the net increase being migrants…As a result, they project that Australia’s emissions will have grown from the current 500 million tonnes annually to 800 million tonnes.”

The reasoning behind their somewhat revolutionary theories is that extra migration will add to economic activity and thus greenhouse emissions.

If this thought proves to be right it could be detrimental for the age of migration and global mobility. It is not merely Australia which is seeing its population numbers rise, many places the world-over are too gaining citizens at record paces.

Critics however have dismissed the Universities findings and feel that international migration is irrelevant to the global emissions as it is merely the movement of people from one country to another. This is a sensible thought as surely people leaving one country eases the emissions which that country produces and is hence balanced by the increase being created in the country of destination?

This is a debate which in a very ecological climate of green environmental awareness and many people worrying about the already evident results of climate change will surely continue to rage. However I think it is too rash to believe everything which has been said and until further studies have been created governments should instead focus on aiding the environment by stopping processes which have been proven are detrimental.

Although Australia and New Zealand have always shared a close relationship and both counties have for sometime attracted each others nationals to both visit and live, a new situation regarding country hoppers has been noted.

In a spate of New Zealand newspaper articles, New Zealand’s revenue minister, Peter Dunne, has described his country as a giant transit lounge as many immigrants ended up moving to Australia after stopping off in NZ.

Mr Dunne told Wellington’s Dominion Post, that nearly 20 per cent of the 37,000 New Zealanders, who went to Australia last year, permanently or for a year, were born outside New Zealand.

He says “New Zealand provides back-door entry to Australia because it has less strict immigration criteria…Most of those who moved to Australia in 2007 after immigrating to New Zealand were born in South Africa, followed by India and then England.”

The question being asked by many New Zealand nationals however that is in light of these statistics should New Zealand tighten its immigration policies in order to prevent those destined for Australia from making strategic stop gaps?

Or is this actually a positive factor which the country needs to build on, as once in the country they can then do more to encourage such migrants to stay and contribute to New Zealand’s greater to the economy and work force.

According to Dutch law an immigrant needs to pass a Dutch language test in order to get a visa. However a loophole in this law has allowed an illiterate Moroccan woman join her husband in the Netherlands to the delight of rights activists.

The Netherlands is a country filled with immigrants, with an estimated 10% of the total 16.6 million population are believed to be of non-Western origin.

But politicians have sought to stop immigrants from non-western countries coming into Holland.

This law which requires a language and culture test to be passed came into place in 2005. However it was mistakenly left out of the clause relating to family reunification, therefore this case took place and this Moroccan woman can now legally come to Holland to live.  

This has been met with support by human rights activists who believe that such a law is in complete violation of international human rights law and such a law should be totally scrapped.

However their celebrations may be short-lived as Dutch politicians vow to fix this loophole as soon as possible.

The UK has proposed a plan to introduce travel visas for citizens from 11 different countries worldwide when travelling to Britain. This however could, in turn, hurt UK tourists, believe www.globalvisas.com.

Due to rising illegal immigration figures and fears around border security, tourists and business people from countries like South Africa, Malaysia and Mauritius may have to abide by visa restrictions in the UK. And this could result in reciprocal visa restrictions.

With visa restrictions such as this in place, it would be surprising if these eleven countries don’t retaliate by imposing their own visa constraints on UK citizens. And why not, these laws are ultimately labelling citizens untrustworthy and a threat.

The British government can impose such restrictions but they cannot expect such measures not to affect them too. Besides, it is silly to impose such rules on countries where citizens make up a high proportion of visitors and therefore greatly contribute to the country’s economics via tourism and business.

Many different people will be affected by such changes in the UK and in the 11 designated countries. This visa scheme will affect the tourist itself by raising costs and adding inconvenience. Tour operators and agents would have to change their strategy and this will also add more paperwork to their current load.

Countries like South Africa are extremely popular tourist destinations, particularly for Brits who come for holiday or to visit family. This will be seriously impacted if citizens of the UK need a visa to visit.

Implementing visas for these countries, which are seen as risky, is ultimately a double edged sword. On the one hand visitors who contribute to the UK economy would be affected and turned off and the opportunities for British travellers would be hampered.

A final decision as to if necessary visas will be introduced in certain countries will take place early next year. (TB)

In a day and age of global mobility it seems that the concept of free travel is far from evident. Recently news from the Moscow Times has shown that visa controversy has once again halted controversial groups, this time Mormons.

The story explains that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have announced that due to the stringent visa laws it will no longer be able to send North American Missionaries to Russia.

A new visa regime signed into law by then-Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov in October states that holders of humanitarian visas are allowed to remain in the country for no longer than 180 days in one calendar year, and for stretches of no longer than 90 days at a time.

While missionaries could previously renew their visas in neighbouring countries, they must now return to their country of origin, greatly increasing costs.

The controversy has further meant that future missions will be halted and instead assignments to Russia will be limited to those nationalities not needing visas.

The so-called Mormon Church has strong ties with Russia and at present it yearly sends an average of 19,000 members and eight permanent missions.

The debate which has emerged from this topical story however is one of preference. Should Mormons or any other religious group be exempt from visa restrictions and if so can an argument therefore be made for sportsmen, actors or musicians?

Sydney’s World Youth Day celebrations have been marred by the disappearance of 39 Indians who used the events as a scam to gain entrance through tourist visas.

Two hundred and twenty Indians travelled to New Zealand en route to the Australian religious pilgrimage, however just 181 left Auckland, New Zealand. This has sparked a man hunt in New Zealand for these potential illegal immigrants.

Of those men who have been contacted almost all have admitted their plans to remain in New Zealand. This has sparked fears at the number of those already in Australia who have the same idea.

However these missing men claim that they were promised New Zealand residency and were shocked to find they had received short-term visas, despite this they have no plans to leave.

No matter what the truth, it is a shame that such religious events have been affected by immigration and the rise of global illegal immigration.

“It appears World Youth Day has been used as an excuse and that is really quite alarming,” said New Zealand’s Catholic Church spokesperson, Lyndsay Freer.

And there is nothing that can really be done at the moment to those who did not attend the events as they have been granted entry for three months and are legal until this time period is up.

It seems that such scams are increasing in number; this hampers such get-togethers and puts the future of events like this in jeopardy.

Australia has strict visitor visa criteria that can be viewed on www.globalvisas.com, however with such events it is difficult to determine who is a genuine visitor for purposes of the event and who is using this as an illegal route to immigration.

The question is, how can they continue to hold World Youth Day or similar such events, when a minority continuously dupe the system? It is a sad reality but a valid fear.

Skilled migrants have become an integral part of guaranteeing that Australia remains a competitive economic destination. Therefore industries throughout the country are welcoming immigrants with open arms.

The latest sector to voice the essential need for skilled workers from overseas is the mining industry in the Northern Territory province. This area is booming at the moment due to uranium and gas deposits, as reported by ABC News.

And how do they attract these immigrants? The Northern Territory government is promising high salaries that are difficult to turn down.

“This industry needs to maintain its growth and success, therefore they need more workers coming to Australia under skilled visas or working holiday visas,” says Erin Ryan of www.globalvisas.com. Therefore not just the provincial but the national government are easing visa requirements through extensions and fast-track possibilities.

Currently 33 positions up for grabs from managers, supervisors to engineers. 

With global mobility becoming a developing trend it seems that it has fuelled an entire generation of so-called job-hoppers.

According to a report by CNN fewer numbers of youngsters are opting to settle with one employee and are instead moving around from job to job.

The report blames today’s mobile work force as the result of a rapidly changing economy.”In previous generations, a worker sometimes could land a job out of college and remain with the same company until retirement. Experts say that scenario is rare these days; most workers don’t spend more than 10 years with a company.”

The increased mobility comes as workers have had to adapt to a global, information-age economy. In this age companies as well as employees are not merely settling for local talent and are instead broadening their horizons to the global marketplace.

With many students opting to travel and work most end up in temporary jobs which are not skills assessed but are instead used as a convince pit stop before returning to follow careers.

Well, this is the theory in practice, however it could be argued that with so many people wanting to open their horizons and experience more of the worlds and its contrasting cultures the tradition of establishing a career at a single company and subsequently growing through the ranks.