Spouse or Partner who wishes to settle in UK will be required to meet English Language requirement to gain entry to UK, which will be brought into effect from 29 November 2010.

If you are in a relationship with someone who is a British Citizen or who has permanent residence in the UK, If you wish to apply as a husband, wife, civil partner, fiance(e), proposed civil partner, unmarried partner or same-sex partner Or, if you are a citizen of a Country outside the European Economic Area. This European Economic Area includes the whole of the European Union as well as a few other Countries.

If you are not a national of any majority English speaking Country you will need to meet the following English language requirements:

You will need to pass an acceptable English language test with an approved test centre. You will need to show a basic level of English ability in speaking and listening at level A1 of the Common European Framework. Generally, the requirement is 40 to 50 hours of tuition for most people. An applicant will need to understand simple everyday expressions and very basic requirements to qualify. An applicant will not need to show ability in English in reading and writing. The cost of the test will vary from country to country depending on the test centre.

The list of majority English speaking Countries, whose nationals do not have to take the test are included below:

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• The Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Canada
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• New Zealand
• St Kitts and Nevis
• St Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• The United States of America

If you submit your application before 29 November 2010 this new requirement will not have any impact on your application. Provided you are from a majority English speaking Country after this date you will have to pay for English language tuition and take a test.

If you are interested in immigration to UK and would like to have further details of your prospects for immigration contact us now for an evaluation.

US Visa fees increase will cost Indian firms an additional $200-250 million annually, and make the Indian IT industry less competitive in the global market, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) advised.

"This will have a negative impact on Indian companies that are investing in the US, employing US talent and are overall aiding the US economic recovery," Nasscom Vice President Ameet Nivsarker said.

The Bill is proposing to increase US Visa application fees by at least $2,000 for the next five years to raise nearly $550 million to help fund plans to increase security along the US-Mexico border. These fee increases will apply only to companies with more than 50 employees and for whom the majority of their workforces are visa-holding foreign workers.

The large majority IT companies, apply for 50,000 visas every year to bring in skilled workers through the H-1B and L-1 streams, besides renewal of old visas. The increase in fees would make Indian IT companies operating in the US, who employ Americans and invest in the country, uncompetitive when the need is for open markets.

The Minister has released a new Ministerial Direction for priority processing arrangements last night effective 14 July. Effective July 2010, processing priorities (with highest priority listed first) are:

• Applications from people who are employer sponsored under the ENS and RSMS.
• Applications from people who are nominated by a state or territory government agency with a nominated occupation that is specified on that State or Territory's state migration plan.
• Applications from people who have nominated an occupation on the new SOL -Schedule 3 effective from 1 July 2010.
• All other applications are to be processed in the order in which there are received.

The priority processing arrangements applies to current applications, including those in the final stages of processing. Case Officers must follow the Direction made by the Minister about priority processing and cannot process applications outside the order set out.

Applicants who lodged before 1 July 2010 that have been nominated by a State or Territory in an occupation that is subsequently specified in their nominating State or Territory's State Migration Plan (SMP) will receive processing under Priority Group 2.

Applications with State Sponsorship which is not on the subsequent SMP will be processed on the basis of the nominated occupation. Therefore if the nominated occupation is on the new SOL it will be Priority Group 3. If the nominated occupation is not on the new SOL it will be Priority Group 4.

The average processing times for GSM have not been updated in the Client Service Charter in accordance with the new Ministerial Direction. Once DIAC have updated this information we will advise the standard processing times.

The State and Territories to release approved State Migration Plans. Whilst some States have indicated that they were expecting to release the Plans in August there is no exact date.

Federal Election has just been called for 21 August 2010 this may impact the approval and release of the State Migration Plans.

The Immigration department has introduced the Tier 1 Visa limit from 19 July 2010. This is for the first time that there has been an immigration quota on Tier 1 visas, previously known as the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. If you are planning to make an initial application for a Tier 1 visa the two main changes to the Tier 1 visa are advised as follows:

Tier 1 has been announced with interim limit for this visa application from 19 July 2010 to 31 March 2011. The applicants are requested to gain 100 points instead of the previous 95 points.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) now has a monthly immigration cap on Tier 1visas. If an applicant apply and the Tier 1 visas limit has been reached then the application will be considered for the visa allocation for the following month. Applicant can still submit the application even if the visa limit has been reached. However, the visa will not be issued until visas are actually available.

The processing time will also be longer to process Tier 1 visa as before on the previous months. If you meet the new requirements and the pass mark you can consider in applying as soon as possible to avoid delay in the processing time.

If an applicant wishes to apply under the Post-study work, Entrepreneur or Investor categories of Tier 1 could contact us to assess and advise.

You are also given points on your earnings of £150,000 your points score will increase from 75 to 80 points. If an applicant has a Masters degree in Business Administration your point score will increase from 75 to 80.

If you wish to come under the Tier 1 visa category you should consider applying right now. You have a good chance to qualify under Tier 1 if you meet the above requirements and also should apply before the Tier 1 visa quota starts to affect processing time on your application under Tier 1.

Presently the H-1B visa is one of the most useful temporary US visa categories for entry of professional level specialty workers to the US. IT specialists have a grant chance to apply under H-1B and gain entry to the US on the H-1B visa. It is advisable to apply now when the US economy is doing well and there is a shortage of USH-1B Visas.

At the current time there is still good availability of US H-1B. The last H-1B Count was on 9 July 2010.

If you wish to come under US H-1B visa category you should consider applying right now. You have a good chance to qualify under US H-1B if you meet the above requirements and we can assist you in preparing a successful application.

The Federal Government has introduced a CAP on the new occupations that was released on 26th June 2010, which has come into effect from 1st July 2010. Once they have hit a specific target, the Federal Government will close the category, so there will be urgency to every application to increase chances of getting in before the "cap" is imposed.

The government is actually increasing its economic/skilled worker targets. However, the increased numbers will be more tightly managed. They have set a cap of 20,000 applications per year and limit each job category within the 29 occupations to a maximum of 1000 applications. Once any particular category has reached the 1000 target/cap, the occupation category will close. At the start of the new year (July – June) it may re-open again.

There are two caps/limits to be mindful of: (i) a cap of 1,000 per job category, and (ii) an overall cap of 20,000 in all categories. The cap may be increased later, because they plan to continue increases to the skilled worker category. However, they don't want to be overwhelmed in backlogged applications like they are now.

Since the new ministerial instructions the backlog of federal skilled worker applications has been reduced from 640,000 to 380,000 applications. Previously, it was taking up to six years to process Canadian skilled worker applications. Under the new system the majority of applications were processed in six to twelve months. However, the first quarter of 2010 has seen an increase in the number of applications that has resulted in processing delays.

If an applicant wishes to come under the skilled worker category they will either have to have a job offer or will have to come under one of the new 29 in-demand occupations. The 29 in-demand occupations were chosen after analysis of labour market information and discussions with provinces territories and others. If applying under the occupation list there will be a maximum of 20,000 applications per year. A maximum of 1,000 applications per occupation will be accepted. There will be no limit on the number of applications if you have a job offer.

Business Immigration Program - There is a moratorium on Investor applications while financial requirement are analyzed and increased. It is expected that will be raised from $400,000 investment to $800,000 investment.

Investment requirement - There is a significant increase in the investment requirements for the immigrant investor program. A personal net worth of $1.6M instead of $800,000. An investment requirement of $800,000 instead of $400,000.

Canadian Government feels that that the investment requirements are too low and have to be increased. The current system attracts more applicants than are required each year under this plan. This has resulted in an increase in processing time also.

Canadian immigrant investor applications will not be accepted until the new system is operational will not be accepting any more. This is to prevent the rush of applicants before the change in the requirements in the Immigration process.

If you are interested in immigration to Canada and would like to have further details of your prospects for immigration contact us now for an evaluation.

On 26th June 2010, the federal government announced changes to immigration. The number of in demand occupations that qualify under the Skilled Worker Category has been reduced further to 29 in-demand occupations. The new list of 29 occupations will be effective from 1st July 2010.

• Restaurant and Food Service Managers
• Primary Production Managers (Except Agriculture)
• Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management
• Insurance Adjusters and Claims Examiners
• Biologists and Related Scientists
• Architects
• Specialist Physicians
• General Practitioners and Family Physicians
• Dentists
• Pharmacists
• Physiotherapists
• Registered Nurses
• Medical Radiation Technologists
• Dental Hygienists & Dental Therapists
• Licensed Practical Nurses
• Psychologists
• Social Workers
• Chefs
• Cooks
• Contractors and Supervisors, Carpentry Trades
• Contractors and Supervisors, Mechanic Trades
• Electricians (Except Industrial & Power System)
• Industrial Electricians
• Plumbers
• Welders & Related Machine Operators
• Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics
• Crane Operators
• Drillers & Blasters - Surface Mining, Quarrying & Construction
• Supervisors, Oil and Gas Drilling and Service

If you are interested in immigration to Canada and would like to have further details of your prospects for immigration contact us now for an evaluation.

Australian immigration has released the full skilled occupation list to be introduced from 1 July 2010.

Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) will from 1 July 2010 replace ASCO Australian Standard Classification of Occupations and "is a system developed to collect, publish and analyse occupation statistics across government agencies." This will be used to provide data for all visa, immigration and citizenship programs.

This provides full details of the points awarded for the General Skilled Migration visas and 457 visas from 1 July 2010.

If you are interested in immigration to Australia and would like to have further details of your prospects for immigration contact us now for an evaluation.

The Government has released the new SOL to apply from 1 July 2010. Please see http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/whats-new.htm

The new SOL advises us the following:

• The new SOL comprises 181 occupations. The current SOL has 408.
• This is based on ANZSCO (Australian & New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations) and not ASCO (Australian Standard Classification of Occupations).
• It does not apply for non-GSM visas, such as ENS, RSMS or Subclass 457.
• It does not apply to GSM applicants who, on 8 February 2010:
• Held a Subclass 485 (skilled graduate) visa or had a pending subclass 485 visa application; and who
• Apply for a permanent or provisional onshore GSM visa by 31 December 2012; or at the date of the announcement had a pending GSM visa application.
• Transitional arrangements will apply to international students who, on 8 February 2010:
• Held a subclass 572 (vocational education and training sector), subclass 573 (higher education sector); or
• Held a subclass 574 (postgraduate research sector) student visa.

These students can apply for a subclass 485 (skilled graduate) visa using the current SOL as long as they lodge their subclass 485 application by 31 December 2012.

If you are interested in immigration to Australia and would like to have further details of your prospects for immigration contact us now for an evaluation.