2/29/08 - UK Implements New Points-Based Immigration System Effective Today, As Australia Adds 6,000 Skilled Worker Visas
Effective today, the United Kingdom has begum implementing a new points-based system which much simplifies the permanent immigration regime and makes it easier for highly skilled specifically allows for employment authorization for spouses, and mimics one already in place in Australia.
At the same time, Australia has just increased the number of visas it has allotted for skilled worker positions by 6,000 for the current fiscal year, thus permitting Australian businesses to recruit more trained and skilled employees from abroad without running into visa limitations. This increases the total available to 108,500.
It is becoming increasingly more difficult for U.S. employers to complete for skilled labor - often skilled labor which is the product of U.S. educational institutions - when the rest of the developed world keeps adapting its immigration laws to the reality of a tight labor market for the most talented foreign workers while the U.S. remains inflexible.
While it is not at all clear that a points-based system is the most appropriate course for the U.S., at the very least some recognition is clearly needed the U.S. employers are competing in a very tight market for the most talented international employees, and that the current U.S. immigration system is handicapping the U.S. economy at a time when it needs it least.
The Australian action is exactly what the U.S. is NOT doing by maintaining H-1B levels even though last year there were more than twice as many petitions from American companies for H-1B workers than there were available H-1Bs in the general category (133,000 vs. 65,000).
Not only U.S. employers, but anyone concerned with America's long-term competitiveness.