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Thrive PRs Leilani Abels has welcomed immigration reforms committed to by the federal government in the 2023 budget, which she believes will help to see a coming of age in the public relations industry in Australia, now and into the future.

The sector has been calling for immigration reform for some time, as border closures put an even greater strain on an already dwindling PR talent market, Abels said.

Mid last year, the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) launched the The Migration Task Force, with the financial support of 17 agencies and a recruitment firm, with Thrive part of the cohort.

The task force made a comprehensive submission to the governments National Skills Commission to recognise PR as a long-term skill requirement an effort that has been rewarded with the Albanese governments commitment to an introduce evidence-based approach to identifying labour market needs, rather than a rigid occupations list.

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In new reforms first announced by the Minister for Home Affairs Clare ONeill last month, the Commonwealth has committed to creating a pathway to permanent residency for all temporary skilled workers by the end of 2023.

These changes were again committed to in last weeks budget, which stated: The government aims to ensure the migration system delivers the skilled migrants needed to address persistent skills shortages by allocating around 70 per cent of places in the 2023-24 Permanent Migration Program to the Skill stream.

In an interview with Mumbrella, Abels said: The PR industry in Australia is overly reliant on global talent, in particular immigration from the UK.

She noted that a pathway to permanent residency has not previously existed for temporary skill shortage visa holders in metro cities, as PR sat on the Short Term Skills list.

This is a mega win for the industry, ensuring permanent residency for those in Australia seeking a future here, she continued.

While Abels described immigration reform as a minefield, being that it is detailed and complex, she pointed to several other promising commitments in the budget she hopes will significantly impact the PR industry.

One of these is a new three-tiered temporary skilled visa framework that will create a permanent residency pathway for workers with skills identified as in demand, who are earning above a base salary of $70,000, replacing occupation lists with evidence-based assessment of skills shortages.

The PR industry can also hope to see a reduction in costs associated with visas, with the government promising to simplify the current process and allow employers to opt-in to pay visa fees in monthly installments, rather than upfront.

This levels the playing field for smaller and mid-level agency operators, who will be able to take advantage of spreading out these costs and participating in an easier immigration system, explained Abels, giving the caveat that there is a chance visa costs may rise.

In addition, Abels welcomed the news there would be a citizenship pathway for Kiwis in Australia for those who have been living in Australia for more than four years, with the major change being they will no longer have to first apply for and be granted permanent residency.

Gareth Beddoes, senior account director at Thrive, has recently been given the opportunity to apply for permanent residency with the support of the agency, as a result of the reforms.

More than six years after moving to Australia from the UK, and building a life with his partner, he said he could not fathom the fact Australia was going to be comfortable with just kicking us out.

The reforms would be a huge positive for the PR and creative industries as a whole, he added.

Post Covid, there was a lot of need to get people back over here and boost immigration, but I think they initially turned a bit of a blind eye to the people who were already here.

So Im grateful to see that theyre now tackling it from a two-pronged approach.

Continued here:
Mooted immigration reforms are a mega win for the PR industry, says Thrive PRs Leilani Abels - Mumbrella

After three weeks of negotiations, the nationalist Finns Party leader said that significant immigration reform is a prerequisite for her party to join the next cabinet.

Riikka Purra, chair of the Finns Party, said that immigration issues have yet to be resolved in negotiations on forming a new government.

The nationalist party leader spoke to reporters at the House of Estates in Helsinki as the third week of cabinet formation talks drew to a close on Friday.

Purra said she had reminded other negotiators that if there are no clear changes to the immigration policy, no government programme will be created involving her party.

She was asked whether immigration issues, which have been perceived as difficult for this planned government coalition, have been avoided by other parties.

"Maybe there is a kind of difficulty [with this issue]," Purra said, but went on to say that "without clear changes to Finnish [immigration] policy, a government will not be formed based on these parties."

According to Purra, there are problems in the talks regarding both work-related and humanitarian immigration.

According to the leading daily Helsingin Sanomat, the Finns Party is seeking changes such as limiting the right to seek asylum in Finland to internal European refugees and restricting the right to social security solely to Finnish citizens.

According to Purra, no agreements have reached over funding for international development cooperation either. Her party has called for a sharp cut in such spending, which now corresponds to about 0.5 percent of Finland's GNP.

Meanwhile, two other potential coalition partners, the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats, have demanded that development assistance be raised to 0.7 percent of GNP, in line with long-standing international guidelines.

Meanwhile, Christian Democrats chair Sari Essayah said that the government negotiations have progressed more smoothly than in 2011, the last time her party was involved. According to Essayah, negotiators are continually adding to the text of the government programme.

Essayah said that it was difficult to say whether the talks had already reached the halfway point.

Prime minister-apparent Petteri Orpo (NCP) estimated earlier this week that the parties were about halfway through the negotiation process. He said he aimed to have a new cabinet in office before the Midsummer holiday on 23 June.

Original post:
Purra: No government deal without "clear changes" to immigration - YLE News

Migration is a hot political issue in the United States.

It is an article of faith among Joe Bidens opposition Republicans that he has lost control of the southern border.

Last month the chairwoman of the Republican national committee Ronna McDaniel maintained that in March nearly 192,000 people were apprehended by US authorities trying to cross from Mexico.

Republicans contend that Biden has adopted a de facto open border policy and that drug cartels and people traffickers are thriving in such an environment.

The president had promised to establish an orderly and compassionate process for asylum seekers as he entered the White House.

But as the number of people seeking to cross into the United States increased, so did the pressure on him from the political right.

In the days ahead the political temperature over immigration will probably get even hotter as a key regulation introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic comes to an end.

A record increase in the numbers seeking to enter the United States is being anticipated, which the White House knows will only intensify the attacks from its critics.

Initially introduced in early 2020 under Donald Trump, the rule known as Title 42 was essentially a public health measure that allowed US authorities to quickly expel migrants who crossed the border without permission.

The stated aim was to prevent the spread of Covid-19. But it also affected those who wanted to seek asylum in the United States.

As the pandemic abated, the Biden administration came under pressure to end the operation of Title 42.

The measure is now scheduled to end on May 11th and the White House is bracing for what could happen afterwards.

Last month, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Troy Miller predicted in testimony to the US Congress that roughly 10,000 migrants could cross the border each day when Title 42 is eliminated.

This would essentially double the existing numbers and more than likel overwhelm the capacity of US authorities to process those making claims to remain in the country.

The White House is all too aware of how such a scenario would be portrayed by its Republican critics as the US political cycle rolls on towards the presidential election next year.

Earlier this week the Biden administration announced that it would send 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern US border with Mexico. They will be deployed for 90 days to supplement the 2,500 National Guard personnel who are already there.

The Pentagon said the troops would fill gaps in transportation, warehouse support, narcotics detection, data entry and other areas.

The Biden administration has also proposed a system that would encourage those seeking asylum to use an app to book a meeting with American officials or first claim refuge in another country before reaching the US. It has announced plans for the establishment of immigration processing centres in various places in Latin America in a bid to slow down the numbers arriving on its southern border.

The Biden administration has also put forward expanded legal pathways for people to get to the United States from countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba.

However, the White House has argued that a comprehensive resolution cannot be found while the overall immigration system remains broken.

As the clock ticks towards May 11th, there have been last-minute efforts in the US Senate to temporarily extend the Title 42 powers.

Separately, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is working on a package of border security measures that is likely to include new restrictions on asylum seekers and a resumption of construction of the famous wall that Donald Trump wanted to build along the Mexican border.

But interestingly, as the US economy struggles to find sufficient workers, there are the hints that politicians in Congress may look at immigration reforms in parallel.

It has been nearly four decades since the last significant immigration legislation. But passing new reforms would be no easy matter and require 60 senators and the Republican House to back any new reform.

The US chamber of commerce the countrys largest business association along with more than 400 other groups has launched a campaign seeking politicians to enact measures before the end of the year that would secure the border and modernise the legal immigration system.

The ending of Title 42 may or may not lead to chaos at the US/Mexico border. But out of that uncertainty may come an opportunity for immigration reform that has not been seen in decades.

See more here:
Fears of chaos at US southern border may lead to immigration reform - The Irish Times

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See the rest here:
Germany looks to immigration reform to arrest worsening skills shortage - Financial Times

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - A fresh push for a bipartisan immigration overhaul, coupled with enhanced border security, is emerging in the U.S. Congress, as thousands of migrants amass across the border in Mexico ahead of the end of COVID-era border restrictions next week.

The latest among those efforts is a last-minute legislative push that would grant U.S. border authorities similar expulsion powers allowed under the expiring COVID restrictions - known as Title 42 - for a period of two years, according to a congressional office involved in the talks.

Title 42 began under Republican former President Donald Trump in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and allows U.S. authorities to expel migrants to Mexico without the chance to seek asylum. The order is set to lift on May 11 when the COVID health emergency officially ends.

But many Republicans and some Democrats, particularly in border areas, fear the end of the order will lead to a rise in migration that authorities are poorly equipped to face. A top border official recently told lawmakers that migrant crossings could jump to 10,000 per day after May 11, nearly double the daily average in March.

Senators Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, and Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, are leading the effort to temporarily extend border expulsions. The pair view it as a short-term fix while they work on broader immigration reform, Sinema spokesperson Hannah Hurley said.

"This is squarely about the immediate crisis with the end of Title 42," Hurley said.

Separately, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives plans to pass a package of border security measures next week to place tougher constraints on asylum-seekers, resume construction of a wall along the southwest border with Mexico, and expand federal law enforcement.

Many are seeking more sweeping change - but their hopes have been dashed in the past.

It has been 37 years since Congress passed significant immigration reform, but a persistently high volume of migrants and an acute labor shortage have galvanized lawmakers. Republicans also cite the flow of illegal drugs into the United States through ports of entry as reason to harden border security.

While some Democrats characterize the House border legislation as inhumane, several Democratic and Republican senators said they eagerly await such a bill.

Tillis, who is pushing both the short-term legislative fix for Title 42's end and a wider package of reforms, said a House-passed bill would be "something we can build on."

"It gives us some room to gain the support we need in the Senate" for broader legislation, he said, adding it could take two to three months to construct a compromise. But senators had no illusions this would be an easy task.

Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said the House bill would provide clues on Republicans' intent. He added that in conversations with fellow senators, "One of the first things they say is 'well if the House starts the conversation I think we can get somewhere.' We'll see."

Since a 1986 immigration reform package, which resulted in some 3 million immigrants winning legal status, Congress repeatedly has failed to update the nation's policies.

Around 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States could have a stake in the outcome of this latest effort, along with U.S. businesses hungry for workers.

To succeed in the Democrat-controlled Senate, it would need 60 senators from across both parties to back it, as well as win the support of the Republican-controlled House.

"A high-wire act," is how Republican Senator John Cornyn from border state Texas portrayed it, adding it was "the only path forward."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business association, has launched a campaign urging Congress to act. It was endorsed by 400 groups, ranging from the American Farm Bureau Federation to the U.S. Travel Association.

Republican-controlled states see their farming, ranching, food processing and manufacturing businesses begging for workers, a void that immigrants could fill if not for Washington's clunky visa system.

Finally, passage of an immigration bill coupled with beefed-up border security could boost President Joe Biden's re-election campaign and give Republican candidates something to cheer, too.

The House bill would deal with some of the five "buckets" in the Tillis-Sinema effort, according to a Senate source familiar with their work.

Overall, they include a modernization of the plodding asylum system, improvements to how visas are granted, and measures to more effectively authorize immigrants, be they laborers and healthcare workers or doctors and engineers, to fill American jobs.

There is also the fate of 580,000 "Dreamers" enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, who were brought illegally into the United States as children.

Republicans have blocked their path to citizenship for two decades, arguing that would encourage more to take the dangerous journey to the border.

Senators acknowledge some of their goals might have to be abandoned to achieve a "sweet spot." But which ones?

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who won passage last year of the first major gun control bill in about three decades, did so in part by recognizing that a too ambitious bill is a recipe for failure.

Murphy was asked how the difficulty of winning immigration legislation stacks up to other recent battles, such as gun control, gay marriage and infrastructure investments.

"It's an 11 on a scale of 10."

Reporting by Richard Cowan; additional reporting by Ted Hesson; Editing by Mary Milliken and Diane Craft

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Excerpt from:
U.S. Congress gears up for immigration overhaul as Title 42 ends - Reuters