visas in news
RSS visas in newsAre foreign imports hurting the UK tech industry?
News ATSCo obtained the data from Work Permits UK, the Home Office body responsible for visas. Short-sighted staffing decisions could be damaging the future development of the UK tech industry, the body representing IT recruiters has claimed. [12 Mar 2008]
Biometrics cuts days off UK visa processing
News Biometric technology has slashed the time taken to process visas for people coming to the UK, the government has said. The link to UK databases also helps to ensure visas are not granted to people previously removed from the country or travelling... [05 Mar 2008]
Biometrics the future for flying bliss?
News Finn said that future security systems will rely on e-passports, ID or smart cards or visas that would contain both biometric data - such as fingerprints and iris scans - and biographical data, ranging from name and address to job and marital status. [21 Feb 2008]
Biometric fingerprint checks for UK visas
News All applicants for visas to enter the UK will face biometric fingerprint checks from the end of this month. The fingerprint database contains the records of more than one million previous visa applicants.silicon.com's A to Z of Biometrics [14 Jan 2008]
Foreign Office admits data breach
News Mark Sedwill, director of UKvisas, said the organisation regrets mistakes were made but no evidence has been found the details were exploited and no visas were wrongly issued as a result. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) investigated the... [14 Nov 2007]
Biometrics wing their way into Gatwick
News At present only arrivals from Sierra Leone who have been issued with biometric visas in the capital Freetown will be included in the trial. In addition, citizens of Sierra Leone require visas to enter the UK. [09 Oct 2007]
Biometric visas get $4.4m tech boost
News Head of procurement for UKvisas, Andrew Pestell, said the biometric visas are a key part of the Border and Immigration Agency's (BIA) plan to strengthen UK borders. The UK biometrics visa programme has awarded a $4.4m contract to Cross Match... [24 Sep 2007]
e-Borders to cost £1bn over next decade
News Names that arouse suspicion can then be investigated by the Border and Immigration Agency, HMRC, Police and UK Visas before travellers have embarked on their journey. The UK government plans to spend £1.2bn on its e-Borders programme over the next... [02 Aug 2007]
Microsoft to open Canadian development centre
News The announcement of Microsoft's Canadian plans follows the failure of an immigration bill that would have expanded the number of foreign high-tech workers that could have come to the country each year under so-called H1-B visas. [06 Jul 2007]
India rebuts work visa 'abuse' allegations
News In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Home Office body responsible for visas revealed last week that 33,756 permits were issued to overseas IT workers in the last 12 months - up a third on the previous year. [26 Feb 2007]
UK tech visas increase by a third
News Work Permits UK, the Home Office body responsible for visas, has revealed 33,756 permits were issued to overseas IT workers in the last 12 months - up 32 per cent on the 25,000 the previous year. Most of the visas - 79 per cent - were granted to... [20 Feb 2007]
Colin Powell: 'Open borders to skilled immigrants'
News Powell's words follow comments made earlier this year by Dr Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS, who said the US is shooting itself in the foot by restricting the number of visas it offers. Former US secretary of state Colin Powell has warned members of the... [11 Oct 2006]
High-tech security forces up passport price - again
News For example, because of US Visa Waiver rules, had the ePassport been unavailable hundreds of thousands of holiday makers would have had to pay for visas to visit the US. The cost of high-tech security will push the price of a passport up by more... [24 Jul 2006]
'Open borders to IT workers' says SAS chief
News Jim Goodnight, the outspoken CEO of software giant SAS, has said the UK and US governments must open their borders to skilled overseas IT workers in order to remain competitive and foster a culture of innovation. [30 Jun 2006]
CIO Jury: Bosses snub cheap overseas IT labour
News Earlier this week the UK government announced an overhaul of the system for granting work permits and visas to overseas migrants seeking employment in the UK. UK bosses have raised questions about the extent of the country's IT skills shortage... [10 Mar 2006]
