April 2012 International Relocation and Moving Abroad News Archive

The mother of a 12-year-old girl who moved with her family to live in Australia six years ago has said that if they had stayed in Ayrshire in Scotland her daughter would not have been able to receive the right cancer treatment. In February last year, Erin Griffin was told she had a brain tumour that could not be operated on. However, she...

Australia continues to top the poll of places Brits would like to move to if they upped sticks and moved abroad. A survey by visa application website GlobalVisas.com indicates that close to half of all Brits would like to emigrate, and the main reason given for this was the weather. Although Australia came top of the poll of countries to...

Council tenants living in the borough of Harrow in north-west London could be offered a cash incentive if they choose move abroad. The idea is one of a number of plans being discussed as a way of freeing up much needed housing stock. Although Harrow Council has stressed that all ideas are currently only in the discussion stage, those who do...

A study by the British Council shows that a lack of information is one of the main reasons why students are not spending time overseas as part of their studies. The survey of more than 2,000 students found that although they believed that spending time in another country would open more doors in the job market they were being put off by...

Some people who retire overseas can enjoy their lives while their pensions grow with British inflation, while other end up losing large amounts of money, reports the Daily Telegraph. Many UK nationals thinking about retiring overseas probably don’t consider the fact that the country they move to will have a massive impact on the amount...

Christchurch leaders received a boost upon the news that their earthquake-hit city has seen the number of locals moving abroad almost half from the same time last year, reports the New Zealand Herald. Mayor Bob Parker now foresees a “complete reversal” in the trend of residents leaving the city in the coming months as South Island’s...

British expats who have purchased property overseas no longer see homesickness as a big problem now they have the internet and other tools to keep in touch with friends and family in the UK, revealed a new survey. HiFX reported that the global NatWest IPB Quality of Life study surveyed people who had transferred money overseas in order to...

The Canadian government is carrying out changes to its national immigrant investor programme in order to make sure that the money which rich foreigners bring into the country as one of the entry pre-conditions is utilised in Canadian companies instead of sitting in bank accounts. Reuters reported that the Conservatives are likely to at...

Hundreds of new jobs are set to help cut the number of people who emigrate from small towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland, reports the Irish Independent. Residents of the town of Inverin have received a boost after 220 jobs were created in the area, which has seen countless young people emigrate in the past few years. One town...

The government of Cuba has revealed its plans to scrap some of the restrictions placed on its citizens that prevent them from emigrating abroad, reports the India Times. The president of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, said that the country is building towards a radical and profound emigration reform. Although he did not...

The UK has stayed in third spot as the most desired country in the world for professionals to work and reside in, revealed a new study into global mobility trends. Sys-con.com reports that people who come to work in the UK end up staying longer than they had initially planned. The study, carried out by ESCP Europe for specialist recruiters...

Expat IT professionals in search of a higher quality of life overseas have been advised to try Singapore, Kobe or Japan or Hong Kong – listed as Asia’s three most liveable cities in new research by HR data provider ECA International. The company’s annual Location Ratings system, reports The Register, is designed to assist firms in...

For almost 20 years, thousands upon thousands of people from the former Portuguese colonies have flocked to the Iberian nation in the hope of a better life. However, the tide is now turning according to the Business Recorder. A large number of Portuguese people are leaving their debt-ridden country for Angola or Brazil, whose booming...

One in five people from the UK with over £250,000 in savings are considering living overseas because they are fed up with the high cost of living, poor weather and crime, revealed Lloyds Banking Group’s wealth management arm. The UK, suffering its worst economic crisis in almost a century, is trying to find a way of preserving its...

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and US President Barack Obama have praised a student exchange programme named Science Without Borders, reported the Christian Science Monitor. Even though the programme doesn’t resolve their differences concerning currency wars, nuclear issues and the United Nations’ Security Council, it is one area...

Almost 50 per cent of aspiring entrepreneurs from the UK think they should move overseas to achieve success, reports emigrate.co.uk. An international study into the aspirations of would-be entrepreneurs carried out by accountancy firm Mazars and travel programme operator Smaller Earth showed that 46 per cent believe there is more chance...

The majority of Irish citizens who have emigrated during the past few years claim they are happier overseas than they were in Ireland, revealed the Irish Times. A survey by Ipsos MRB, carried out for the Irish Times, researched attitudes among recent emigrants, of whom are substantial majority described their quality of life as better than...

Prime office buildings in London have become popular among South Korean institutional investors looking for low-risk assets, reports the Financial Times. Attracted by the UK capital’s high investment returns in relation to risk, South Korea’s cash-rich insurers and investment funds are searching more and more for bargains in the...

Winston Peters, the first leader of New Zealand, says heads must roll over the bureaucratic bungling which resulted in an illegal immigrant who was banned from the country still receiving $360 a week in sickness benefits, reports NewstalkZB. Salam Mansoor Abdelabbas Al-Bawi was given a six-month home detention sentence in 2008, after...

A New Democrat MP has demanded that the government of Canada overturns a decision prohibiting an Indian family, whose son lives in B.C., emigrating to Canada because their adult daughter has Down Syndrome, reports emigrate.co.uk. The son who resides in Vancouver, Kevin Patel, wanted to sponsor his relatives to enter Canada and become...

Chris Bowen, the Australian immigration and citizenship minister, has announced measures which will assist Australian employers in finding skilled US workers to fill shortages within key sectors, reported workpermit.com. The new measures will ensure that skills assessments are processed much quicker. The hope is to attract more American...

Thousands of Chinese people are looking at the Canadian province of Quebec as a gateway into the North American country, according to the Associated Press. People in China who are desperate to emigrate have found a backdoor into Canada which involves applying for visas into Quebec, the country’s French-speaking province, as long as they...

New Zealand is now one of the frontrunners in attracting Irish emigrants who are struggling to make a living in their homeland, according to the Irish Central. There were 40,000 people who left Ireland in 2011, of whom almost 2,000 have settled in New Zealand and thousands more are heading the same way. However, the different generations...

The European Commission wants to cut the red tape for drivers, but worries about fraud remain, according to the EuropeanVoice.com. The Commission wants to make it less complicated to transfer a vehicle registration from one country to another, in order to overcome one of the most common complaints of citizens who relocate to another EU...