Monday, March 25, 2002		The world of  dot.com

INDIAN youth, especially from this region, are dream of going abroad. Hook or crook - they employ every means to reach the country of their dreams. The obsession to immigrate has taken over most of the young generation and tragically, some such journeys have ended fatally. No one from Punjab can forget Malta. On the other hand, many play straightaway into the hands of so-called 'immigration agents' and end up penniless afterwards. The Internet has a solution to these problems. Countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand provide immigration to the skilled and business class, besides intellectuals, from the IIIrd world countries. The following sites provide relevant information about immigration, settlement and visits abroad:

This is the official Website for immigration and acquiring citizenship to Canada. This site is a boon for those who want to immigrate to Canada. Immigrant category includes independent and business immigrants, who can contribute to the Canadian economy and sponsored family members of Canadian residents. This country has two official languages, English and French. Therefore this site provides information in English as well as in Français. We will be dealing in the English section. The index page user can find the latest developments and news on immigration and refugee issues. From the left side of the home page, links like Department, Visitors, Immigrants, Refugees, Citizenship, Applications, Online services, News and Publications can be accessed. This site also provides information about education in Canada, visits to Canada and temporary work status. Forms are available in PDF format on the Website. Download is free of cost.

Welcome to New Zealand, the land of natural beauty, sheep and geysers. This is the official Website that tells about immigration policies of New Zealand. This country requires 30,000 to 50,000 immigrants every year and the prospects are quite bright for the skilled class. Important links are placed on the index page, which are convenient for the users. Forms that are available on the Website are free for download. The speciality is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) link where user can key in his or her question. 'What's new' link provides latest updates on immigration process. For immigrating to New Zealand the main categories are General Skill's category, Business category, Family category and Family Quota category.

Enter Australia, the land of Kangaroos. This country requires immigrants from different parts of the world and India is one of them. This is an official Website of Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. This vortal is beautifully designed and has two formats - one in graphic form and other one-site map in text form. Current issues are on the index page with latest updates for the immigrants. On the left side there are different links like Migrating to Australia, Visiting Australia, Settling in Australia, Citizenship, Multicultural Australia, Indigenous Affairs, Media Centre, Information Resources, The Department. The immigration process is based on the point system on different class as given in the Website.

—Jasjot Singh Narula