NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2007/05/26 - Australia has been announced as the most popular retirement destination for Scottish Pensioners with almost 95,000 now claiming their pensions abroad, up by a third in the past decade.

The big increase in the number of Scottish pensioners looking to move abroad is expected to continue to rise, and is expected to reach 300,000 by 2050.

A recent poll found that a third of those reaching retirement age planned to move abroad. With financial worries being the main reason. With the main benefits of moving abroad seen as the better weather, lifestyle and cost of living. One immigration consultant was quoted as saying “Many people who contact us are fed up with Scotland. They say the country is going down the tubes and that they don’t see any future here.”

A recent report published by the Public Policy Research found that there are more Britons living abroad than foreign migrants moving to the UK. The report also showed that the number of Britons buying property overseas has increased by a staggering fifty percent in just three years. The study concluded that British are one of the most footloose people in the world, with more Britons living abroad in the greatest number of different countries than any other nationality. There are now 41 countries with more than 10,000 British people living there, and a further 71 countries with over 1000 British people living there.

The increase in immigration now means that more people are emigrating than at the height of the last immigration peak, just before the First World War, when 300,000 people per annum where leaving their country.

And it’s just not the pensioners looking to retire in the sun and making the most of a lower cost of living, it’s also the young and highly skilled. Four out of 10 emigrating in 2004 were managerial or professional occupations.

The increasing number of people looking to immigrate to Australia compounded with the limited number of immigration places available has meant there is competition amongst applicants for Australian visas. It is now probably more important than ever to have a good understanding of how the Australian immigration officials assess visa applications in order that applicants can maximise their chance of gaining an Australian Visa.

Source: The Scotsman 24/04/2007

Agency / Source: Immigration2Australia.com

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