The Immigration Department now have greater powers to cancel visas of non-citizens. 580 people had their visas cancelled on character grounds in 2015. Approximately 60 per cent were New Zealand citizens. Under the new law of section 501, those who fail the character test by way of having been sentenced to one year’s imprisonment will now
Engineers Australia have modernised their assessment process to recognise people as Engineers when they obtain an Australian Master’s Engineering degree (after a non-engineering Bachelor’s degree overseas). Previously Engineers Australia would only recognise people with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering. This new scenario opens up many opportunities for those studying Engineering at a Post-graduate level in Australia.
The Minister for Immigration has announced that the Slovak Republic and Slovenia are the latest countries to have a work and holiday visa arrangement with Australia, joining a number of other countries including Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Turkey the United States and Uruguay.
Australia has been ranked as the second-best country in the world for its quality of life by a UN report that assessed economic, education and life-expectancy data. The top three rankings, Norway, Australia and Switzerland, are unchanged from a year ago. The score was calculated by crunching data on what the UN says are the "three
In 2016, the Government will introduce a new Entrepreneur visa to attract innovators to Australia. The new visa assists highly educated and talented foreign students to remain in Australia. Graduates with science, technology, engineering, ICT, and mathematics qualifications will benefit from the visa. A new pathway to residence will be available for graduates with specialised doctorate
The Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Act 2015 recently received Royal Assent. This law introduces criminal and civil penalties for a person to ask for, receive, offer, or provide payment in return for sponsorship. The Bill allows visa cancellation where the visa holder has engaged 'Payment for Visas'. Maximum of 2 years
There are enough people adversely affected by the Government's Cap-and-Cease determination to cause some Government MPs concern. Many of those affected are Australian Citizens whose relative's rights have been trashed by the former Assistant Minister for Immigration. This time the Cap-and-Cease issue will not go away as there is a High Court Challenge under
This week the Federal Government announced they have deemed thousands of skilled migration applications "not to have been made". Most of these applicants have been waiting seven years for their applications to be decided. These applicants made legally valid applications. The Government action is unfair, unreasonable, and it is questionable as to whether they have legal
The current 457 English test requirements are: IELTS – overall 5 (minimum 4.5 in each component) – single sitting; CAE – overall 154 (minimum 147 in each component) – single sitting – test taken on or after 1 January 2015; TOEFL iBT – overall 36 (minimum 3 in listening & reading, minimum 12 in speaking
According to the Migration Council of Australia (paper 1 2015) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics , 6.6 million Australians are migrants (28 per cent). The education of migrants since year 2000, is on average substantially higher than Australia's general population. For skilled migrants, levels of postgraduate qualifications are 23 per cent higher than general.
