Australia Immigration News

DIAC Longitudinal Survey shows favourable employment figures amongst Australian skilled migrants

Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship(DIAC) has released figures showing rates of employment amongst the country’s migrant population.

The third ‘Longitudinal Survey’, carried out on 10,000 skilled migrant stream and family stream primary applicants between December 2005 and March 2006, has shown that after 18 months of living in Australia, employment rates for skilled migrants have surpassed the national average of 97%.

Rates of workforce participation amongst the migrant population also stand at one and a half times that of the rest of Australia.

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TRA announces changes to trade assessment procedure

Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) has announced that significant changes will be made to the way they conduct assessments for certain trade occupations. At present, migrants with certain occupations are required to undertake further courses of study upon entry to Australia, resulting in significant delays to their commencing employment.

In order to address this issue, TRA’s proposed changes see the introduction of competency based assessments in certain occupations and in certain countries. As of 1 July 2007, migrants will be able to undertake a single assessment that will meet the requirements of migration, qualifications recognition and occupations licensing requirements.

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Sit Australian citizenship test until you pass

Australian Immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, has said potential new Australian citizens will be able to sit the Australian citizenship test until they pass.

In order to become an Australian citizen, candidates must score 60%, answering at least 12 of the 20 questions correctly.

"What's important is not 'pass you're in, fail you're out'," Mr Andrews told ABC Radio in Brisbane.

"What's important we think is that we encourage people coming to Australia, who come from many different countries and cultures around the world, to understand what it is to be an Australian.

"So the encouragement is that if you don't get it the first time, go away, look at the material, learn some more about Australia and come back and do it again."

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Skilled Migration quotas increased in Australia

Australia’s Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, has announced that a further 5000 places will be added to the Skilled Migration stream for 2007-08, bringing the quota to 102,500. The family stream is to remain the same as the previous year with a quota of 50,000, taking the total quota to 152,800.

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New Residency Requirements for Australian Citizenship

On 1 March 2007, The Australian Parliament passed the Australian Citizenship Bill 2006, with the new legislation likely to come into effect on 1 June 2007. These changes in legislation have been put into place in order to ensure that citizenship applicants have spent a reasonable period of time living in Australia so that they are familiar with the Australian way of life, and appreciate the commitment that they are required to make to become citizens.

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Migrants protected under new changes to temporary visa laws

Changes to Australian immigration policy regarding temporary visas such as the 457 subclass have been put in place to protect new migrants from employers looking to exploit workers from abroad.

Changes to temporary visa laws include civil penalties for employers who fail to pay workers the minimum wage, make them work unreasonable hours, or place them in positions of employment that do not appear on the Migration Occupation in Demand List.

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Howard calls for off-shore health tests for prospective migrants

On 13 April 2007, Prime Minister John Howard controversially called for a ban on HIV-positive migrants being granted the right to migrate to Australia.

Howard defended the move as a logical step in the forming of migration policy as the country already forbids the entry of migrants with various communicable diseases.

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Australia Skilled Processing Centre calls for decision ready applications

Migration experts have recently revealed that if Australia is to achieve its objective of processing 97,000 visa applications over the forthcoming year, processing times will need to be rapidly accelerated.

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Major changes to Australian Skilled Migration

Australian Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, has announced major changes to the Australian General Skilled Migration program (GSM) coming into place from 1st September 2007.

Changes include :

increased level of English language competency
a streamlined GSM structure
more points for previous skilled work
a temporary work visa for graduates

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Scheduled Changes to Australian General Skilled Migration Program

Important information for Australian General Skilled Migration applicants

Scheduled changes in the Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) General Skilled Migration programme are due to take place on 1st September 2007.

Many applicants should be unaffected by these changes; however, some applicants will find that their current situations will change. These people should preferably lodge their applications with DIAC no later than 31st August 2007, as this will ensure that their applications are processed according to the current programme requirements.

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Changes to Australian immigration policy passed by senate

New legislation regarding Australia’s immigration policy was approved by the senate on 26 February 2007, having been passed by the House of Representatives in November of last year.

The Australian Citizenship Bill of 2006, as it is being called, is regarded as being the most significant change to Australian Migration Law in 60 years.

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