The United Nations has slammed Australia’s decision to “actively and indefinitely separate” the family of a recognised refugee in the country by deporting her husband to Sri Lanka. According to the United Nations refugee agency “the deportation overnight of the father leaves his Sri Lankan partner, who is a recognised refugee, alone with their 11-month-old daughter.” UNHRC warned in a statement that this move by Australia “contravenes the basic right of family unity, as well as the fundamental principle of the best interests of the child.” According to the organisation it had appealed to the Australian government to permit the man to remain with his family in the country, but the government didn’t budge. Australia has been long criticised by the UNHCR for its policy of “offshore processing and deterrence”, which has seen asylum seekers who reached Australia shipped off to remote camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea since 2013 “The government of Australia has refused to allow them to be reunited in Australia, despite the fact that neither Nauru nor Papua New Guinea are considered suitable places of settlement for the vast majority of refugees,” it said. It also informed that it knew about families being separated when a parent of a partner was transferred from Nauru to Australia for medical reasons, including to give birth. UNHCR has warned Australia that with the latest deportation it has gone “beyond a refusal to reunite families to instead actively and indefinitely separate them.” The organisation has also pointed out that Australian legislature prevents the mother in the case from ever sponsoring her spouse to join her and their child in Australia as the law prevents her husband ever being granted even a short-term visa to visit his family.
The Australian government is offering “boutique” visa deals in regions with niche skills shortages as revealed by an SBS report. The areas of Northern Queensland and Goldfields in Western Australia’s southeast are two regions that will benefit the most in the upcoming months. According to the report there have already been 322 special labour agreements in place with certain businesses and industries across the country, but the Minister for Citizenship Alan Tudge wants to go further and do arrangements on the basis of geographical locations. “In the Goldfields, they’ve got a shortage of drillers. They’ve got a shortage of people who can work on some of the nearby farms and we want to be able to ensure that those skills gaps can be met so that those businesses can continue to grow.” “In North Queensland, they’ve got a thriving tourism industry and they’ve got requirements for things like Chinese-speaking scuba diving instructors,” Mr Tudge told SBS News. What exactly is a boutique visa? Boutique visas are arrangements that are granted at the government’s discretion when there are vacancies for certain positions that cannot be filled locally or by Australian citizens and the job isn’t within the Skills Shortage List of more than 600 occupations eligible for skilled visa categories. It is necessary for companies to demonstrate that they are unable to acquire local workers for the positions by publicizing nationally first. In the majority of the cases, visa holders are given a pathway to permanent residency. “The good thing about the arrangements of the boutique visas is that it allows to have a personalised arrangement with each company but helps keep the structure same as we are prioritising Australians first as the company needs to show that there is no Australian available to fill the position and it still needs to satisfy the criteria set out in the agreement,” said Mr Tudge. The visa deals are expected to be in place by the end of this year.One of the centres out of the dozen that have been granted visas, is the Melbourne aged care centre Fronditha Care to boost staff numbers. 22 Greek aged care workers have been employed by the centre so far and the centre has also been granted an extra 60 visas known as the TSS (Temporary Skill Shortage) visa – to hire more bilingual staff. According to the centre’s CEO George Lekakis, “They’re able to relate to our residents. They also help with the transfer of information to other colleagues who don’t speak Greek.” According to Mr Tudge there is going to be a significant demand for Greek-speaking personal carers because there are about 27,000 people in Australia of Greek heritage who do not speak English and they are typically all above the age of 60. Dozens of elderly Greek migrants call Fronditha care centre their home. These residents have reverted to their first language as they have aged and so having staff that speaks the language helps in the communication. “The Greek language builds trust with the residents.” “If someone is irritated, agitated or in extreme cases, aggressive, the language can calm them down,” Greek care worker Dimitra Xexaki said.
WHAT IS THE GLOBAL TALENT SCHEME? High skilled workers from across the globe will have a new pathway to enter the Australian market through the new Global Talent Scheme pilot program that has started July 1, 2018 for a one-year trial period. It is a visa that is designed to help businesses in sponsoring highly skilled professionals and workers to help grow their businesses and help create more jobs where there are no suitable Australians available to fill the vacancies. “We want to ensure that Australian businesses can access the best talent in the world, because this will underpin business growth, skills transfer and job creation.” “At all stages, Australians are prioritised for the jobs, but where the skills and experience are not available here, we want to be able to attract talent from overseas,” said Alan Tudge, Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural AffairsThe scheme which was announced in March, came as a response to the concerns being raised after the changes and tightening of requirements in regarding the 457 visa for skilled workers, which reduced the number of eligible occupations for visas and introduced stricter English language tests. WHAT IS THE TIMELINE? The visa scheme commenced on 1st July 2018. The scheme was originally announced in March 2018. Refining of initial settings and consultation with industry and other stakeholders took place in the period from April-June 2018. The trial will last for 12 months until June 2019. VISA STREAMS The Global Talent Scheme will consist of two streams:1. Established businesses with an annual turnover of more than $4 million for each of the past two years The requirements of the applicant include:a) Meeting health, character and security requirements b) Should have no familial relationship with directors/ shareholders c) Qualifications must be commensurate with highly skilled role (minimum annual earnings of $180,000). d) Minimum 3 years prior work experience relevant to the position 2. Start-up streamThe requirements for a company include operation in a STEM related field (digital, biomedical, agtech) including but not limited to agricultural tech, medical tech etc. The requirements of the applicant include:a) Meeting health, character and security requirements b) Should have no familial relationship with directors/ shareholders c) Qualifications must be commensurate with highly skilled role d) Minimum 3 years prior work experience relevant to the position e) Minimum annual earning of the nominated position can’t be less than the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold which currently stands at $53,900. This can include equity (which is a common offering in start-up payment package) but it has to incorporate cash components as well. According to the Fact Sheet all successful applicants will have access to a 4-years stream (midterm) Temporary Skilled Shortage (TSS) visas and age gap concessions. There is also the chance of a gateway to permanent residency after 3 years which makes this scheme even more exciting and useful. Both streams require the sponsoring businesses to conduct Labour Market Testing on available positions. WHO IS SUITABLE TO APPLY FOR THE GLOBAL TALENT SCHEME? The Global Talent Scheme will be an attractive scheme for both individuals and businesses in need of middle to high level positions (possibly C-level execs) related to the tech industry. It will also be relevant to people whose job titles didn’t exist 5-10 years ago.According to co-initiator, Minister for Jobs and Innovation Michaelia Cash, “Those individuals–skilled and experienced as they are–are likely to become job multipliers, who, by transferring their skills, knowledge, and expertise, will benefit Australians in the long run.” For more information head to:https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/alantudge/Pages/aust-businesses-sign-on-global-talent-scheme.aspx
New Zealand’s acting prime minister has spoken out against their closest neighbour Australia by asking the government to release a teenager under immigration detention from New Zealand. Winston Peters who is acting Prime Minister while prime minister Jacinda Ardern is on maternity said that Australia wasn’t living up to its obligation as a signatory to the UN Convention by detaining a 17-year-old boy from New Zealand. He has been in detention since March and since then the Australian Border Force hasn’t indicated the reason behind his detention of when he would be freed. “This person is regarded as a child or a minor, and I’m just reminding the Australians – you’re a signatory, live up to it,” Peters said “They are clearly in breach of it. There’s no complication. They know that, we know that.” The number of deportation of foreign nationals on the grounds of character have has soared since the huge changes in Australia’s Migration Act in 2014, and New Zealand citizens make a huge proportion of them. Peter’s words come as a strong response condemning Australia for having deported more than 1000 Kiwis forcibly in the last two years. Some of those who have been issued with deportation orders have nowhere to go with no family connections or friends in that country. Winston Peters has said that his government will continue to pursue the issue through diplomatic channels. Greg Barns is representing the detained minor and has called the Australian government “pathetic” and accused Peter Dutton, Australia’s home affairs minister a liar for saying the boy posed a threat to Australia. He also praised the consular staff in New Zealand for their impressive demonstration of humanity for their efforts to help the boy. The boy is scheduled to appear in court in mid-July to appeal for his deportation. If unsuccessful he may appeal to the high court but the entire process could take months or even years to be resolved, and he shall be in detention the entire time. According to Peter Dutton the increased deportations were necessary to protect Australia, and “the sooner we can deport this individual the better for us”. “If this person wants to return to New Zealand, I’ll facilitate his return on a plane out of our country back to New Zealand today.”
According to an investigation by the ABC it has been found that houses in Australia have been home to cannabis by acting as grow houses. The reports suggest that Vietnamese crime syndicates are at the centre of the multi-billion-dollar enterprise. They act as a three-tier model with the head at the top, then the facilitator and finally the crop sitters. According to suspicion hundreds of Vietnamese men and women have been travelling to Australia on student and tourist visas over the past decade. When caught they insist on having been forced or lured into the job after arriving in Australia when the truth is most of them come to Australia with the sole purpose of crop sitting. The issue lies with the fact that the Australian government relies on international students which cashes into a revenue of about $2 billion annually just from visa application fees which leaves little room for change. This allows room for fraudulent brokers in Vietnam to produce fraudulent applications and even identities to secure visas. According to the Department of Home Affairs there are approximately 2,340 Vietnamese unlawful non-citizens — the term given to those who have overstayed visas — currently in Australia.
The Australian Capital Territory had a provision for residents that stated that they could apply their nominated occupation even if it was listed as ‘closed’ on the current ACT Occupation list. Though the provision is no longer available. Priyank Bindra first landed in Australia to study at a university in Sydney but he soon packed his bags and moved all the way to Canberra in hopes of getting his PR faster as he knew he could apply for permanent residency in the ACT even if the occupation was closed. “I was studying in Melbourne and moved to Canberra as this program was started there last year. I came all the way just to increase my chances of getting permanent residency,” he told Mckkr’s. “Before I knew it though, the program got suspended on June 29 without any notice.” This provision is no longer available. The notice displayed on the ACT web portal as published by SBS states: EFFECTIVE 4:00PM AEST FRIDAY 29 JUNE 2018: Canberra residents: You are eligible to apply for ACT 190 nomination if your nominated occupation is listed as ‘open’ on the current ACT Occupation List. You are not eligible to apply for ACT 190 nomination if your nominated occupation is listed as ‘closed’ on the current ACT Occupation List. Overseas residents: The ACT 190 nomination program remains closed for overseas applicants without close ties to Canberra and is now closed to overseas applicants with close ties to Canberra.According to registered Migration consultant Abhinav Goyal many people’s hopes have got shattered and plans have come to a still, with most of them feeling extremely panicked.”As we know, Canberra was offering 190 nominations to applicants for closed occupations on their skill list if they met the Canberra residence requirements,” he said. “This has been in place since January 2018 and because of this a lot of people moved across the country to come all the way to Canberra and started looking for jobs in their occupations or got enrolled in different courses.” The list of occupations on Canberra’s list that have been closed include occupations like café and restaurant managers, accountants and ICT business analysts. The new rule has also affected overseas applicants who were hoping to apply for ACT nomination as the program has been closed for overseas applicants too. This has cost students like Priyank a lot of time and money and left them wondering about what their limited options are. “I had paid a huge amount of money for my course over here and now I will have to find another way or move to another state, which will cost me a lot more money. This is extremely frustrating.”
You want to come to Australia on a visa to work, study, or live perhaps permanently and have absolutely no idea how to do it? With thousands of migrants applying for visas to Australia each year, it is important to ensure your application is perfect because there are so many people trying to get the same thing! This is where migration agents are incredibly useful to have, you may think you don’t meet the visas criteria or you just have no idea where to start, but with them doing all the work, you would be surprised of the results. But how can you make sure that you are choosing the perfect migration company or consultant for yourself and are not getting robbed of your money by a dodgy agent? So to ensure you have a great migration agent on your side, here are our top 10 tips on how to choose the best migration agent for your trip to Australia! TIP 1 – Watch out for sale/commission driven agents! This is a huge signal to avoid! When a migration company or agent is trying to make you sign something or puts you under pressure to commit with them, it is best to look choose a different migration agent. There are some companies that use sale representatives to gather more business flow and will have them working on commission, so they will tell you whatever you want to hear just so you sign or start with them. There have been cases heard of where these clients unknowingly didn’t even have the requirements for meeting the visa criteria for which they have had already paid for. There is a huge difference with applying for a visa and meeting the criteria for that visa. You can apply for any visa you wish to apply for but if you don’t meet the visa criteria for that specific visa type, you will not be granted your visa. A good migration checks your circumstances and will inform you about whether or not you are eligible to apply for a certain visa. Visa applicants who don’t qualify for a visa at the time of the agreement are not bound by any contracts as that is basically theft and is wrong for the migration agent to convince their client into paying money for something that the migration agent is aware they won’t receive. Migration agents in Australia MUST be registered with MARA (Migration Agents Registration Authority) so as to regulate the services provided to potential clients. Migration agents that are NOT registered have their own terms and conditions and nobody to report to, which means that you can’t prosecute them for doing the wrong thing… so it is always better to go with an Australian registered migration agent for your Australian visa. Registered migration agents must adhere to the Code of Conduct and if there are any issues, you can report these and the agent to the Migration Agents Registration Authority. TIP 2 – Choose a migration agent with experience It’s not hard to see why this is such a crucial requirement for a migration agent as experience is such a large part of the profession. It is always best to choose a migration agent, who has been in the field for a solid amount of time as they will know from experience exactly what is looked into by Home affairs case workers and what is acceptable to submit in an application. With legislation and areas in migration continually changing, it is better to trust someone who has experience and is keeping up with the latest immigration changes, than someone freshly graduated still starting out in the business. Look for a migration agent with at least 5 years of practical experience in the industry. They generally speaking have a better understanding of interpreting the legal requirements in your favour, which will strengthen your visa application. Granted a more experienced agent will sometimes cost more than an inexperienced one. Depending on your budget you may need to go with someone with slightly less experience, but make sure that they are not charging you the same price a more experienced agent would. TIP 3 – Look into their customer feedback This is an absolutely brilliant way to see the success a migration agent has had in the past, go onto the company media pages, website testimonials or their reviews on google to see what previous clients have to say about their services. Another good way of looking into your migration service is to check in with MARA (Migration Agents Registration Authority)and see if there is any information of value on the company you are interested in. TIP 4 – Make sure your migration agent is registered An absolute must to choosing your migration agent is always and we can’t stress this enough to make sure the migration agent is registered! The difference between a registered and an unregistered agent is UNREGISTERED Unregulated No CPD (Continuing Professional Development) No authority to report to REGISTERED Regulated Mandatory annual CPD (Continuing Professional Development) A relevant authority to report to Continual observation and consequences to their actions How to check if your migration agent is registered? Follow this link to search the register of registered migration agents. Type in either your migration agent’s name or MARA number. If they are registered you will be taken to their profile. For example, if you type in “Goyal” under “Agent’s Last Name” you will see both our agents show up in the registry (see Praveen Goyal’s registration and Abhinav Goyal’s registration). Once again checking the MARA (Migration Agents Registration Authority)will confirm for you if they are registered. TIP 5 – Make sure you’re not being charged too much Often a confusing part of choosing your migration agent, fees are quite varied depending on the visa, circumstance and the experience of the migration agent themselves. There are a number of factors contributing to what you would be charged such as: Consultation charges To start the initial contact in discussing your visa and options available, it is common to be charged a
It has finally come to pass after over a year of deliberation… The new Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) which will officially replace the training Benchmark A and Benchmark B for all visas officially passed in the Senate on 5th May 2018 and now just recently been given the Royal Assent on the 22nd of May 2018. Businesses involved in the training benchmarks will still be required to follow the current training requirements until the implementation date of the new SAF. “So what does this mean for businesses in migration?” The Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) is a new training levy that supports the training and education of Australians and will when in effect replace Benchmark A and Benchmark B in a much simpler (but more expensive) process for businesses to follow. When the SAF training levy starts officially, businesses will be required to contribute a certain amount (depending on their businesses turnover) to the SAF on a one off or annual basis depending on the visa their nominee is on. There will be some exemptions for the SAF such as religions and other circumstances but in general the mandatory visa requirement will be: • TSS (482 Visa) 1- Businesses with a turnover of less than $10 million each year will be required to make a full payment of $1,200 per overseas employee each year on the 482 visa 2- Businesses with a turnover of more than $10 million each year will be required to make a full payment of $1,800 per overseas employee each year on the 482 visa • ENS (189 Visa) 1- Businesses with a turnover of less than $10 million each year will be required to make a one off payment of $3,000 per overseas employee on the 189 visa 2- Businesses with a turnover of more than $10 million each year will be required to make a one off payment of $5,000 per overseas employee on the 189 visa • RSMS (187 Visa) 1- Businesses with a turnover of less than $10 million each year will be required to make a one off payment of $3,000 per overseas employee on the 187 visa 2- Businesses with a turnover of more than $10 million each year will be required to make a one off payment of $5,000 per overseas employee on the 187 visa Contact us for more information
Having been a paper-based English test for almost three decades, we can finally welcome the computer-based IELTS to the digital world. While the PTE (one of IELTS biggest competitors) has always been a computer-based test, IELTS has started offering its computer-based version a few months ago as well. Even though it’s already been a few months, it still seems as if not many people have heard of this option to take the IELTS. That might also have to do with the fact that so far, you can take the computer-based IELTS only in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney (Perth is “coming soon”). Computer-based IELTS – What has changed? #Speaking – Nothing has changed here. This part of the test is still the same, whether that’s good or bad news. You will still be sitting in a room with an examiner, who will judge your English skills. While IELTS lists some of the benefits of this speaking test component as being “we hear your accent” or “we won’t time out on you”, I am not sure how great of a benefit that is as there is obviously always a time limit on the speaking component. It’s also interesting how “we hear your accent” is listed as a benefit considering that many test takers fear their accent might be an issue. #Writing – Papers vs Computer It goes without saying that the writing part will now be done by typing rather than the old-fashioned paper and pen. Sure, there’s a handful of people that still feel more comfortable with using paper and pen over typing on a computer. However, the majority of us isn’t even used to that type of writing anymore and prefers being able to quickly type down our ideas and thoughts onto paper and even better deleting that very same idea by pressing a key. Typing is also a great benefit for those of us worry about whether or not the examiner will be able to decipher our handwriting. Marking: The Writing as well as the Speaking part will still be marked by an IELTS examiner. Again, this is something people will have different opinions about. While I understand that IELTS believe a human examiner will bring a higher level of accuracy and fairness to the test, I personally believe that as humans we will always have our own opinions and understandings of what is fair and accurate no matter how professional we are. #Reading – Marked by computer The content itself remains the same but this part will be marked 100% by a computer. It will still involve the well-known components such as, multiple choice, matching information, matching features, summary completion etc. #Listening – Headphones You will hear the listening through your headphones as compared to through loudspeakers. This is not only useful in that you won’t depend on everyone being quiet and the volume being loud enough for you to hear, but it’s also good to have your headphones as you can use them during your reading or writing part too in case you need it perfectly quiet. #Test Formats: General and Academic Both test formats can be taken sitting the computer-based IELTS. #Test Results for Migration The Test Results will be delivered in 5-7 days. If you’re not sure what English test results you need for the visa you are applying for, then have a look here.
Life is too short to spend your days being unhappy at work. Now before you start coming up with excuses about how you can’t just leave your job and start something new, read the next few paragraphs first. If you then still are not convinced that it’s not too late to change your career, then that’s the choice you make. Why it’s not too late Even if you think it might be too late to start from the beginning, it’s not always necessary to start from the beginning. You most likely already possess skills that can be transferred to other professional fields. Look at your transferable skills and assess the gaps between your current skills and the skills required for your career change. For example skills such as administrative tasks or computer skills are easily transferable to industries such as marketing or even finance. How to change careers You have already gained skills: In Australia, you can even get the skills you have earned through work experience officially recognised through RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) which can help you tremendously in applying for jobs in a new occupational field. You want a big change: If you feel like changing your field completely and you can’t seem to find good transferable skills, you can simply study an online course and get experience and qualification through that. The good thing about online studies is that you can do it from the comfort of your own home and while still working and getting paid in your “old” job. You have some skills but want work experience: If you already have some work experience in your desired new profession (either through qualification or simply because you had the opportunity to do some tasks of that new position in your current job), then you can do further training to enhance those skills. Australia even has a special visa that offers you that opportunity no matter how old you are or where you are in your life right now. The Training Visa offers people the opportunity to enhance their skills through workplace-based (paid) training. To do this kind of training in Australia, your occupation needs to be on the list of eligible occupations for this visa type. As you can see, there are plenty of ways to start changing your life today and make the best out of it.