In a speech to the Australia/UK Leadership Forum in London recently, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge discussed the Government’s plans to introduce an Australian values test before granting new migrants permanent residence. Why introduce an Australian values test? A significant part of the controversy is centred around whether… Read More »
Recently released statistics show the Department of Home Affairs only accepted 162,417 people on a permanent residence visa in 2017/18 in comparison to 183,608 in the previous year. The figure is well below the permanent migration planning level of 190,000 placements, and confirms several trends we have seen developing over… Read More »
The CEO of WA’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy, Mr Everingham has shown support for a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) to address shortages in WA’s Goldfields mining region. The Shires of Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Citizenship and Multicultural Minister, Mr Alan Tudge met last month to discuss the DAMA and… Read More »
The Department of Home Affairs has announced the pass mark has increased from 60 points to 65 points to become eligible for a visa under the General Skilled Migration program. This change came into effect on 1 July. The change in the pass mark demonstrates a further narrowing of Australia’s permanent skilled migration… Read More »
Over the past few years, the Interstaff team have seen the Government become increasingly selective of the occupations that get accepted onto Australia’s skilled occupation lists and become eligible for skilled migration to Australia. In April 2017, fundamental changes were announced which split eligible occupations into two skilled occupation lists.… Read More »
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced the Federal Government is considering changes to ensure all permanent residence applicants, including dependent partners or family members, can meet English requirements at least at a primary school level before being granted permanent residence. The Government is considering a range of options, from mandatory… Read More »
Over the past few months, the Interstaff team have noticed the Department of Home Affairs are requiring businesses to provide more substantial levels of evidence for Subclass 400 Visas. As you may know, the Subclass 400 visa enables businesses to engage highly skilled applicants with knowledge or experience that cannot… Read More »
Sheila Woods Industries facing local labour shortages, such as the hospitality industry, can often find it difficult to source stable, ongoing employees – and the impacts of this can be especially difficult for small businesses. A business owner of a bakery shared these particular concerns with us, expressing how… Read More »
Sheila Woods I recently assisted a couple who were struggling to meet the character requirements for a partner visa. The applicant wanted to marry his partner and stay with her in Australia, however he did not meet the character requirements for his visa application due to a criminal conviction received… Read More »
Elain Flynn A client in the resource industry urgently required a specialist to come to Australia for repair and maintenance work for a key project. Timelines for the project were critical and delays in the person arriving to Australia would have compromised on-site health and safety requirements and cause the… Read More »
Sheila Woods | Registered Migration Agent | Over 10 years experience in visa appeals A couple came to see us very distressed following their partner visa being refused by the Department of Home Affairs. The husband, who was the visa applicant, had a period of 21 days to leave… Read More »
