Australian Immigration Daily News

The United Nations has named the countries with the gold standard, for quality of life in its United Nations Human Development Index report.

Out of the 188 countries ranked by the annual study, Norway and Australia, have once again emerged as the gold standards for measuring quality of life.

Taking into account life-expectancy, education and standard of living, Australia has maintained its spot as the best in the world for three years now, after Norway. Australia, with a population almost five times the top ranked European city, was ahead on life-expectancy and education but lost points for income levels and the comparatively lower level of participation by women in the workforce.

An appeal to the Full Federal Court has resulted in the judgement that the Tribunal has jurisdiction to review an sc457 application whilst reviews are pending for the nomination. The court accepted that “it is sufficient at the time of the making of the application for review of the visa decision there is pending an application for review in respect of an adverse nomination decision.”

In its judgement released on 16 December 2015, in the appealed case of Ahmad v DIBP*, the court considered the meaning of the words “sponsored by an approved sponsor” in s 338(2)(d)(i) of the Migration Regulations.

The court found that at the time Mr Ahmad was refused an sc457 visa, he was “sponsored by an approved sponsor” in that his approved sponsor had nominated him in its nomination application; although that nomination application had been refused, his sponsor had applied to review that decision and the decision was pending.

To all our members and friends

Today as the final 'hurrah' for 2015, Christopher Levingston represented Migration Alliance Inc at the public hearing with the Productivity Commission.  The hearing was on Migrant intake into Australia.

Sydney-Schedule-Thursday-17-December-2015-amended-2.pdf

With an estimated 10,000 overseas 457 visa-holders, the health care and social assistance industry is among the larger sectors employing foreigners in Australia. This has drawn the attention of the Fair Work Ombudsman who recently announced that its inspectors are set to knock on the doors of many of its employers.

Fair Work inspectors will check up to 600 employers over the coming months to ensure their businesses are paying the correct minimum hourly rates, penalty rates, allowances and loadings and providing appropriate meal breaks. Compliance with record-keeping and pay-slip obligations will also be monitored.

Over the past four-and-a-half years, the Agency reported that it has recovered more than $7 million for 5300 underpaid employees from this industry. On average, more than 3000 people a month call the Fair Work Ombudsman Infoline from the health care and social assistance sector.

There are so many real benefits for a person who is present in Australia as a permanent resident to take the next step and seek Australian citizenship. 

One of the benefits – although one would think that it would be needed only by a very tiny percentage of people who are living in Australia – is that having citizenship effectively insulates a person from the possibility of having their visa cancelled on character grounds and being deported back to their country of origin. 

Of course, an Australian citizen could conceivably commit a crime of the worst imaginable description and the consequence would only be a prison sentence.  For the non-citizen who is here on a visa but wishes to remain, there is a “double sanction” – not only will they suffer whatever sanction the criminal justice sees fit to impose, but, after they finish their prison term, they will be ushered into the “delightful accommodations” that are provided in immigration detention and then “sent packing” to wherever it is they may have come from.