The AAT has asked Migration Alliance to distribute the following message:

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) will be operating at limited capacity over the Christmas and New Year period. 

Many of our offices will close from 5.00pm on Thursday, 24 December 2015 and will reopen at 8.30am on Monday, 4 January 2016.  We will not be scheduling conferences or hearings during this period.

Parliament has passed the Bill introducing criminal and civil penalties for sponsors, employers or other third parties who make a personal gain from their position in a ‘payment for visas’ arrangement.

Under the Bill a visa holder could lose their Australian permanent resident or temporary resident visa at any time, if they are involved in ‘payment for visas’ arrangements.

These sanctions are not limited to the 457 visa programme but also extend to other temporary and permanent skilled visa programmes where there is potential for ‘payment for visas’ activity to occur.

The Bill will affect ‘payment for visa’ arrangements in place after the commencement of the new legislation which is currently awaiting assent.

“Benefits” for the purposes of the amendments will be not be limited to monetary payments and include deductions of amounts, real or personal property and anything deemed to be an “advantage”, noted immigration minister, Peter Dutton in his second-reading speech.

In its definitions the Bill states that ‘benefit’ includes:

How can an applicant satisfy the criteria for the grant of a “Temporary Graduate” (Subclass 485) visa? 

More specifically, how can an applicant who seeks a visa under the “Graduate Work Stream” meet the criterion of clause 485.222 of Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations that they demonstrate that the degree, diploma or trade qualification that is used to satisfy the Australian study requirement be “closely related” to the applicant’s nominated skilled occupation? 

This is a question that is of obvious importance to students who wish to remain in Australia to work for a period of time after they have completed their studies.  

Edging toward AU$19 billion, Australia’s international education sector has hit record levels as tensions surrounding immigration in other, once popular student destinations like the US and UK rise and foreign student inflow slides.

The focus on relaxing student visa laws in Australia has resulted in a 15 per cent increase on the previous year in the spending of the estimated half a million foreign students in Australia according to figures recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

These figures affirm that international education remains on of Australia’s most important exports, says Senator Richard Colbeck, the Minister for Tourism and International Education. Education is Australia’s third-largest export after iron ore, which is worth AUS$54.5 billion,  and coal, which is valued at AUS$37.9 billion.

“International education is also a major generator of jobs, with the sector supporting over 130,000 jobs in cities and regions throughout Australia,” said Senator Colbeck in a recent media release. “The government is determined to ensure the international education sector continues to be one of the major strengths of the Australian economy.”

The total export income generated by all international education activity was just short of AUS$19 billion. This comprised spending by onshore students of some AU$18.2 billion, and  offshore earnings from other educational services and royalties which generated an additional AUS$603 million.