On his first international visit as prime minister, Mr Malcolm Turnbull has announced that New Zealanders who have been living in Australia since childhood will be given access to student loans for the first time next year.

Under the plan, Kiwis who have lived in Australia for at least 10 years and hold a Special Category Visa will be eligible for a loan to help them study at TAFE or university from January, according to a report on the ABC.

Mr Turnbull said if the bill is passed this year, about 2,600 Kiwis will be able to take advantage of the scheme in 2016.

The announcement that New Zealanders will be able to access student loans in Australia, was however overshadowed by the continued criticism in New Zealand of Australia’s stance on deporting non-citizens who have been cumulatively sentenced to 12 months or more in prison.

Australia is reportedly deporting 1 New Zealander a day under the tough laws. It is estimated that up to 1000 criminals could be sent back to New Zealand in the next five years, despite having few or no ties with the country.

Issues relating to the cancellation of visas on character grounds are continuing to receive a great deal of attention both in the news media and in the courts.

Indeed, just last Friday there was a story in the Age about an Australian-born man who has two teen-aged children who appeared to have lost his Australian citizenship (under complicated circumstances described in the news article) and had received a notice from the Department of its intention to consider cancellation (an “NOICC”) of his Bridging Visa E.  The article reports that the NOICC refers to the visa holder’s having been jailed twice for theft and burglary.  The news story also states that the proceedings relating to the cancellation of this person’s visa are being “put on hold” by the Department while it undertakes an investigation to clarify the visa holder’s citizenship and immigration status.

And of course, a great deal of the news coverage concerning Prime Minister Turnbull's first visit to New Zealand focused on concerns raised by NZ Prime Minister John Key that a significant number of Kiwis who have spent most of their lives in Australia are facing deportation back to New Zealand, even in circumstances where it is claimed that the offences they have committed in Australia have been "relatively minor".  The news article that is linked in this paragraph indicated that PM Turnbull has made representations that the appeals of New Zealanders against the cancellation of their visa may be "fast-tracked".

Regional Director of the DIBP sets the tone for future dealings with RMAs

Please find a link to the communication received by the Convenor of Migration Alliance late yesterday from the DIBP:

MJJ-let-to-MA.pdf 

Please find a copy of the reply from Migration Alliance. 

In order to allow passage of the China free-trade agreement, the Coaltion government is considering Labor’s compromise proposals, one of which requires that that the income threshold for sc457 workers is increased from the current levels.

Labor has proposed an increase in the TSMIT under 457 scheme from a market rate of $53,900 to $57,000.

The proposal goes directly against the sc457 review committee’s recommendation that the TSMIT is frozen at $53,900 as well as DIBP figures showing that current average wages in the key industry sectors where sc457 workers are hired are well below Labor’s proposal.

If accepted, Labor’s compromise plan for passage of the China free-trade agreement would knock out more than one quarter of this year’s 457 visa program and price some regional areas out of the scheme, according to a report in The Australian.

It's official.

The Office of the MARA staff now refer to one another and to us as case officers.

Make no mistake.  We are now having our repeat registrations decided by DIBP case officers.

Please review the email we have received this morning from an RMA who is chasing up how their repeat registration application is going.

This is the response that the RMA received from the OMARA (which no longer use mara.gov.au emails by the way).

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "YYYY YYYYY" <yyy.yyyyThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > [removed to protect privacy]
Date: 00/10/2015 0:00 AM [time and date removed to protect RMA]
Subject: [...........]Update on registration application CRM:0000000 [details removed to protect privacy]
To: "XXX XXXXX" <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > [details removed to protect privacy of agent]
Cc: "ZZZZ ZZZZZ" <zzzz.zzzzThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > [Office of the MARA case officer's details removed to protect privacy]