The operator of a number of restaurants and cafes in Darwin has been ordered to pay civil penalties of $175,400 for committing multiple breaches of its obligations under the 457 program. These fines were imposed  by Justice Mansfield of the Federal Court of Australia in the case of Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v Choong Enterprises Pty Ltd (2015) FCA 390 (27 April 2015).  

Although it does not appear that it is at all common for the Department to take enforcement proceedings against a 457 sponsor (in fact, my review of the Austlii database did not reveal any other cases where such action has been taken!) the Choong  case should nonetheless serve as a reminder to sponsors concerning the importance of complying with their sponsorship obligations.  The case also illustrates the serious financial consequences that can result if a sponsor does not comply.

Further, the result in this case demonstrates that RMAs can very meaningfully assist sponsoring employers by making sure that they are aware of the duties that are imposed on them  under the migration legislation: an RMA’s work is not necessarily completed once a 457 visa has been granted!

Jeff Harvie (MARN 0959797) runs Down Under Visa in Manila, Philippines. They do nothing but partner visas and tourist visas for Australian Filipino couples, and have got very good at it over the years.

Jeff wife Mila is Filipina, and they went through the migration process themselves many years ago. Down Under Visa is run as a family business, with Jeff’s son Jeremy as their office manager too. They have lived and worked full time in Manila for the last 5 years, which means they are always there to tend to the needs of the local applicants in the emotion-charged world of partner visas. This is a vocation for them, and they really care about the well-being and final outcome for their many clients.

Despite having a team of 7, every visa application is personally supervised by Jeff. No fly-in, fly-out RMA service here. No local staff making decisions or giving advice. And support is given online through a personal client portal providing support 24/7, backed up by fast email support, so no one is ever too far from their office. Their website is full of video and written testimonials from happy clients which back all of this up.

The following information has been received from the DIBP:

Dear agent

Further to the email you received on 3 July 2015, the following new instruments: IMMI 15/108, Migration Regulations 1994 - Specification of Occupations, a Person or Body, a Country or Countries 2015, and IMMI 15/109, Migration Regulations 1994 - Specification of Class of Persons 2015 have been issued and are in effect as of 1 July 2015.

A new legislative instrument has been rushed through to correct an omission in the Consolidated Skills Occupation list specified by the legislative instrument IMMI15/092.

In the original instrument, the occupation 241213: Primary School Teacher was inadvertently left out.

The department of immigration issued a new legislative instrument (IMMI 15/108) yesterday and backdated it to 1 July 2015 putting Primary School Teachers back on the CSOL. In an email alert the DIBP confirmed that IMMI 15/108 has the effect of Primary School Teacher (ANZSCO 241213) being an eligible occupation for nomination for the following visa programmes from 1 July 2015:

• Skilled Nominated visa (Subclass 190)
• Direct entry stream of Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186)
• Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (Subclass 457)
• Training and Research Visa (Subclass 402)

A further instrument was also issued to correct an error in the instrument IMMI 15/083. The new instrument IMMI 15/109 has the effect of eligible Special Category visa (Subclass 444) and New Zealand Family Relationship (Temporary) visa (Subclass 461) holders being exempt from meeting the skill requirement for the Direct Entry stream of the Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186 visa).

IMMI 15/109 also has the effect of Child Care Group Leader (Aus) (Skill level 2) (ANZSCO 421111) being an eligible occupation for nomination under the Direct Entry stream of the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (Subclass 187 visa) from 1 July 2015.

Young Australians seem to have lost their love affair with technology with the number of graduates with ICT qualifications steadily falling since early 2000s, says a new report by the Australian Computer Society and Deloitte Access Economics. Should the trend continue, the next six years could see a record demand for overseas ICT workers given the steady growth of the technology sector and business demand for ICT workers.

Australia’s ICT industry employs around 600,000 workers. Interestingly enough, one of the biggest employers of ICT workers in Australia is the department of immigration (DIBP) with an estimated 1,600 ICT employees. However, the report notes even the DIBP finds it difficult to get the ICT staff it needs stating, ‘there are still a number of gaps in relation to the technical skills required within the organisation’.

With the government absorbing large numbers of ICT workers and the Silicon Valley companies drawing the best local graduates, private enterprise have been left to rely on ICT workers from overseas to fill the gap for over a decade now.

The ACS has noted that Australia is just not creating enough graduates to meet business demand, and it’s becoming a massive problem forcing companies to turn to overseas skilled workers to meet business needs. There could well be an acute shortage of workers in the next few years.

The reports states that consultations with the business community suggest that there are shortages in skills such as programming and coding, computer science theory and computational thinking with businesses relying on overseas workers for key technical capabilities such as software development and programming.

The report notes that Visa grants for temporary skilled migration of ICT workers have historically accounted for around 10–15% of total 457 visa grants. In the 2013–14 financial year, almost 12,000 ICT workers were granted 457 visas, representing 12% of total visas granted. This year it is expected to increase with the occupational ceilings raised for several ICT related occupations.