A new bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday has dramatically expanded the powers of immigration Minister Scott Morrison by granting the minister broad new powers to cancel or refuse visas to non-citizens who commit crimes in Australia.

The changes will effectively lower the threshold for the cancellation of temporary visas for non-citizens.A person can now fail the character test if there's a 'reasonable suspicion' - not a conviction - for involvement in crime gangs, people smuggling, genocide, war crimes, torture or slavery.Anyone who has one or multiple jail sentences adding up to 12 months - down from two years - or has an adverse ASIO assessment of child sex charges can also fail automatically.The minister can cancel or refuse a visa to anyone who fails the character test.

Commenting on the new powers, assistant immigration minister Michaelia Cash said the federal government had low tolerance of criminal behaviour by non-citizens.

'Entry and stay in Australia by non-citizens is a privilege, not a right,' she told the chamber on Wednesday, according to a report in The Australian.'The Australian community expects that the Australian government can and should refuse entry to non-citizens or cancel their visas if they do not abide by Australian laws.'

IN SUMMARY, the purpose of the Migration Amendment (Character and General Visa Cancellation) Bill 2014 (the Bill) is to amend the Migration Act 1958[1] (the Act) in relation to the character test and general visa cancellation provisions to:

Schedule 1—Character test

We have just received the following email from the ACS:

Whilst nationals from most of the top ten poorest countries in the world have made it to the department of immigration’s list for expedited processing of temporary work visas (sc400), economic giants China and India have been notably left out of the recently released list with no reasons provided.

Australia and China recently signed an intention to enter a Free Trade Agreement with several promises including simplifying of visa applications. India and Australia have also indicated that such an agreement is being negotiated and could well be signed in the near future. Both the leaders were here recently and even spoke at a joint session of both houses of the Australian parliament promising better trade ties.

Given this it may come as a shock to many that the recent government instrument IMMI 14/100 excludes both China and India from the expanded list of 197 countries and territories eligible to submit online applications for Temporary Work Visas. The list is over three-times the size of the previous list.

From 23 November, nationals from the countries listed in the instrument will be eligible to make online applications and are expected to enjoy faster processing of their visa applications eliminating the need to post or courier paper applications or make in-person visits to Australian DFAT offices.

The SC400 visa is for employers requiring foreign workers to travel to Australia to do short-term, highly specialised, non-ongoing work; participate in non-ongoing cultural or social activities at the invitation of an Australian organisation; or in limited circumstances, participate in an activity or work relating to Australia’s interests.

Move over IELTS.  The end of the IELTS monopoly has finally arrived. 

Here's a look at two other great options for Australian visa applicants:

ETS:

ETS-MEDIA-RELEASE---GETTING-TO-WORK-IN-AUSTRALIA-JUST-GOT-EASIER---241114.pdf

The recent boom in student migration numbers is being attributed not only to the lower Australian dollar and better working rights via the post-study sc485 visa but also to the streamlined visa processing system (SVP). However the SVP is beginning to look like a convenient backdoor into Australia for some who enter Australia easily on the SVP but then change courses to cheaper non-SVP providers soon after. 

RMAs are monitored closely and scrutinised for indiscretions. What about education agents and SVP approved instituitions? The emerging trend of 'course-hopping' among students begs the question: what steps, if any, are being taking by education agents and SVP approved institutions to discourage course-hopping and how exactly are these education agents and providers being monitored?

Over the last year the department of immigration has issued some 1400 warning letters to students who entered Australia on the SVP system but had since left the SVP-approved institutions before completing their course, reports The Australian. According to the report 503 students received notices of DIBPs intention to cancel their visas with 103 visas actually being subsequently cancelled.

The report notes that “there was increasing evidence that students were entering the country by enrolling in a government-approved university or college under what is known as streamlined visa processing, then jumping ship to a cheap private college to finish their qualification at a fraction of the cost while ¬remaining eligible for post-study work rights.”

The streamlined visa processing arrangements was recently extended to eligible advanced diploma level students. It was previously the domain of universities but now vocational and education training institutes assessed by DIPB to be ‘low- risk providers’ have also been included.

Given this and the potential further increase in student numbers, it remains unclear how exactly education agents and SVP approved institutions are managing the SVP privileges or how DIBP is monitoring them.