The following was an email I sent to the CEO of the Office of the MARA this morning:

The idea for a new permanent visa for entrepreneurs of small businesses who create jobs in Australia has been floated by Labour’s Chris Bowen who believes that temporary visa holders who prove that they can create jobs are important for the Australian economy and should be allowed to remain permanently, reports the Australian.

Chris Bowen introduced the significant investor visa which during his time as immigration minister never really got off the ground. But his idea has in the recent year gained a great deal of traction with 1095 SIV applications in the pipeline and some 343 SIVs granted.

Mr Bowen is now talking about introducing a more basic entrepreneur visa which essentially is  not based on a dollar value but rather on the number of jobs the entrepreneur can create during their stint on a temporary visa.

According to the Australian, Mr Bowen told a Queensland Media Club luncheon that someone on a temporary visa could be asked to demonstrate how they could turn $50,000 into a company employing 15 people. If their start-up plan worked, they would be given a permanent visa.

"We can do better when it comes to attracting people with the entrepreneurial spirit…If you've managed to take $50,000 and turn it into a company, which is employing 15 people in three years, I reckon you're going to make a pretty important contribution to the Australian economy going forward.

"New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Singapore, among other nations, have all introduced specific entrepreneur visas and Labor believes in going down this road as well."

Natalie O'Brien, a reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald has written a news story today.  She says "A blacklist of registered migration agents and lawyers the Department of Immigration tried to keep secret has been reproduced online, escalating calls for an inquiry and a possible class action against the department."

As migration agents would already be aware, Migration Alliance's Convenor, Accredited Specialist immigration lawyer, Christopher Levingston said that the creation and maintenance of what he called a "shi* list" of registered migration agents  "is a complete disgrace and shows the absolute contempt that the department has for the profession".

Mr Levingston said the department had acted deceitfully and in a manner that damaged the clients of agents because of some unspecified criteria. 

Migration Alliance has a petition running.   We are petitioning Scott Morrison MP and Michaelia Cash MP to stop accepting visa applications from unregistered persons. 

This petition is about preventing unregistered persons from being able to lodge Australian visa applications on behalf of visa applicants will protect those vulnerable applicants and give them the best chance of success at visa applications to Australia.   Stopping unregistered practitioners from lodging visa applications would prevent fraud, prevent immigration scams and stop criminal entrepreneurs.  Stopping the receipt of visa applications from unregistered persons and only accepting applications from Registered Migration Agents would also decrease processing times within the DIBP.  

The integrity of Australia's borders is paramount.

Step 6 of the repeat registration on the Office of the MARA website is being reported by RMAs as faulty.

When migration agents renew their annual registration online at the Office of the MARA website, there are no CPD activities to select from on the screen.  It is just blank.  This is even though the account shows that the migration agent may have completed 10 modules.

This is not an error on the end of the CPD provider nor is it to do with the CPD provider not having reported the completed CPD to the Office of the MARA in time.