Breaking Australian immigration news brought to you by Migration Alliance and associated bloggers.
Liana Allan is probably Australia's best known migration agent. Liana is the owner of Legal Training Australia Pty Ltd which is a professional development firm training Australian migration agents and owner of Visacorp Pty Ltd migration agency. Liana's main passion is serving the needs of the migration agent community and providing migrants with information that can truly assist them as they seek to create a new life in Australia. Liana plays netball twice a week and enjoys great food and the occasional glass of Shiraz. Liana lives in Sydney, Australia and has two children. Liana is married.
This is an urgent update from the MRT-RRT for Migration Alliance members.
Please find a link to a pdf document which explains the details:
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As a result of the ongoing pressure we have applied to the government, we believe that the English Language Testing of Migration Agents is now 'on hold'. You will note from the letter sent out yesterday by CEO of the Office of the MARA, Stephen Wood that he mentions the current status of English Testing of RMAs from 1 January 2014.
Nov_-2013_-CEO_-Newsletter.pdf
An RMA has just written to us as follows:
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I am writing to provide an update on forthcoming changes to the department’s online lodgement products.
Deferral of Change Release 10 (CR10)
The planned deployment date for Change Release 10 has been moved from 22 November to 6 December 2013. This includes the new Online Account functionality and the introduction of online lodgement for Partner visas.
Changes to e457 Labour Market Testing functionality will be delivered on 22 November as originally planned.
e457 LMT Changes
To support the introduction of the 457 LMT legislative changes there will be changes to the e457 forms resulting in a planned outage for the following systems:
· eLodgement (eVisa and Citizenship)
· Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO)
· LEGENDcom.
The outage will be from 10:30 pm Friday 22 November until 3:00 am Saturday 23 November 2013 ADST (GMT +11).
Please note: e457 Nomination applications, commenced prior to 10:30 pm Friday 22 November, which have not been paid and submitted, will no longer be able to be retrieved after this time.
Changes to online lodgement services – Introduction of the Online Account
In early December 2013, we will make changes to our online visa lodgement services. The changes will affect all current, saved, unsubmitted online applications. If clients/agents have an unsubmitted visa application when the changes are made, they will not be able to be retrieved and will have to be started again.
If clients/agents do not want to lose any saved online visa applications, we encourage them to submit these before 6 December.
The planned outage window for the CR10 release is still being finalised. Given the complexity of the system changes being introduced, the outage duration could extend across the weekend 6-8 December. We would encourage clients/agents to ensure applications are submitted in advance of this planned outage.
See: System maintenance and technical issues for the most up-to-date information
Should you have any questions in regards to the above changes please let me know.
Kind regards,
Mark McGuire
Director
eService Support Section
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
Dear Migration Agents
The following information was received today by email from the Migration Agents Policy Section,
Visa Framework & Family Policy Branch, Department of Immigration and Border Protection
Recently, you may have noticed when visiting a DIBP office that our processes have changed. With significant expansion and improvement of online lodgement options available to visa applicants and Registered Migration Agents, there is no longer any need to attend an office to lodge applications in person for most visa subclasses. An increasing number of visas can now be applied for on our website at www.immi.gov.au or alternatively, applications can be sent directly to the department by post.
If you choose to come in to Client Service Counters to apply for a visa we will receive the application at reception or through our dropbox, and email or post the payment receipt and decision notification letter in due course. Alternatively, you may be given the option to apply for the visa online using one of our internet kiosks where appropriate.
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Despite heavy endorsement across all parties, the NSW Same-Sex Marriage Bill has failed to get through in the Upper House.
The debate was held on the NSW Cross Party Marriage Equality Working Group Private Member's Bill this morning at NSW Parliament House.
The Bill which was initially introduced by frontbencher Penny Sharpe from the ALP on 1 November, was debated for about two hours before a vote was called.
Members such as Michael Veitch and Sarah Mitchell implored that the House consider ending the discrimination and voting in favour of the Bill. Penny Sharpe and Helen Westwood told personal stories and made suggestions that it was time for change.
Other members of the Upper House were vocal in their opposition of same-sex marriage, with Liberal Party Right-Winger, David Clarke saying “I am opposed to same-sex marriage for a host of reasons and will not, now, or ever support same sex marriage”. David Clarke is a Catholic and his wife is part of Opus Dei.
At the end of the day it did not pass. So for all those migration agents out there that thought that gay marriage might be a way of showing that a same-sex couple are in a genuine and continuing relationship....nope. For all those couples wanting to tie the knot then submit subclass 820 and 801 partner visa applications on the basis of marriage, the end of that plan is already here.
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