Editor's Blog

Essentially any damage on travel documents that result in machine-reading failure or affect critical identity information can result in the document being impounded and that the traveller being detained or prevented from travel, according to the Standard Operating Procedure manual (SOP) of the Australian Border Force.

Under legislation, it is a serious offence to use or facilitate the use of a cancelled or otherwise invalid Australian travel document. The SOP which was released on an FOI request states that, suspicious, cancelled or invalid travel documents and travel documents where the holder has a financial debt to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) which are presented at the border should be impounded by a delegated officer.

While the SOP notes that immigration officers have an over-riding obligation to facilitate the entry and departure of Australian citizens in a timely manner, they are however required to impound travel documents which they determine are “not usable as evidence of identity and citizenship of its holder or to facilitate international travel.”

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Rolling strike action by thousands of public servants will start today and expected to continue for up to four weeks slowing down visa processing and causing significant delays at airports.

The department of immigration has warned that Immigration staff and Border Force officers will stop work at various times at international airports, ports, container examination facilities, client services and visa processing sections and international mail facilities.

The strike action will start today at airports in Cairns, Townsville, Perth, Darwin and Adelaide before the major airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and other locations join in on Thursday for a 24-hour strike.

You may not have known it but yesterday, March 20^th was the “International Day of Happiness”, a United Nations project where thousands of people all around the world took part in various activities to support the event which had the motto, "I will try to create more happiness in the world around me".

Ahead of celebrations of the world happiness day, the UN released its latest  World Happiness Report which ranked the happiest countries in the world. According to the report, measuring happiness is much better than measuring GDP, health, education, and other aspects of human life. The overall subjective feeling of happiness can impact the life of a person in so many ways, the report noted.

“The widespread interest in the World Happiness Reports, of which this is the fourth, reflects growing global interest in using happiness and subjective well-being as primary indicators of the quality of human development,” the World Happiness Report Update 2016 read.

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A senate committee report entitled, “National Disgrace: The Exploitation of Temporary Work Visa Holders” has effectively recommended an overhaul of the sc457 visa programme proposing some 33 changes.

During the senate hearings, senators were repeatedly told labour hire companies used the threat of deportation to deter exploited workers from complaining about their pay or conditions, according to a report on the ABC.

Several recommendations seek to address this, including ensuring those who approach the Department of Immigration with complaints are dealt with in a 'victim-centric' manner and given a safe space to voice their complaints.

Over 85% of new information and computer technology (ICT) jobs were filled by foreigners last year, notes a new report by the Australian Computer Society.

The report states that workers from overseas are now needed to address acute shortages of particular ICT skills in the short term, but warns that Australia needs a long-term strategy to deal with the skills shortage.

The report by the ACS estimates that Australia’s ICT workforce grew by 23,000 in the past year. Most of this skills demand was satisfied by foreign workers. Australia took in a net 19,600 foreign workers (including 13,900 on 457 visas) over the period, suggesting as little as 3000 new ICT roles were filled domestically.