An appeal to the Full Federal Court has resulted in the judgement that the Tribunal has jurisdiction to review an sc457 application whilst reviews are pending for the nomination. The court accepted that “it is sufficient at the time of the making of the application for review of the visa decision there is pending an application for review in respect of an adverse nomination decision.”

In its judgement released on 16 December 2015, in the appealed case of Ahmad v DIBP*, the court considered the meaning of the words “sponsored by an approved sponsor” in s 338(2)(d)(i) of the Migration Regulations.

The court found that at the time Mr Ahmad was refused an sc457 visa, he was “sponsored by an approved sponsor” in that his approved sponsor had nominated him in its nomination application; although that nomination application had been refused, his sponsor had applied to review that decision and the decision was pending.

With an estimated 10,000 overseas 457 visa-holders, the health care and social assistance industry is among the larger sectors employing foreigners in Australia. This has drawn the attention of the Fair Work Ombudsman who recently announced that its inspectors are set to knock on the doors of many of its employers.

Fair Work inspectors will check up to 600 employers over the coming months to ensure their businesses are paying the correct minimum hourly rates, penalty rates, allowances and loadings and providing appropriate meal breaks. Compliance with record-keeping and pay-slip obligations will also be monitored.

Over the past four-and-a-half years, the Agency reported that it has recovered more than $7 million for 5300 underpaid employees from this industry. On average, more than 3000 people a month call the Fair Work Ombudsman Infoline from the health care and social assistance sector.

Experienced migration agents may be becoming a rare breed. The OMARA figures indicate that almost half of the advisors in the migration advisory industry have less than 3 years’ experience.

This may not come as a surprise given the strong growth of the migration advisory industry in recent years. Current figures indicate that there is an average net increase of 40 registered migration agents (RMAs) a month. However, not all survive its demands with the OMARA figures showing 157 left the industry in the September quarter alone.

Overall, the total number of registered migration agents increased from 5706 at 30 June 2015 to 5830 at 30 September 2015 according to the OMARA’s Migration Agent Activity Report.

Over two-thirds or 67% of migration advisors are congregated in New South Wales and Victoria. About a third of the total number of RMAs are also lawyers. Currently, legislation requires migration advisors – including lawyers - to be registered with the OMARA in order to practice in the industry. The number of lawyers that could enter the industry could rise significantly, once - as proposed - the OMARA registration requirement is removed for legal practitioners.

In an attempt to entice more visitors from the west to Australia, Tourism Australia is set to splurge $40 million next year on a marketing campaign promoting Australian beaches and aquatic attractions.

Last year’s campaign which focussed on food and wine, resulted in a 40% jump on spending in the restaurant sector to $700 million. Tourism Australia hopes the new multi-platform campaign, to be launched early next year will do the same.

Spending across all other tourist sectors rose this year as visitor numbers from the 20 top source countries posted new highs. China continued to lead the growth with huge increases; visitor numbers are up 22 per cent to 896,000, nights up 25 per cent to 39.3 million and spend up a huge 43 per cent to $7.7 billion. A record 953,200 Chinese tourists visited Australian shores in the year to August, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nudging close to New Zealand’s 1.29 million.

Tourism Australia, is now aiming to broaden the markets by touting Australia’s aquatic and coastal experiences, something it believes will appeal particularly to visitors from the west. It is hoping that the campaign will also draw people out of the capital cities into coastal towns.

Promotional materials for the campaign, which will include virtual reality and 360 mobile assets as well as a new broadcast ad and other print and digital materials, have been shot in locations such as Rottnest Island in Western Australia, Katherine in the Northern Territory and the Three Capes Walk in Tasmania, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Migrants entering Australia on the new entrepreneur visa could be granted permanent residence if their ventures are commercially successful, says immigration minister, Peter Dutton.

Australian diplomatic staff in some 60 countries are on the lookout for entrepreneurial talent and encouraging them to ready themselves for the new entrepreneur visa which is expected to be introduced next year, according to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Readying themselves will mean getting financial backing to kick-start their business venture in Australia. Currently, startups in Australia have great difficulty attracting funding, so the newcomers will have to find their own backers and show they can get their enterprise up and running on arriving in Australia.

"Australia has been this wonderful place to live but not a great place for startups,” said Murray Hurps, the general manager of Australia's largest startup hub Fishburners noting that there is not enough local funding for startups particularly to get them through the early stages of business development.

Speaking to a group of young entrepreneurs in Sydney, Mr Dutton said that ideas, funding and actual success will be needed to achieve permanent residence in Australia – “the key then to becoming an Australian citizen is whether or not it goes on to success," said Mr Dutton.