Australian Immigration Daily News

It’s that time of the year again! Tax time is not just a busy time for Migration Agents, but for any small business. Consequently, it is also the prime time for prowling cyber criminals to plan and launch scams and cyber attacks. This is due to an increase in personal details being exchanged online and the ever-increasing sophistication of hackers and their methods of getting their hands on personal data.

The figures reveal a scary insight. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Scamwatch website received 56,531 reports for ‘Attempts to gain your personal information’ during 2017, resulting in $5 977 877 lost.

These days most of us communicate digitally, making it no surprise that emails and phone messages were identified as two of the most common channels that spammers use to gain access to personal information. So how do you become cyber-savvy and learn to spot a scam?

This afternoon the Department of Home Affairs released further information on the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF). 

As many would be aware, the Migration Amendment (Skilling Australians Fund) Bill 2018 (the Act), passed by the Parliament of Australia on 9 May 2018, is expected to be implemented during the first quarter of 2018-19.    This means an implementation date between 1 July 2018 and 30 September 2018. 

As the Act states, 

Migration Alliance will be selecting one Registered Migration Agent for a AUD $1000 prize based on their participation in the Migration Alliance forum. Entry is open to all Registered Migration Agents.

This is about contribution, effort and participation over the next week.

The more you participate and the better your posts within the locked migration agent forum, the more you will be in the running to win the $1000 prize.

From 1 July 2018:

The Australian Citizenship Regulation 2016 is amended to remove concessional fees for citizenship applications made under section 21 of the Citizenship Act, for persons who have:

• prescribed health care cards; and or
• pensioner cards

These persons will not be eligible for a concessional application fee for Australian Citizenship of either $20 or $40.  

There have been multiple repeals and amendments under the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2018 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2018 dated 7 June 2018.

From 1 July 2018:

Schedule 1—Lodgement of partner and parent visa applications