Australian Immigration Daily News

Recruitment is now underway for a new Chief Executive Officer at the Migration Institute of Australia.  The previous CEO was Maurene Horder, who suddenly departed in September 2013, and was replaced by an Acting CEO, Kevin Lane. 

Can you think of anyone in our profession, or any other profession that you think might be suitable? 

Since 1^st July 2016 last year, the federal government, with the New South Wales and Victoria state governments, have cracked down on foreign non-residents buying Australian property, who are not Australian citizens, permanent residents living in Australia or eligible New Zealand Citizens living in Australia. New tightened up Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval applications, processes and fee structures for foreign non-residents wishing to buy real estate in Australia are now in place. Foreign non-residents not complying with the new regime structure, are now served with mandatory forced sale notices, with also tax implications.

From an immigration agent’s prospective, a client could be coming to them, to obtain permanent residence in Australia, to avoid the hurdles and tax burdens of deemed as a foreign non-resident. The new foreign non-resident regime do not apply to Eligible New Zealand Citizens (ENZCs), who are deemed as permanent residents in Australia, for tax purposes and to avoid the foreign non-resident land taxes, who have been residing in Australia, for more than 200 days.

From an immigration agent’s prospective, a foreign non-resident wish to buy property in Australia, now can only buy from a developer (off the plan / new property) who has pre Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval to sell to foreign non-residents, or the foreign non-resident themselves must obtained Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval.  

Bupa is proud to announce the launch of its official WeChat account!

This social media platform is extremely popular amongst the Mandarin speaking community here in Australia so as part of their on-going multicultural communication strategies they have decided to join the WeChat community and become the first health insurance company in Australia to open an official account.

This account will enable access to information on Bupa’s product range and health services, the ability to communicate with Bupa consultants, and receive weekly articles on topics ranging from promotions and campaign information to health and care articles all in Mandarin.

There are many demands on a business owner’s budget, so when the money is tight it can be tempting to skip some expenses to save a little cash.   Often you’ll tend to skip the outlays that don’t deliver an immediate return, like your insurance, and instead spend on things that can bring clients in the door and generate revenue, such as marketing and advertising.  However, being in business is risky business and all Migration Agents face risks that could threaten the livelihood of their business.  Which is why having the right insurance is an important part of being a responsible business owner.

This doesn’t mean that you need to get every type of insurance possible for your agency.  Instead it is about having the right insurance to help you to take away some of your business worries. Firstly, you should identify your risks and prioritise them, by considering the probability of something happening, along with the financial impact it would have on your business. Because some risks could cause a major disruption, while others might only be minor.

 If the probability of an event happening is low and the financial impact is low, you may decide it’s not worth insuring against.  For example, if the chance of a wild storm hitting your town and causing damage to your premises is low and you could easily manage the cost of repairs, you might decide against insurance in this area. In other words, if the chance is low and you can afford to replace your assets, you may be willing to "self-insure".