Australian Immigration Daily News

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke MP, has introduced additional flexibility to recognise the unique difficulties faced by some of our most distinguished applicants for citizenship.

“Australian citizenship is a rare privilege and it should not come easy. Those who apply must meet a range of character, values and language requirements. They must also have lived in Australia for a minimum period to be eligible,” Minister Hawke said.

“However, the unique work and travel demands on some of our most highly distinguished prospective Australians should not preclude them from making the cut. That’s why I have directed the Department of Home Affairs to apply greater flexibility in applying the residence requirement for eligible people,” he said.

 Source: Increased-flexibility-for-citizenship-applicants.pdf

The following email has been received today from the State Government of Victoria:

Victoria’s provisional Investor stream (188B) and provisional Significant Investor stream (188C) visa nomination programs for 2021-22 are now open. 

The major changes to the 2021-22 program are:

Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews said all Australians looked forward to once more welcoming international travellers across the border, and that the Government was taking proactive steps to ensure the safe reopening of the border at scale when supported by health advice.

“The DPD will support the safe re-opening of Australia’s international borders, by providing digitally-verified COVID-19 vaccination details,” Minister Andrews said.

“This will help us to welcome home increasing numbers of Australians, and welcome the tourists, travellers, international students, skilled workers, and overseas friends and family we’ve all been missing during the pandemic.”

Source: New-Digital-Platform.pdf

Operation Dreadnought uncovered evidence that a former Australian Border Force (ABF) officer engaged in corrupt conduct by providing sensitive operational information to an associate which assisted a drug importation syndicate.

In her report, the Integrity Commissioner makes a number of corruption prevention considerations including the role of social capital, which needs to be assessed in terms of internal and external relationships, and information security and controls.

On 18 August 2020, the former ABF officer plead guilty to one charge of abuse of public office under section 142.2 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth).

The National Migration Conference has been released for sale today.

For information on the Department of Home Affairs sessions (free of charge) and to register please click here.

For a full schedule of presenters including State and Territory governments please click here.