Australian Immigration Daily News

The designated area migration agreement (DAMA) programme has been developed to supplement the workforce strategies of states, territories and regions, to support economic performance and help them adjust to changing economic conditions.

The DAMA is a two-tier agreement: the first tier consists of an overarching five-year deed of agreement with a designated area representative setting out occupations, ceilings and concessions; and the second tier comprising individual labour agreements with direct employers.

DAMAs establish collaborative arrangements, with shared roles and responsibilities, between the Australian Government and regional or state and territory authorities. 

The temporary sponsored parent visa is designed to allow the parents of Australians to spend longer periods of time with their children in Australia without placing additional burden on Australia's health care system.  The sponsorship for this visa is now open to eligible sponsors wishing to bring their parents to Australia on a temporary basis.

The new visa will allow Australians to sponsor their parents to stay in Australia for up to five years at a time. A reminder that this new visa arrangement does not replace the existing Parent category visas. The new visa provides an important cultural link for children of Australian migrants, while recognising the social benefits afforded through parent reunification, such as assistance with minding of grandchildren. Additionally, this visa seeks to address long-standing community concerns about wait times under existing parent visa arrangements. This new visa arrangement is for parents (biological or adoptive) and step-parents of Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents and eligible New Zealand Citizens. A step-parent can only apply if they are still in a married/de facto relationship with a biological parent of the sponsoring Australian child.

A sponsor for a temporary sponsored parent visa must meet requirements specified in Migration Regulations in order for their sponsorship to be approved. These will include that the sponsor must:

It is evident that approximately about 80 percent of migrants settle in Sydney or Melbourne.  The remainder choose the rest of the eastern coast region.  Far and few travel outside metropolitan regions. Meanwhile, many regional towns continue to experience population decline and struggle to maintain the viability of basic services.  For example, a town of Pilbara has experienced consistent decline it it’s population.

Migration policy should take into account local population density and needs and encourage migrants to settle in regional Australia.

The National Farmers Federation is seeking that government makes further incentives for migrants to travel to regional Australia to ensure that population growth is evenly spread.  For example, some incentive ideas include:

The 188 Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (EB-188) is designed for individuals with vast  Business Skills.  A subclass 188 is a provisional visa, it may however lead to permanent residence assuming an individual is able to meet eligibility criteria pertaining to grant of permanent residence.

EB-188 has the following streams:

-        Business Innovation  (188A)

There have been several announcements made by the government regarding job security and creation of training programs to ensure that further boost to the economy is maintained.

During a recent media release, Morrison government confirmed that it will “will create 250,000 extra jobs for young Australians.

We will back young Australians to secure a great job by giving them the chance to gain the right skills. With a stronger economy we are headed in the right direction. Last financial year, for the first time in history, more than 100,000 young Australians got a job. Youth unemployment is falling and is lower than it was under Labor, who left office with almost 55,000 fewer young people in work.