Australian Immigration Daily News

The following is the AAT Bulletin dated 29 April 2019: AAT-29-April-2019.pdf

Australia has long been one of the top-ranking countries in the world when it comes to the lucrative export dollar generated by the provision of an internationally recognised qualification. Whilst education providers have experienced a significant decline in overseas student numbers from 2009 to 2012, Australia still sits as one of the leaders when it comes to this type of export sector.  However, competition from neightbouring countries including the UK and Canada may once again see a decline in a number of students travelling to Australia to study.

Prior to and for some time after the completion of the Knight Review in 2011, when some significant changes were made to the program as a result of the recommendations of that review, Australia had been losing ground against its competitor nations like Canada, New Zealand, the USA and the UK.

The increasing costs of international tuition, the costs associated with applying for the visa itself, the relatively high value of the Australian dollar in comparison to many international currencies, and the fact that there is only a limited number of qualifying students who, on completion of their Australian qualifications, have the prospect of applying for permanent residency, means Australia’s educational industry has felt the pinch of these various factors. Having said that, enrolment numbers across all education sectors have, for the most part, been steadily increasing again.

Home Affairs is currently in the process of reviewing and revising evidentiary requirements for student visa applicants from certain countries.

In the meantime, major change is announced in relation to applicants from Nepal wishing to lodge their student visa application from 1 May 2019 and study in VET sector will  be required to provide evidence of English as well as financial capacity (irrespective of whether the application will be processed under streamlined arrangements).

As this is a new arrangement, the existing document check tool may not necessarily reflect this new arrangement until the system is fully updated.

Sometimes there is hidden in something that appears to be “ordinary” something which might actually be truly extraordinary.

So it is with a decision that was recently handed down by the Full Court, DFQ17 v Minister for Immigration (2019) FCAFC 64 (18 April 2019).

This case dealt with the seemingly “mundane” or “boring” question of whether a letter that had been sent by the Department informing an applicant for a protection visa of the refusal of that application had properly and correctly notified the applicant concerning the time period or deadline within which an application for review could be made.

As of January 2018, the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) revised its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements for Registered Migration Agents.  

OVERVIEW OF CATEGORY A AND CATEGORY B

Briefly, CPD activities are now classified in the following categories: