Australian Immigration Daily News

Migration Agents might want to be aware of this first reading which was put to the Senate yesterday by Senator Anning.  I am not sure if this has hit main stream media yet, but to me this seems nothing short of a xenophobic, racist, bigoted move!  Here it is and below is the extract from Hansard:

BILLS Plebiscite (Restricting Non-European Migration) Bill 2018

First Reading

The first visa has been issued under the government’s new Global Talent Scheme, a quarter of the way into the 12-month pilot program. Queensland-based tech scale-up SafetyCulture recently received a visa for a product manager from the US in what is believed to be the first issued under the new scheme.

But concerns still surround the startup stream of the scheme, with one immigration lawyer saying the current format is “absolutely nonsensical” and “is going to fail”.

The Global Talent Scheme was launched in July after being announced to placate a tech sector that had been left shocked and outraged after the axing of the popular 457 visa scheme.

The TOEFL iBT® test score requirements for those who must provide an approved English-language test result to achieve Migration Agent registration have been revised. 

The revision, which took effect 1 January 2018, brings the TOEFL® test requirements for migration agents into line with score equivalences used across the Department of Home Affairs.

The new TOEFL iBT requirements are an overall score of 94 and minimum section scores of:

1.            Processing Times 

Home Affairs published latest processing times for subclass 482 visas.   Based on the October 2018 processing times frames, 75% of all 482 applications are processed in: 

• 49 days – Short Term Stream
• 38 days – Medium Term Stream
• 22 days – Labour Agreement Stream
• 38 days – Sponsorship
• Nominations – 35 days 

Processing times are updated regularly and are published on Department of Home Affairs website. 

Migration Agents will be particularly interested in this latest circulation from Jason Clare in the Commonwealth Parliament of Australia's House of Reps:

A Bill for an Act to give Australian workers a fair go in trade agreements and to fix the way the Commonwealth negotiates them, and for related purposes!

The bill will improve the way that the Australian Government negotiates trade agreements by prohibiting the inclusion of clauses that undermine the temporary skilled migration system and the protection of public services and allow foreign corporations to sue the Australian Government. It will also increase independent assessment and scrutiny of trade agreements.