Australian Immigration Daily News

There's an interesting article in this morning's Sydney Morning Herald concerning a joint investigation by Fairfax Media and SBS Television into an alleged "pay-for-visa" fraud that allegedly involved visa applicants making payments to a company in return for job placements in regional areas, and the company's allegedly making payments to employers for providing jobs to applicants and sponsoring them.

The article can be found at this link: "Million-dollar visa scam leaves migrants $50,000 out of pocket, boss drives Porsche"

The article indicates that there will be further details about the investigation on SBS tonight (14 November) at 7:30 p.m. (on the "Viceland" program and at 11 p.m.

The migration consulting business is clearly thriving in Australia.  According to the latest Migration Agent Activity Report released by MARA, during the first half of 2017, registered migration agents lodged 54% of Business Skills visa applications, 76% of the total 457 Temporary Work (Skilled) visa applications and 86% of Employer Sponsored visa applications.  

Industry growth & profitability generally leads to increased supply side competition and this has proven true for Migration Agents in Australia as well.  The chart below highlights a staggering 43% growth of registered agents from 4,899 in 2013 to just over 7,000 in 2017. 

In yesterday’s post, I published news about the most consequential change to the Migration Regulations that will be introduced by the Migration Legislation Amendment (2017 Measures No. 4) Regulations 2017, which will affect Public Interest Criterion 4020.

The amendments, which were made by the Governor-General on 2 November 2017, and which will become effective on 18 November 2017, include a number of additional changes to the regulations.

A summary of these changes is provided below:

What a difference a few words can make!

To paraphrase my good pal from America Donald Trump (who was “elected”, so to speak, just 1 year ago!), "Yuge!” (translation from Trump-speak: “Huge!”)

On 2 November 2017, the Governor General made a hugely consequential change to Public Interest Criterion 4020 through the promulgation of the  Migration Legislation Amendment (2017 Measures No. 4) Regulations 2017. 

After the huge success in Sydney, Migration Alliance has arranged two more NZ immigration events.  To attend the NZ immigration seminar in Melbourne it is essential to RSVP.   

To RSVP please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Please put 'NZ Melbourne' in the subject of the email.  Space is limited and will be on a first come first served basis.