Australian Immigration Daily News

The media was quick to jump in on Turnbull's announcement regarding "abolition" of the 457 visa scheme which naturally has both existing and future 457 visa applicants worried.  

This is what we know so far in regards to the the proposed reforms due to come into effect in March 2018.

• The new visa will be called Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa  and will come into effect in March 2018
• There will be two streams, a Short-Term stream of up to two years and a Medium-Term stream of up to four years 
• This visa will replace existing 457 visa and will likely impact existing subclass 186 visa

As published on DIBP's website, key changes anticipated will include the following:

Should there be more, or easier, ways for unlawful non-citizens to regularise their status in Australia? 

According to the most recent compilation of data that has been published by the Department, Australian Migration Trends 2014 – 2015, it was estimated that there were approximately 62,000 unlawful non-citizens in Australia as at 30 June 2015. This publication states that this number of unlawful non-citizens had remained fairly constant at that number since 2013. 

The Migration Trends publication states that the visa categories with the highest number of “over stayers” are visitor (by far the highest proportion of unlawful non-citizens, about 44,000 or 75%), followed by former holders of student visas and working holiday visas. 

Are you working with Chinese migrants or others interested in the Significant Investor Visa? 

Come along to the BasisPoint SIV Chinese Investment and Integration event on Wednesday 3rd May and hear the latest SIV updates from founder David Chin as well as insights from intergeneration migrant families. 

Migration Alliance has negotiated an 8% discount on individual tickets for agents to join the MA tables or network amongst the audience of investment managers, venture capital funds, property, bankers, accountants, lawyers and other professionals serving Chinese clients. Use the discount code "MA888" when clicking on the link here. 

How important is it to comply with deadlines fixed by the Tribunal for providing information in support of a visa application?

And how important is it to communicate with the Tribunal if it appears that there may be difficulty in meeting the deadline allowed by the Tribunal?

The answer, as illustrated by a decision that was handed down by the Federal Circuit Court on 5 April 2017, Singh v Minister for Immigration & Anor (2017) FCCA 670 is “incredibly”.

On 23 February 2017, amendments to the Migration Act 1958 relating to the cancellation of visas on character grounds came into force.

The amending legislation is entitled the Migration Amendment (Character Cancellation Consequential Provisions) Act 2017.

As the name of this legislation indicates, the purpose of these amendments was to introduce further changes to the Migration Act “consequential to” an earlier amendment that came into force in December 2014, which was the Migration Amendment (Character and General Visa Cancellation) Act 2014.