Australian Immigration Daily News

Hooray! Or “boo”!

I wasn’t sure if there would be another opportunity for a quiz. But there is!

And no, you cannot have a break to fashion a hat out of aluminum foil to protect yourselves from surveillance from televisions, microwave ovens or smart phones while you mull over the answer  (fortunately for all of us here in Australia that form of surveillance is only happening at Trump Tower in New York City!)

Women & Leadership Australia (WLA) is administering a national initiative to support the development of female leaders across Australia’s Legal Sector.

The initiative is providing women with grants to enable participation in a range of leadership development programs.

The leadership development programs are part-time and delivered nationally via WLA’s blended learning model. Scholarship funding is strictly limited and will be awarded based on a set of selection criteria being met.

Expressions of Interest
Find out more and register your interest by completing the Expression of Interest form here prior to March 30, 2017: http://www.wla.edu.au/associations.html

This opportunity will not be extended past March 30. Should you wish to discuss the initiative in more detail, please contact Wafa Ahmed at the office of the National Industry Scholarship Program, WLA on (03) 9270 9030 or via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The following news has been released by the DIBP:

Migration agents representing visa applicants must complete decision-ready Assurance of Support (AoS) claims to the Department of Human Services (DHS).

Submitting an incomplete application will delay the processing of the AoS claim and consequently will also delay the finalisation of your client’s associated visa application. Incomplete applications for AoS may also result in an AoS claim being refused which could lead to a refusal decision on your client’s application by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

Ensure your clients provide all the required supporting documentation including:

TOEFL® test experts Helen Cook and Cath Moore from ETS Global will present “TOEFL Insights for Agents” in four Australian cities to help migration agents and migration lawyers stay informed about the choices of English-language tests for skilled migrants.

The free, two-hour session is being offered in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide on select dates from March through May.  Further sessions for other locations are planned later in the year.

The session is designed to:

What if a visa applicant fails the character test because the applicant has a substantial criminal history.

Does that mean the visa application is certain to be refused, and that there is no hope of getting the refusal overturned in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal?

Well, a decision that was handed down by the Tribunal in early March – Hodson and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (Migration) (2017) AATA 254 (1 March 2017) – illustrates that this type of situation is not “hopeless”.  It is possible for an applicant to succeed before the Tribunal despite failing the character test.