Australian Immigration Daily News

Today’s article is essential  reading for anyone who acts, either as a migration agent or a lawyer, for a person who has had her/his visa cancelled on character grounds.

As we have seen, the Minister has been very actively exercising the “personal” powers vested in him under the Migration Act to cancel visas on character grounds, or to refuse to revoke the cancellation of visas on character grounds.

And as we have also seen, it is extremely difficult to challenge a cancellation decision made on character grounds in Federal Court.  There is no “merits review” of cancellation decisions made personally by the Minister – merits review is only available when a cancellation decision is made by a delegate of the Minister, and is only available in the AAT.

The following information has been received by email from the Australian Embassy in Manila:

SCAM ALERT

The Embassy is aware of a hoax/scam suggesting that visa-free options for Filipino nationals will be available from January 2017. This is a scam and potential travelers to Australia must have a valid Australian visa. Australia maintains a universal visa regime. This means Filipino passport holders must have a visa, as a result of a visa application, regardless of the length of travel. If you intend to travel to Australia for any length of time, please see the Embassy website for information on how to apply for an Australian visa:

Whilst February is expected to be generally a quiet month in migration, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection has nonetheless made a number of important changes to arrangements which may impact current and prospective visa applicants as well as visa holders. 

Prospective as well as existing visa applicants should review these changes and where appropriate discuss with a migration agent whether any of the changes impact their initial immigration strategy.

Prospective applicants – Approved forms

• Previously acceptable visa types are being shown the door by a number of Australian lenders
• It's still possible to borrow at higher loan amounts with certain visa types and if you can present a strong case to the right lender

21 February 2017, Sydney, Australia - Temporary residents living in Australia are feeling the sting of strict mortgage lending policies for foreigners.

Initially, banks had only pulled back on lending to foreign citizens living overseas wanting to invest Down Under.

In the past year though, a number of banks have been requiring temp residents to come up with larger deposits, even those on long-stay 457 visas.

URGENT WARNING:

Criminals have hacked the Migration Alliance VOIP phone number 02 90081306 and are passing off as police, the DIBP and other authorities to try and extract money from persons across Australia.

If you receive a call from our phone number, 0290081306, and the caller states they are from the police or other government department please report this to your local police station.  So far we have reports of calls being made to the states of NSW and VIC.