Australian Immigration Daily News

How strictly should the character provisions of the Migration Act be administered?

Should it be the case that a person who has been convicted in an overseas jurisdiction of committing a sexual offence against a child should never, ever be allowed to enter Australia, no matter what?

What if the applicant fails to disclose the conviction on his visa application? Should that be the end of the matter? Visa application refused and case closed?

Stress rolls off some people like water off a duck’s back. Don’t get mad, get even by mastering these simple techniques.

Start the day well

Attack the day like it’s a mountain you’re destined to conquer. Put on some upbeat tunes, eat a decent brekkie, get your blood pumping with a brisk walk and try to get in an optimistic frame of mind. Who’s the best? You are! Who? You! That’s right!

We have seen in many of the articles on this blog that Public Interest Criterion 4020 poses a gigantic risk to visa applications.

In many ways, PIC 4020 is the migration law equivalent of being bitten by a funnel web spider or a brown snake: in other words, typically pretty darn fatal unless you can quickly find an antidote!

Similarly, we have also seen that section 501 of the Migration Act can, in its own way, be absolutely toxic to the legal entitlement of the holder of a visa to remain in Australia.  To put it bluntly, the cases suggest that if a person commits a serious criminal offence that results in a sentence of imprisonment of 12 months or more, it’s a pretty sure bet that they’re going to get their visa cancelled.  And it’s going to be an awfully tough fight to challenge the visa cancellation in court, because the grounds of successful challenge are very limited.

Two TOEFL iBT^® test centres have recently opened to help meet the increased demand for testing in Australia.

The centres are based at Navitas English in Brisbane and Nan Tien College in Wollongong. It is the first TOEFL iBT test center for Wollongong and the second for Brisbane.

The new test centres join several others currently operating in cities across Australia:

The role of the Office of the MARA is very important, as it protects the vulnerable. 

1. Subsequent to an agent facing disciplinary proceedings there is a right of review before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal). 

1. The process of presenting witnesses and obtaining documents in support at the Tribunal includes the following: 

Draft Summons have to be filed.  The Tribunal has the discretion to grant the Summons.  The admissibility of evidence requested is a matter for the Tribunal’s discretion.  The Agent can only hope the evidence requested will be approved.

Currently OMARA has extraordinary power.  For example, a recent decision enables supervision to extend to the provision of alleged “indirect immigration assistance”, that is not directassistance.  This may include, for example, hearsay allegations from persons the former Agent has never met.  The basis of an allegation may be a statement by a third party, not the Complainant about what the Agent has allegedly done.  The whole issue of regulation of “indirect immigration assistance” may open a Pandora’s box. The obvious question is what are the parameters – the limits – of the power examining the behaviour of the Agent with respect to the provision of such alleged “indirect assistance”?