Australian Immigration Daily News

Migration Alliance considers that it is essential that we respond to a media release that was issued yesterday, 7 March 2016, by our sister organization, the Migration Institute of Australia.

That media release declares in bold type that “Migration laws must not impinge on people’s traditional rights and freedoms”.

The release quotes the National President of the MIA, Angela Julian-Armitage, as calling on the Federal Government to immediately “establish an independent review of Australia’s migration laws immediately to make sure they are not impinging on people’s traditional rights and freedoms as recognized by common law”.

Australia’s good international relations has effectively resulted in the country's passport holders being able to enter 169 countries without a visa, ranking it among the top 10 countries in a survey of the world’s most powerful passports. Perhaps this is the reason why DFAT reports that so many Australian passports go missing each year.

Visa requirements are an interesting but overlooked indicator of international relations. Most countries require non-nationals to get visas before they enter their borders, but the requirements can differ a lot. Countries that are allies often offer each other’s citizens a quick visa on arrival. For countries that are not so friendly, a visitor may have to provide entry and exit information, a letter of invitation, and even list all of the clubs they belonged to in high school — as well as paying a hefty fee.

The Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom that their citizens enjoy. The index is produced in cooperation with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest database of travel information, and is published annually

Small businesses are facing tough times and the department of immigration is making it harder for them to survive. Many in the industry are saying, DIBP has a policy that discriminates against applications especially by small businesses for hiring foreign workers under the sc457 program.

What is it the purpose of the CSOL which after consultation and consideration at various levels of government and the community has determined essential skills required by Australian companies right now when a DIBP case-officer, despite being presented with a company’s submissions about the realities of its commerce and skills needs, are allowed to make ‘subjective decisions’ about whether the company needs those skills? Are case-officers trained management consultants?

What again is the purpose of the TSMIT which many say already sets an unreasonably high minimum salary rate of $53,900 for foreign workers, when case officers can judge - against the face of market research provided by applicants - that the wages paid to foreigners above this level, are still inadequate?

Australia is one of the most popular study destinations for students all across the world. And for good reason, too, since Australian universities rank quite high among International universities and the Australian Education system is recognized internationally.

High Quality Education

 There are 43 universities in Australia, many of them being in the top 50 worldwide rankings. Australian cities are also ranked among the best cities for education which means a degree from an Australian institute is going to look really good on your educational portfolio.

Four weeks of rolling-strike action over pay conditions is set to further delay visa processing by the department of immigration. Airports around Australia could come to a stand-still in the next few weeks.

Thousands of civil servants are expected to join the strike action from 21 March 2016 unless the Government engaged in genuine talks to end the row over pay and conditions, notes a report in the ABC.

"We've been trying to resolve this for months and we're calling on Prime Minister Turnbull to give us someone to sit down and talk to…He has nearly three weeks to avoid this strike action, but we seriously think it could be resolved in three days if they're willing to talk about fixing this mess." Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU)  secretary Nadine Flood said.

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