The following message is now visible on the DIBP's website:

COMPLETING A 186/187 APPLICATION: This is to advise that now it is possible to draft an entire 186/187 application, and save it, without having to first submit the nomination form. Up until 20th November 2015 clients/agents were required to supply a valid nomination TRN in order to proceed past page four of the 186/187 application form.

Below is a screen shot of that image:

The following information has just been received from the ACT Government:

Greeting from Canberra 

The 23 February 2016 update of the ACT Occupation List has now been published on http://www.canberrayourfuture.com.au/portal/migrating/article/act-occupation-list/. 

Immigration is a very controversial topic these days, thanks to the refugee situation all over the world and over here in Australia. We have always been pro-immigration but there are clearly many people who think that immigration is a bad thing and should be curbed as much as possible. To these people immigration is stupid and dangerous; to them it is like inviting someone else to live in your house off of your money. We do not feel the same way and thought it was time we explained why we like immigration so much.

It leads to more skilled people joining us

Do you know why so many people are willing to move to Australia from their home countries? It is because they do not like the living standards in their own country. They know that Australia will be able to offer them much more than they could ever get in their own country. We aren’t talking only about money; we are also talking about security and the various other benefits we all love in Australia.

Do well in your studies and a visa could well be waiting for you in South Australia. In a drive to draw and keep the best brains in the state after graduation, the South Australian government has announced that it will be making it easier for talented international graduates of South Australian public universities to qualify for state nomination through the ‘high performing graduate’ category.

High performing graduates from other South Australian higher education institutes may also be considered on a case-by-case basis according to Immigration SA, the South Australian state department which manages state nomination policies and processes state nomination applications.

As at 30 June 2015, there were 374,566 student visa holders in Australia with over 40% studying in the Higher Education Sector.  Over one third of students were from China (22.0 per cent) or India (13.0 per cent). Less than 10% of the total foreign student population in Australia, study in South Australia’s 3 public universities namely University of South Australia, University of Adelaide and Flinders University.

That could change with this policy which is set to make the state more attractive to international students, particularly the high-achievers. Immigration SA, has announced that graduates must meet all of the following requirements to be eligible for the program:

The following is a personal account of Australian lawyer, Mr Rami Yousif, an Australian lawyer who has just applied to become a Registered Migration Agent:

"As I comfort and assure my son at the tall green gates leading him to his first day at Fairfield Primary School, a wave of nostalgia sweeps me and takes me back to my teary first day at Al-Awda Primary School in Nineveh, Iraq. I feel happiness and enjoyment as I remember the friends that I met at school. I tell myself that he will be okay.

I feel overwhelmed by how far we have come. From being the only Christian kid out of a thousand students and how hard it was to be accepted amongst a majority of Muslim and Kurdish kids. How lucky my son is to be in a country where everyone is equal and free!