One of our colleagues has been in contact with everyone he can concerning what appears to be the provision of immigration assistance by unauthorised persons. even if the owners of the business were using RMAs then the advert is non compliance.  Here is the complaint:

Please note attached immigration integrity complaint thus far sent to:

1. Minister for Immigration and Border Protection – 3 times
2. PM – once and thank you for the response, the only one I received
3. DIBP – allegations area 3 times
4. Senator Brandis – my local Senator but also AG as chief law officer
5. The Migration Institute of Australia - representations to the Department.

Now copied to

It is so incredibly important for a person who wishes to remain in Australia to lodge a valid application with the Department for a new substantive visa before their original visa expires. 

If a visa holder allows her/his visa to “expire” before applying for a new, or “further” visa, they may find themselves in a position where they and their family members have no choice but to leave Australia and then apply for the new visa from “offshore”.  Of course, the visa holder and her/his family may suffer from substantial inconvenience and upheaval if they have to go offshore to make another application.  Not to mention that they may have to “wait” offshore for an indeterminate period of time while the Department assesses the application. 

For these reasons, it is also essential that a person must take an active role in safeguarding her/his visa entitlements, and not passively hand the process of applying for a further substantive visa to “someone else”.  

Faced with an appeal involving a relationship between a 90-year old man and his Indonesian de facto partner, Ms Angkawijaya aged almost 60, the Full Federal Court recently considered whether there must be love and affection for there to be a genuine spousal or de facto relationship.

The couple’s circumstances and explanations did not fit well into what the delegate and subsequently, the Tribunal expected to see in a relationship. When the member asked Ms Angkawijaya about the reason for her partner visa application, she said that, “she loved [Mr Limberiou] and she loved people generally” and that when she was asked if she loved him more than she loved people generally she said that she “loves all” and “loves everybody”.

Given her ambivalence about her feelings towards Mr Limberiou, and the other concerns, the Tribunal concluded that it was not satisfied that the couple had a mutual commitment to a shared life together. The Tribunal held that a de facto relationship which in the circumstances of this case did not include love and affection was not and could not be a de facto relationship within s 5CB(2) of the Act

However, the Full Federal Court found that the Tribunal erred and held that, “A couple may have a commitment to each other to a shared life together as partners in the absence of what one might call emotional or romantic love.”

In their joint judgement, Kenny and Griffiths JJ stated:

51. All the matters and considerations which are set out in reg 1.09A(3) may properly be described as relevant considerations which the decisionmaker is bound to take into account because the legislation so requires.

When sending applications, submissions and evidence to the AAT by post, you should allow for longer mail delivery times as Australia Post regular mail delivery may take up to six days, warns the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Despite increasing the cost of sending a letter by regular mail from 70 cents to $1 earlier this month, the unprofitable national postal services provider, Auspost says regular mail could take up to six business days to get delivered. Pay $1.50 and your letters get priority – with delivery promised within 4 business days. Only Auspost’s express post service ‘guarantees next day delivery’.

Don’t get caught out on this as there are strict timelines for applying for an AAT review. Review applicants must lodge their application for review within the time limit referred to in the letter from the Department notifying them of the decision. If you do not apply within the time limit AAT will not be able to consider the application for review as it does not have any power to extend the time limit.

To avoid delays, the AAT recommends that, where available, you consider lodging your application or documents using AAT's online lodgement facilities.

The AAT also accepts applications, submissions and evidence by email, fax or in person at one of AAT's offices.

Australian Prime Minister has made two major initiatives in Australia’s immigration policy. Now students studying the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) have a way to apply for permanent residence in Australia. There is also a new Entrepreneur Visa introduced that will be implemented from December 2016.

How the change in Immigration Rules can make Immigration to Australia Easier for Students

The initiative for STEM students is for those who are doing their masters and PhD from research institutes in Australia. The field of ICT and STEM is quite broad and hence, a lot of student migration is expected for completing their qualifications in Australia, as it gives them extra points in the skilled migration points test. 

Since the change in the point system will be implemented accordingly at the end of the year, it cannot be said for sure of how many extra points STEM students will receive to migrate to Australia. However, studying in Australia is definitely going to make their immigration process easier.