There are so many real benefits for a person who is present in Australia as a permanent resident to take the next step and seek Australian citizenship. 

One of the benefits – although one would think that it would be needed only by a very tiny percentage of people who are living in Australia – is that having citizenship effectively insulates a person from the possibility of having their visa cancelled on character grounds and being deported back to their country of origin. 

Of course, an Australian citizen could conceivably commit a crime of the worst imaginable description and the consequence would only be a prison sentence.  For the non-citizen who is here on a visa but wishes to remain, there is a “double sanction” – not only will they suffer whatever sanction the criminal justice sees fit to impose, but, after they finish their prison term, they will be ushered into the “delightful accommodations” that are provided in immigration detention and then “sent packing” to wherever it is they may have come from. 

Experienced migration agents may be becoming a rare breed. The OMARA figures indicate that almost half of the advisors in the migration advisory industry have less than 3 years’ experience.

This may not come as a surprise given the strong growth of the migration advisory industry in recent years. Current figures indicate that there is an average net increase of 40 registered migration agents (RMAs) a month. However, not all survive its demands with the OMARA figures showing 157 left the industry in the September quarter alone.

Overall, the total number of registered migration agents increased from 5706 at 30 June 2015 to 5830 at 30 September 2015 according to the OMARA’s Migration Agent Activity Report.

Over two-thirds or 67% of migration advisors are congregated in New South Wales and Victoria. About a third of the total number of RMAs are also lawyers. Currently, legislation requires migration advisors – including lawyers - to be registered with the OMARA in order to practice in the industry. The number of lawyers that could enter the industry could rise significantly, once - as proposed - the OMARA registration requirement is removed for legal practitioners.

Please find a link below to the Migration Alliance Inc submission to the Productivity Commission re Migrant Intake to Australia.

http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/migrant-intake/submissions#post-draft

We encourage members to make submissions in their own individual capacity.

Is there any real chance of successfully challenging a Ministerial decision to cancel a visa on character grounds? 

In view of the fact that there has been considerable attention in the media to cancellations involving people who have lived in Australia for long periods of time – for example, the article that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald over the weekend concerning the case of Ricardo Bolvaran, and the many reports about New Zealanders having their Special Category visas cancelled –this seems like a timely and natural question to ask. 

As I have mentioned in previous posts, cases involving visa cancellations on character grounds do seem to have been one of the principal “flavours of the past year”. Many of the cases that have come before the Federal Court have involved attempts to overturn Ministerial decisions to cancel visas. 

In an attempt to entice more visitors from the west to Australia, Tourism Australia is set to splurge $40 million next year on a marketing campaign promoting Australian beaches and aquatic attractions.

Last year’s campaign which focussed on food and wine, resulted in a 40% jump on spending in the restaurant sector to $700 million. Tourism Australia hopes the new multi-platform campaign, to be launched early next year will do the same.

Spending across all other tourist sectors rose this year as visitor numbers from the 20 top source countries posted new highs. China continued to lead the growth with huge increases; visitor numbers are up 22 per cent to 896,000, nights up 25 per cent to 39.3 million and spend up a huge 43 per cent to $7.7 billion. A record 953,200 Chinese tourists visited Australian shores in the year to August, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nudging close to New Zealand’s 1.29 million.

Tourism Australia, is now aiming to broaden the markets by touting Australia’s aquatic and coastal experiences, something it believes will appeal particularly to visitors from the west. It is hoping that the campaign will also draw people out of the capital cities into coastal towns.

Promotional materials for the campaign, which will include virtual reality and 360 mobile assets as well as a new broadcast ad and other print and digital materials, have been shot in locations such as Rottnest Island in Western Australia, Katherine in the Northern Territory and the Three Capes Walk in Tasmania, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.