In a world first move, Australia is looking to trial passport-less travel. Virtual passports or ‘cloud passports’ may soon allow Australians to breeze through international airports without having to deal with the sometime mindless enquiries of immigration officials over their traditional passports.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced earlier this week that the idea of ‘passport – less’ travel was presented to and well received by a number of international leaders as part of the Australia’s InnovationXchange project.

A 'cloud passport' would work by storing the identity and biometric data of holders online so it could be checked digitally, thus eliminating the need to carry a physical copy.

One obvious benefit would mean Australians no longer would need to worry about losing or having their passports stolen. Statistics from the department of foreign affairs and trade (DFAT) show 38,718 Australian passports were reported lost or stolen in 2014-15.

The idea of document-free travel emerged from the InnovationXchange project. The project encourages DFAT employees to contribute creative ideas using their experience and expertise on the job. The $140 million InnovationXchange project was launched in May in collaboration with American publisher and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Ms Bishop said the ideas emerging from the projects were 'innovative, challenged the status quo and had the potential to transform the way we do business globally.

We recommend Migration Alliance members to partner with Migration Cover for insurance for their ‘skilled’ clients.

In brief, this product provides a sense of security for people immigrating, or those who have already immigrated, to New Zealand or Australia.  This unique product was created as a direct result of listening to migrants, understanding and empathising with their concerns about migrating.   

This insurance covers the policyholder’s repatriation, employment advocacy and travel needs, subject to the conditions of the policy.   So your clients can now ‘Go or Stay with Confidence!^TM  

Migration Alliance is urging people who believe that they have been tricked, conned or taken for a ride by Abel Prasad to please come forward.   We are providing information to the authorities, who are fast closing in on Prasad.

We need people to help by sending information to us about their experience with Prasad. 

Tip-offs are acceptable.  Tip-offs will be acted on.

Please email all information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Attn: Liana Allan

You may recall that when the legislative instrument was signed off by Senator Cash with the effect of cease and capping 16000 group 4 and 5 candidates; there was a reference to internal and external stakeholder consultations buried away in the explanatory statement.

I issued an FOI request seeking the following:

Details of "internal stakeholder consultation and "external" stakeholder consultation referred to in paragraph 6 of the"explanatory statement" underpinning Legislative Instrument IMMI 15/112.

The case that is the subject of this article involves a “Business Skilled” (Residence) visa – Subclass 892. 

Before I present my analysis of this case – Snyman & Anor v Minister for Immigraiton & Anor (2015) FCCA 2791 (19 October 2015) – I would like to invite readers to discuss their experiences with this kind of visa in the “comments” section.  What has been your experience in dealing with this kind of visa?

What kinds of issues have been raised by the Department during the processing of the application? Have any of your applications for this visa been refused?  If so, on what grounds?  Have you been able to overcome a refusal through an application for merits review to the AAT, or through judicial review proceedings?