The several aviation disasters of 2014 / 15, starting with Malaysia Airlines MH370 disappearance, along with saturation media coverage has led to much greater awareness of aviation safety and airline operations by the general public.

Those people who travel regularly are now asking more questions about safety and routing of their flights and there is evidence that savvy travellers are choosing their airlines more carefully before paying for a ticket.

Captain Desmond Ross has been one of the major contributors to international media technical commentary on the subject of aviation safety and security and is now receiving requests to speak at conferences and industry functions.  

Registered Migration Agent to visit to South Africa in April 2015

SANDTON - 23 April to 26 April 2015 

I will be available at the Courtyard Hotel, 130 Rivonia Road, Sandown, Sandton.

FREE SEMINAR on THURSDAY, 23 April at 18:00 – 19:30

Individual appointments can be made for the following dates and times:

Thursday, 23 April: 09:00, 10:30, 12:00, 13:30, 15:00

Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 09:00, 10:30, 12:00, 13:30, 15:00, 16:30; 18:00
To make an appointment:  Send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. listing the date that you wish to attend a seminar or the date and time you would like to make an individual appointment for an interview; OR
Send an SMS with your request to +61 430 28 5656.

Australia has steadily shifted away from being a country that wanted immigrants and their families and subsequent generations to stay and become part of nation building to a country that prefers temporary migrants.

I wrote on the this forum last year that the OECD’s report on global migration confirmed this trend. The report states that  Australian immigration in the past two decades strongly suggest that Australia can no longer be regarded as a settler immigration nation. 2012-13 immigration data shows that 190,000 arrived under the permanent immigration program (or 192,599 when Trans-Tasman migrants are included).

In the same year, 725,043 – or 766,273 including Trans-Tasman migrants – migrants arrived on temporary immigration visas. This included 258,248 on working holiday visas, 259,278 on international student visas and 126,350 on temporary work (skilled) visas.

With permanent migration quotas amounting to about a quarter of the temporary migrant visa grants (excluding tourists), the figures roughly translate to mean that for every 4 hopeful temporary entrants, only 1 will have a chance of getting permanent residency.

The government has a clear preference for temporary migration over permanent migration. This forces tough competition in the capped permanent visa program as the government’s stated objective is to only let through the ‘best and the brightest’.

The DIBP structure chart is now available:

portfolio-structure-chart-09032015.pdf

From 1 July 2015, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) will become one Department.

This is a general notice to all RMAs who are looking to have their points reported for CPD activities by providers.

It has not been possible for CPD providers to report points to the OMARA as the website has been down.

The website is now back online but this means there may be a delay in reporting.