Today I attended the NSW Client Reference Group meeting hosted by DIBP at the Gateway building on Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW.

Lyn Heinz from the DIBP spoke on PIC 4020.

The Public Interest Criteria (PIC) 4020 was originally introduced in April 2011.  On the 22 March two new subclauses were introduced to PIC 4020 as follows.  The identity requirement was one.

The DIBP have a new form which can be used to make payments for offshore visa applications. 

Form 1440.

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1440.pdf

Australia and Poland sign agreement for work and play

Tuesday, 01 April 2014

Young people from Australia and Poland will soon be able to work and holiday in each other's countries, with the signing of a reciprocal work and holiday visa arrangement, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash said today.

Minister Cash said the agreement, which was signed during a ceremony in Warsaw over the weekend by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, demonstrates the close and positive relationship between our two countries.

An FOI request from Migration Alliance’s (MA) Liana Allan has revealed that staff at the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) last about 20 months on the job. The documents provide no reasons for this short tenure of the staff, who come from the public service and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP), but reveal that OMARA has a top-heavy structure, and that a third of its’ staff last about a year on the job.

Any commercial operation would be deeply concerned over high staff turnover given that the time, effort and costs of recruitment and training can potentially derail an organisation from the effective provision of its services and achievement of its objectives.

The FOI responses provided to MA were in the form of answers to questions from Labour Senator Mark Furner on the make-up and tenure of officers at the OMARA.

OMARA’s responses revealed the average length of tenure of its employees is 1.8 years and that 39 staff members left the organisation in the last 5 years with some 28 leaving within 3 years of service. OMARA employs about 38 people.

The FOI responses also had OMARA admitting that most of its current staff come from the public service, particularly DIBP, - with only about a third of OMARA staff coming from the private sector. According to OMARA’s report to Senator Furner: “Approximately 33% of current staff came from the private sector, 36% from DIAC, 18% from other government agencies, and 13% from the former MARA.”

Sex not Specified....Will this be the new tick box on application forms at the DIBP, MRT-RRT, AAT and other institutions requiring a person to name their what they are, including 'neuter'?

How is this going to impact on a partner visa application?  If the person doesn't need to identify if they are male or female and two neuters 'sex not specified' get married or claim a de facto relationship then what?  How will the DIBP assess that? 

I'm thinking that the DIBP no longer have a right to force a visa applicant to declare whether they are male or female for the purpose of a partner visa application if the applicant would prefer to be known as a neuter or sex not specified.

This landmark decision has been handed down and reported in the Sydney Morning Herald: