The fake travel documents let the asylum seekers enter Australia on commercial flights instead of fishing boats. 

Travelers into Australia with passports issued from the Gulf States, namely Bahrain and Oman, may well come under greater scrutiny after media reports that fake Australian passports and travel documents are being sold in Malaysia.

Lebanese nationals have been targeted by a syndicate offering travel documents for up to $16,000, an investigation and report by the ABC Four Corners program has revealed.

“In a series of meetings in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur [in November 2013], an Iraqi national known as Abu Tarek was secretly filmed offering the travel documents to potential customers”, the ABC reported.

I received these amazing tips from Stacey Martin, Expat Community Network Founder, and I could not resist sharing these tips with members of Migration Alliance.  Be sure to look for Migration Alliance on LinkedIn and thanks to Stacey Martin.  This is something I think could be of great use to Migration Agents and their colleagues.  Keep your migration agencies connected in the digital era and join LinkedIn. Look Stacey up on LinkedIn to find out more:

Creating Opportunities with LinkedIn

LinkedIn, with more than 100 million members and an average income of more than $100,000, is the social networking’s equivalent of the Cocktail Party, while Facebook is the backyard barbecue! It provides a platform for professionals and executives to network with peers and people of similar interests globally with leverage and efficiency. Create new connections, strengthen existing relationships and position yourself as an Expert and Thought Leader which can lead to business opportunities.

Migration Alliance is in receipt of the following email from the MRT-RRT:

December 2013 – COMMUNITY LIAISON UPDATE

Dear Community Liaison Network members

Season’s greetings! Welcome to the final MRT-RRT Community Liaison update for 2013.

I welcome any feedback you would like to provide about these updates. If you have any suggestions or comments, please forward them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Follow-up from November & December 2013 meetings

Thank you to everyone who attended our community liaison meetings around the country during November and December. For those of you who were unable to attend, topics covered included MRT and RRT caseload reports, an introduction to our new online lodgement facility (more information is included below) and the RRT Practice Direction. These meetings are a valuable opportunity to discuss the issues that arise from time to time, as well as to get your feedback about the tribunals. We are working through the suggestions raised at the recent meetings, some of which will feed into new or improved practices. Minutes from each meeting are being sent out to attendees for review and will then be uploaded on the community liaison section of our website.

Christmas - New Year closure arrangements

The offices of the Migration Review Tribunal and the Refugee Review Tribunal (the tribunals) will be closed over the Christmas and New Year period. Offices will close from 5:00pm on Tuesday, 24 December 2013 and will reopen from 8:30am on Thursday, 2 January 2014.

Applications for review or any responses to correspondence or any other matters which have a due date or deadline on one of the days on which the offices are closed, can be lodged or provided on Thursday, 2 January 2014 and no later than that date.

Fax facilities will remain operational during the period. Please note that applications for review can be lodged by fax, however the tribunals cannot currently accept applications lodged by email.

Caseload report

Caseload statistics for November 2013 are now available on the Statistics and caseload summaries page of our website. A total of 10,076 decisions were made to the end of November, ahead of the pro rata target of 10,000. Pleasingly the active caseload has reduced by 1,214 (or 6%) to 18,213 this financial year.

MRT-RRT 2012-13 Annual Report

The tribunals’ 2012-13 Annual Report was presented to Parliament on 11 November 2013. The report is available on the Forms and publications page of the tribunals’ website. My Principal Member’s report highlights significant issues and developments; factors influencing the tribunals’ performance; and the outlook for 2013-14 (pages 3-4). The performance report section in Part 3 provides a snapshot of key information and statistics (pages 14-33). Additional caseload statistics can be found in Appendix A (page 108).

Migration practitioners in particular may be interested to note the summaries of some notable judicial decisions which have had an impact on the tribunals’ decision making or procedures, or on the operation of judicial review in relation to tribunal decisions (pages 24-26). There are also case studies included which provide some insight into the range of matters that come before the tribunals (pages 33-39).

Notice regarding valid application forms

From 1 December 2013, only the July 2013 version of the MRT and RRT application forms will be accepted. Previous versions of the forms will not be accepted. The form for MRT applicants not in immigration detention is form M1. The form for MRT applicants in immigration detention is form M2.  The form for all RRT applicants is form R1.

The version of the application form can be seen in the bottom left hand corner of the application form.

Providing documents prior to hearings

A reminder to migration agents representing applicants, at both standard and at multi applicant hearing lists (MAHLs), to provide any additional documents or information they wish to rely on during the hearing by the date specified in the hearing invitation where possible. In some cases it is possible to set aside a decision on the papers if documents are provided before the hearing.

Online Lodgement of Applications

Applicants and their representatives will soon have the option to lodge their applications electronically. This first phase of the project will focus on allowing users to lodge new MRT and RRT applications and to pay the MRT fee online. This will offer our clients an additional option for lodging tribunal applications, and I am sure many will prefer the convenience of lodging with us online. Future development will expand the services available online, such as electronic information exchange with clients.

Senate Estimates Hearing

On Tuesday, 19 November 2013 the Registrar, Deputy Principal Member and I appeared before the Senate Committee’s Supplementary Budget Estimates hearing in Canberra. These hearings are an opportunity for Senators to question the Executive on how the tribunals are operating. This time Senators asked questions about our UMA and RRT caseloads, member remuneration, the new arrangements for APS recruitment, and how complementary protection is applied. We will next appear at Senate Estimates in February 2014.

Tribunals’ ceasing to send statutory letters by registered post from 16 December 2013

The Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal will cease sending statutory letters by registered post from 16 December 2013. From this date, any statutory letter (such as an invitation to attend a hearing, a letter inviting comment on or response to adverse information, or a decision notification letter) that is sent by post will be sent by standard post. Registered post will continue to be used to return original or official documents issued by government agencies to addresses located in Australia.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your contribution to the tribunals’ operations in the past 12 months. On behalf of the members and staff at the tribunals, I wish you and your families a very happy and safe Christmas and look forward to continuing to work with you in the New Year.
 

Kind regards,

Kay Ransome

Principal Member

If you have any queries or feedback please contact us.

For further information about the MRT-RRT, please visit our website.

Email from Migration Alliance to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection:

Dear Jacqui
Could you urgently please get back to me about this because quite a few of my members have come to me with this problem.  I can let everyone know the answer via a news blast.
Thank you kindly.

Best regards,
Liana J Allan
Treasurer
Registered Migration Agent 0104178
http://migrationalliance.com.au/

___________________________________________________________________________________
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Date: Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 4:20 PM
Subject: Help - Incorrect EOI Points
To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dear Liana,
I am hoping you might be able to assist me with a query that the DIBP itself have not been able to (no surprises!).
I refer to the MIA Notice below dated 17 September 2013 and one of my clients has been affected by an incorrect score under the Subclass 189 visa. The difference between the MIA notice is that I had not “inadvertently” claimed more points for my client, but rather, the system had awarded the points.
The SkillSelect system gave my Client 15 points for education, when he should have received 10 points for education (based on an overseas Bachelor and Australian Masters). My client then received an invitation on 18 November 2013 with an indicative score of 65 points, when his score should only be 60. I am therefore unsure whether I should lodge his application, as the officers I spoke to at the GSM centre weren’t even aware of this issue and had the gall to accusing me of tampering with the points! I even lodged a second EOI for my client just to double check and the system awarded the same number of incorrect points.
The only way to get the correct score is to not declare my client’s Master’s qualification, which would then be seen as a failure to provide true and accurate information!
Based on the latest reports for the Round 4 November 2013 Results, the report indicates that my client’s nominated occupation of Systems Engineer (261313), which falls under the category of “2613 Software and Applications Programmers” require a score of 60 points, which is my client’s correct score:
http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/reports/report-2013-11-4/
My client has instructed me to lodge the application as soon as possible, but I would rather err on the side of caution.
Thank you for you kind attention in this matter and I would be so grateful if you could let me know your thoughts!

Kind Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXXXX - Registered Migration Agent
MARN XXXXXX
 
________________________________________________________________________________
MIA Notice: Important clarification of SkillSelect invitation point scores;

Author: Migration Institute of Australia

17 September 2013 —

Important clarification of SkillSelect invitation point scores

The MIA has raised Members’ concerns about points discrepancies between the SkillSelect invitation score and the point test assessed score upon application by a client. Following the MIA’s representations, the Department, after extensive consultation with its policy area, has issued its official position:

A criterion for the grant of a Subclass 189 visa, a Subclass 190 visa and the First Provisional Visa stream for a Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) (Class SP) visa (“a SkillSelect visa”) is that the applicant’s score, when assessed in relation to the visa under Subdivision B of Division 3 of Part 2 of the Act [the points test assessed score], is not less than the score stated in the invitation to apply for the visa [the invitation score].

The criterion acts as a disincentive to deliberate inflation of claims in the expression of interest (EOI) in order to obtain a higher ranking position in SkillSelect and ultimately an invitation to apply for a Skillselect visa.

However, the Department has become aware of cases where clients have made inadvertent errors when entering data in SkillSelect resulting in them being given a higher invitation score than they should otherwise have.

To reduce the likelihood of such errors occurring, the Department has significantly improved the information in SkillSelect. Nevertheless, some applicants may still make inadvertent errors in their EOIs.

To address this issue, consideration will be given to correcting an applicant’s invitation score where the Department identifies that an applicant has made an inadvertent error in their EOI and their corrected invitation score would have been high enough such that it would have resulted in an invitation being made in the original or subsequent SkillSelect invitation rounds.

For example, if an affected applicant’s invitation score was 75, and the lowest invitation scores for the relevant period were 75, 70 and 65 respectively, the applicant’s corrected invitation score must be no less than 65 before the Department would seek to correct the invitation score.

Departmental officers will first seek the permission of the affected applicant before correcting their invitation score.

PLEASE NOTE:

IT applicants will continue to be affected (or all of the 16 near capacity occupation) as the invite pass mark is so much higher due to the rationing.

Subclass 190 or 489 invitations under SMPs would be straightforward approvals as there is no advantage gained as the base line of 60 pt generates the invite as soon as the state approval is finalised within SkillsSelect.

Any Members with complex matters (ie Subclass 189 visas ) who would like some advice on their particular cases before they approach a case officer should email the MIA with the subject heading “GMS Points Test”.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Response from DIBP to Migration Alliance 2:19pm on 16/12/2013:

A member of Migration Alliance has received an email from Angela Chan, President of the MIA.  A copy of that email is below.

Message to Members

Dear XXXXX (name removed for privacy reasons),

Recently there has been a great deal of public commentary by some registered migration agents through media statements and blogs which seem designed solely to denigrate, vilify and intimidate other registered migration agents and people associated with the profession. It is becoming widely accepted that the commentary is for the most part defamatory. This behaviour, masquerading as some crusade for truth, does nothing to advance the reputation of registered migration agents and is not a pathway towards greater community recognition and acceptance of registered migration agents as respected professionals.

The MIA and its Board does not support or condone conduct which may bring the migration profession into disrepute.

I am gratified to have received a great deal of support from our membership around the country who agree that the conduct of those people fuelling negative comments does not reflect how our members want their profession to be represented.

I can assure members that the MIA will not engage in a public slanging match. Instead, the MIA will continue to be vigorous in its pursuit of professional conduct and will not resile from taking appropriate action to defend and protect our reputation and integrity. 

The Code of Conduct for registered migration agents at clause 4.5 gives clear direction, "A registered migration agent must act with fairness, honesty and courtesy when dealing with other registered migration agents."  I invite you all to faithfully honour this obligation and encourage other registered migration agents to do the same.

Finally, as we mourn the death of the late, great Nelson Mandela, we should all remember his words:  "A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."


Angela Chan FMIA
MIA National President