Australian Immigration Daily News

Following the successful first SIV cocktail event held in Sydney, Migration Alliance is delighted to invite migration agents who practice in, or have an interest in Significant Investor 188 and 888 applications to an exclusive event by our sponsors NAB Private Wealth in association with PwC Private Clients to be now held in Melbourne.

NAB Private Wealth and PwC Private Clients Team will provide an overview of how they can assist your SIV clients and targets. This event will provide you with the information on  investment choices as well as the depth and breadth of expertise that both NAB Private Wealth and PwC Private Clients can bring to you and your clients/targets.

This event provides an exclusive opportunity for you to understand more about the investment choices and tax considerations for your clients and targets. There will also be an opportunity for you to engage one on one with experts from NAB Private Wealth and PwC Private Clients to answer any specific queries that you or your clients may be facing.

Register your interest today, spaces are strictly limited to ensure that all agents get the opportunity to speak with NAB Private Wealth and PwC Private Clients.

Event Details:

Time:                        Thursday 12th December

                                Registration 5pm

                                Event starts 5.30pm and finishes at 7. 30pm

Location:                   The Arena

                                Ground Floor

                                NAB Head Office

                                700 Bourke Street

                                Docklands

                                Melbourne

 
Light refreshments will  be provided.

RSVP Using the following link - Register Here

Migration Alliance members might be interested in a theme that is developing at the moment.  I received this email today from a non-migration agent, non-migration industry Australian citizen.  This is not the first email of it's type that I have received on this topic, nor the first Facebook private message. I thought it would be worthwhile sharing with members what Aussies are starting to say about asylum and the current management of our borders and the people that are seeking refuge:

Dear Liana

As mentioned I'm really struggling with the government's approach to asylum. I understand that political viewpoints differ, and also that part of the reason for off-shore processing is to discourage people from attempting to gain entry to Australia by sea. As an aside I don't agree with our current or previous governments' approach to managing asylum seekers, by sending them to underdeveloped islands. In my opinion 'stopping the boats' would better be done by meeting them at the shoreline in Indonesia and safely transporting them to Australia.

This is an urgent update from the MRT-RRT for Migration Alliance members.

Please find a link to a pdf document which explains the details:

Approved-MRT-RRT-Application-Forms.pdf

As a result of the ongoing pressure we have applied to the government, we believe that the English Language Testing of Migration Agents is now 'on hold'.  You will note from the letter sent out yesterday by CEO of the Office of the MARA, Stephen Wood that he mentions the current status of English Testing of RMAs from 1 January 2014.

Nov_-2013_-CEO_-Newsletter.pdf

An RMA has just written to us as follows:

I am writing to provide an update on forthcoming changes to the department’s online lodgement products.

Deferral of Change Release 10 (CR10)

The planned deployment date for Change Release 10 has been moved from 22 November to 6 December 2013. This includes the new Online Account functionality and the introduction of online lodgement for Partner visas.

Changes to e457 Labour Market Testing functionality will be delivered on 22 November as originally planned.

e457 LMT Changes

To support the introduction of the 457 LMT legislative changes there will be changes to the e457 forms resulting in a planned outage for the following systems:

·         eLodgement (eVisa and Citizenship)

·         Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO)

·         LEGENDcom.

The outage will be from 10:30 pm Friday 22 November until 3:00 am Saturday 23 November 2013 ADST (GMT +11).

Please note: e457 Nomination applications, commenced prior to 10:30 pm Friday 22 November, which have not been paid and submitted, will no longer be able to be retrieved after this time.

Changes to online lodgement services – Introduction of the Online Account

In early December 2013, we will make changes to our online visa lodgement services. The changes will affect all current, saved, unsubmitted online applications. If clients/agents have an unsubmitted visa application when the changes are made, they will not be able to be retrieved and will have to be started again.

If clients/agents do not want to lose any saved online visa applications, we encourage them to submit these before 6 December.

The planned outage window for the CR10 release is still being finalised. Given the complexity of the system changes being introduced, the outage duration could extend across the weekend 6-8 December. We would encourage clients/agents to ensure applications are submitted in advance of this planned outage.

See: System maintenance and technical issues for the most up-to-date information

Should you have any questions in regards to the above changes please let me know.

Kind regards,

Mark McGuire
Director
eService Support Section
Department of Immigration and Border Protection