Australian Immigration Daily News

I received this email today from the DIAC which I think most Migration Alliance members will find useful:

Dear VEVO User,

We are writing to you to let you know about the changes the Department of Immigration and Citizenship is making to both the Visa Entitlement Verification Online system (VEVO) and the department's web site.

VEVO Account Self-Management

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship is making changes to the Visa Entitlement Verification Online system (VEVO) that will give you the ability to manage your account details and settings including resetting your password and retrieving forgotten user IDs and passwords without needing to call the department.

In order for the department to provide you with these services, after 21 August 2013 (Wednesday morning) you will need to undertake a transition process. This will involve checking and confirming the details we have for your VEVO account and choosing and answering six secret questions and answers. These questions and answers will be used to confirm your identity should you need to update your account online in future. Attached is a transition guide that will help you complete the process.

Part of this process is to create a new password that needs to:

 Be at least nine characters long
Contain at least three of the following:
o Uppercase letters
o Lowercase letters
o Numbers
o Special character (eg @, $, *, /)
These steps will only take a few minutes to complete and then you can then proceed to use VEVO as usual.

For more information on VEVO for organisations, visit www.immi.gov.au/vevo

Yours sincerely

Department of Immigration and Citizenship
VEVO-Transition-Guide.pdf

International Education is “Australia’s Bast*rd Child”: IEAA

Phil Honeywood, Executive Director of International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) said the sector he represents is at the crossroad following the counterproductive 2011 Knight Review recommendations to student visas.

In a strongly worded communiqué, IEAA went so far as to describe the sector as “like the bast*rd child of Australia’s export industry”.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/stop-treating-us-as-a-bastard-child-sector-appeals-to-next-government/story-e6frgcjx-1226696586231

IEAA said Australia is losing ground to Canada, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and other competing nation.  Australia’s fragmented and unhurried approach to international students has given our competitors the edge.

According to Mr Honeywood, the international education sector employs about 100,000 people directly and is a key driver for the tourism industry through visiting families and employed many hundreds of thousands indirectly.

This call-to-arms follows from a HSBC report that measured Australia to be the most expensive place in the world for a university education if you’re a foreign student. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/australia-most-expensive-for-overseas-students/2006492.article

Average tuition fees in Australia cost is $38,516 (in US dollars), while in the US it is 35,705; in the UK, $30,325; and Canada, $26,011.

HSBC did not factor into its analysis other variables such as the cost of visa fees, the availability of part-time work and internships, all of which affect Australia’s competitiveness.

Migration Alliance supports the IEAA in its efforts make lost ground in educational industry, including student visa reform and a better alignment of the skilled occupation list with visa categories, like the Temporary Graduate visa.

Since 2009, four Federal Education and four Immigration Ministers made foolish decisions without consideration to either portfolio or the broader implications to one of Australia’s biggest export sectors. 

International education is Victoria’s top export industry; New South Wales it is the second largest and it is in the top five of every other jurisdiction.

Australia cannot afford these kinds of headlines appearing in the India press as it did yesterday in Bangalore’s The New Indian Express. 

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/bangalore/Australia-costliest-in-higher-education/2013/08/14/article1733535.ece

I received the following email today from the DIAC via the NSW Client Reference Group, where Migration Alliance is a stakeholder:

Dear CRG members,

Please find below response to an issue raised by Liana Allan from Migration Alliance:

NSW makes it official:

http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/live-and-work-in-nsw/visa-and-migration/state-migration-plan

It would appear based on the occupational ceiling report for these occupation that DIAC may have issued invitations for the entire years’ worth of skilled independent places for these occupations in the last month, and has now shut down the states from nominating any candidates for these occupations via the state sponsored skilled visa (190 and 489). Hardly fair to those who expected DIAC to parcel out the places across the 12 month period, rather than filling them up all at once and instituting an 11+ month wait for anybody who didn’t get in.

Plus, nobody is releasing the exact occupations that are shut down – are we to infer from the message that all occupations in each of the 4-digit groups are now closed for state sponsorship? I’m getting calls and emails from more than a few very unhappy clients… Thanks for any clarification MA may be able to get from DIAC on exactly which occupations are closed, and is this a decision that now lasts for the remainder of the program year (ie, until 30 Jun 2014)?

Responses provided by Director, SkillSelect:

To provide some background information on occupational ceilings, I confirm that they were introduced on 1 July 2012 as part of the package of reform of Australia’s skilled migration program, which included the introduction of SkillSelect, the creation of new visa subclasses and changes to visa processing systems to provide for e-lodgement of all applications.  Occupational ceilings were designed to limit the number of invitations issued via SkillSelect for each occupational group in the general skilled migration program.  They are intended to ensure that the program is not dominated by a narrow range of occupations which could potentially crowd out local job seekers in these areas.

Once an occupational ceiling has been reached, no further invitations for that occupation can be issued for the remainder of the program year.  However, occupational ceilings do not apply to employer sponsored visas so specific skill shortages can still be filled through the employer sponsored program, even if the relevant ceiling has been reached.  Occupational ceilings are set based upon advice from the Australia Workforce Productivity Agency (AWPA) and other Federal agencies such as Treasury and DEEWR.  The ceilings are set at six per cent of the stock number of workers in each occupational group, representing the average figure for replacement demand (that is, replacing workers who have left the workforce) and new job growth.

 In 2012-13, the following six occupational groups reached their occupational ceilings which meant no intending migrants in occupations in these groups could be nominated or invited to apply for a visa until the ceilings were reset on 1 July 2013:

 Occupational Group
   
ANZSCO Code

Chemical & Material Engineers
   
2331

ICT Business & System Analysts
   
2611

Electronics Engineers
   
2334

Telecomm Engineering Professionals  

2633

Other Engineering Professionals  

2339

Software and Applications Programmers  

2613

In the first month of the 2013-14 program year, a significant proportion of available places were again used up for these six occupational groups and it was determined that the ceilings would again be met, but even earlier than in the previous program year.  Based on the high numbers of Expressions of Interest (EOIs) being submitted for these occupational groups, the decision was therefore made to move to a pro rata allocation of the remaining places to allow limited numbers of the most highly skilled workers in these occupations to apply for a visa throughout 2013-14.  In discussions with states and territories, they have suggested alternative approaches in order to allow state and territory nominations for these occupations as well as invitations for skilled independent migrants and we are currently working with them to develop an acceptable solution which will allow both independent skilled and state and territory nominated migrants from these occupational groups for the remainder of the 2013‑14 program year.

I would emphasise that there will be no change to the total number of places available for these six occupational groups under their occupational ceilings.  The focus is on ensuring that the limited remaining places in these occupational groups are not exhausted early in the year.  The situation outlined in the email below (ie: having no one from these occupational groups being able to be invited for 11 months) is exactly what we have been trying to avoid and if the current limitations had not been introduced by DIAC, some occupational ceilings would have already been reached and the others would be very close to being reached.  When the new arrangement with the states and territories is finalised, it will be announced in the updated invitation round report on the SkillSelect website (www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/) and information about the specific cut off points scores for these occupational groups under the new arrangements will also be included in this report.

Kind regards,

Grace Turner

Secretariat
NSW Client Reference Group
Department of Immigration and Citizenship

The following was received by Migration Alliance today from Kay Ransome (pic inset):

August 2013 – COMMUNITY LIAISON UPDATE

Dear Community Liaison committee members

I am pleased to provide the community liaison update for August 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. .

Principal Member Direction 1 – Constitution and Prioritisation

The tribunals have revised Principal Member Direction 01 Caseload and Constitution to focus on the key matters of interest to our applicants: constitution and prioritisation policies. The new Direction is briefer and has been renamed Principal Member Direction 1 - Constitution and Prioritisation to reflect its new focus. It is now available on the tribunals’ website. A key change is the inclusion of a reference to Ministerial Direction No. 57, which imposed a particular order on the processing of applications to the Refugee Review Tribunal from 24 June 2013.

PMD1Constitution-Prioritisation-PD-CS-2013-07-26.pdf

So....Kevin Rudd is planning to develop the NT and QLD all of a sudden.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has just told the world of his plans for northern Australia, including a special "economic zone" complete with company tax cuts (but only if his government is re-elected).  Given the investment from Chinese nationals which will likely pour into this area, does Rudd have a plan for special category visas to match the new '"zone"?  And where exactly is this "zone" and where is the policy paper that goes with it?  Is this just another thought bubble where Rudd is off on a jaunt of his own?  Surely he has consulted with Aboriginals who are the original owners of the land to obtain their thoughts on the 'economic zone'.

It will take more than just 'imagination' to develop this area.

The Prime Minister said his plan was based on three pillars.

This first would be to create a special economic zone focused on the Nothern Territory.
My comment: Aboriginal input?

The company tax cut had not yet been costed.

My comment: Why not?

The Prime Minister told reporters that his preference was to see a tax rate in the NT of about a third off the current rate of 30 per cent, but he said that this would be discussed with the NT government after the election.

My comment: After the election Labor will likely not be in Government and therefore this will not be implemented, so pie in sky, so is this just a ploy to win votes and maintain seats in NT?

The second pillar would be an expansion of the Ord River irrigation scheme stage three. This would involve an extra $10 million to deal with native title negotiations to secure the land required.

My comment: So he is presuming that Aboriginals in NT and native title negotiations will be all positive and that everyone will agree with this imagining -  but Rudd has not asked them yet?

He said that the expansion of the Ord would increase the economic output of northern Australia by an estimated $150 million year, mostly through expanded sugar production and agricultural crops.

My comment: Yes if he gets native title agreements - get permission first I say!

The third pillar would be a 20-year growth plans for Darwin and north Queensland (Cairns, Townsville and Mackay) with oversight by Infrastructure Australia.

My comment: Today I saw a tweet by Latika Bourke, to which I replied -  which I will copy it all here:

    11:57 AM - 15 Aug 13
   
    Latika Bourke ‏@latikambourke 2h

PM Rudd - wants to focus on major boost in Chinese tourists to Cairns as part of Northern QLD plan. Mining for Mackay. #AusVotes

11:59 AM - 15 Aug 13

Migration Alliance ‏@lianaallan 2h

@latikambourke Then maybe he should ask @DaveNoonanCFMEU to stop running an anti-foreign worker / 457 campaign across the rest of Australia.

Mr Rudd said that anyone who lived in the NT who thought they were on a level playing field with the rest of Australia ''has got rocks in their head''.

My comment: Well that's one way of inspiring Australians in the Northern Territory to participate.  Make the people of the NT feel like they are utter crap why don't you, and that will force them to keep up with the Jones (in the states next door).

''It costs more to be up here,'' he said, explaining it was so far away.

My comment: Does it?  Where are the stats on that comment Rudd?

Mr Rudd said that the creation of the economic zone would attract Australian and foreign investment by simplifying investment rules and streamlining regulation.

My comment: And simplifying the visa process for people wishing to move there?  How about 457 visas?  If they want foreign investment then he better tell Dave Noonan and the CFMEU and unions to stop giving foreign workers a hard time with their billboard ads everywhere.  See below.  I say no more.

When asked if the northern plan was a bid to gain preferences from Katter's Australian Party, Mr Rudd answered, ''no''.

My comment: B*%#&^

Tony Abbott says, ''We've just seen an extraordinary press conference from Mr Rudd in Darwin where first of all he said he wanted to deliver an entirely uncosted tax cut for all the businesses in the Northern Territory,'' Mr Abbott said.

My comment: Abbott is right here.  The operative word is 'uncosted'.

''Then it suddenly became all businesses in Darwin, then it became businesses in the Northern Territory but only businesses that were actually based in the Northern Territory as opposed to operating in the Northern Territory.

''It's just another thought bubble from a prime minister who had a plan to tear down his predecessor but he doesn't have a plan to develop our country; he doesn’t have a plan to grow our economy.''

My comment:  Yes it does appear to be a thought bubble more concerned with preferences from Katter's Australian party.  It is pretty transparent.

''I understand Mr Abbott has talked about a white paper,'' Mr Rudd said.

My comment: Well that would be a good place to start I think.  Instead of just bursting out with a whim of a thought and hoping that everyone will come in behind him and just 'make it happen' in the NT.  By the way which post-codes will be included in this?  Did anyone else in the Labor party know about this before it was announced?

Read more on this here:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/rudd-pledges-lowtax-zone-for-nt-20130815-2ry8d.html

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/tax-cuts-economic-zone-part-of-kevin-rudds-plans-to-develop-northern-australia-20130815-2rybz.html