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Immigration Daily News Visa cancellations on character grounds hits new record: guess which country tops the list?
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Visa cancellations on character grounds hits new record: guess which country tops the list?
Last year a record 580 people had their visas cancelled on character grounds, according to figures released by the department of immigration. The number of cancellations have been steadily rising because Immigration Minister Peter Dutton now has greater powers to cancel visas and has been using them to deport more non-citizens.
While there are various elements in the Minister’s section 501 broad cancellation powers, most decisions seem to be based on whether there is a cumulative term of imprisonment of 12 months. Therefore, all previous prison terms for different offenses are added together to determine if the visa should be cancelled.
Various cases have emerged in the media over the last year of non-citizens, who have families here and lived here most of the lives, being deported for a range of offenses including driving without a license and road rage. Under the new laws, the minister no longer looks at family ties or length of residency when making the cancellation decision.
The biggest complaints about the ministers’ new powers have come from New Zealanders. And for good reason too. According to the Migration Council “one in ten immigration detainees were New Zealanders, around 1,500 people currently, with an expected increase to 5,000.”
Of the 580 visas cancelled in the last financial year, 339 or almost 60 per cent were for New Zealand citizens. Visa cancellations of nationals of the United Kingdom was the next highest at 64.
“My message to the minority of people who travel to Australia and violate community standards is that they should consider themselves on notice; we will continue to target you by cancelling your visa and will remove you from Australia as soon as possible." Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton.
Speaking to the The Daily Telegraph, the minister said, “I don’t believe people think for a moment somebody who’s here as a guest in our country, who has murdered somebody or committed a sexual offence, that they should remain in our society.
“We’ve made a record number of cancellations in recent months,’’ he said.
Mr Dutton said Australia remained a welcoming nation for foreign visitors but he made no apology for a zero-tolerance approach to criminals.
Comments
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Friday, 19 February 2016Ha ha, what do you mean guest? Unless your and aboriginal, otherwise your not Australian either.
Your a very recent immigrant!!! Aborigines have made this country there home for tens of thousands of years. get off your high horse and do something about the meth scourge that has overtaken the country and is affecting the true residents of this country.
I guess your uninformed attitude would be to lock up all the drug addicts and its people like you who are enabling this country to plunge our children into oblivion. Until one of your kids is affected by drugs you will never understand.
And no mother England does not take children away from their families for minor drug convictions or small prison sentences as we do here. the rights of the child come first. And so they should. We are not living in the dark years anymore where families are separated for little reason.
You have a lot to learn about life and people and I hope you don't take your rigid selfish beliefs to the grave. Good luck with that!! Oh and shame on you too Jo!! -
Thursday, 18 February 2016
well I don't think I am a guest in this country, I have been here for 45 years,, yes I have made mistakes and I have been through the system and done my time. does it really seem fair that now my family have to suffer by me being deported. I am in a detention centre waiting for deportation along side blokes that have been waiting 2-3 years for decisions. I went to both primary and secondary school here , I have 3 children all born here, the oldest one who just made me a grandfather for the first time, she was raised by me as I took full custody of her at 3 years old, my son who I have also raised as his mother died of a brain tumor when he was 6. and a 10y old daughter to my wife who is also Australian actually native Australian as she is part aboriginal. I have made some bad choices after having some major issues in my life but the person I am today is and can only be a product of here not England , I came here as a 5yold and have no family over there. after serving my sentence a sentence might I say that I got because of the way I was raised here and that was drilled into me here not England , and that was to allways stick up for and stand by your mates, isn't that the aussie way. I was taught here that if u do the crime then you do the time, well I have done it and the day I was supposed to walk out I was detained by immigration, that very same day my father had a heart attack and past away, god knows how my mother will cope without her partner of 56 years. I want to be able to help her and I want to be here for my kids and grandkids. please tell me mr Dutton who is going to be responsible in the future when all these kids from broken homes , homes with no fathers go off the rails and end up in similar situations, and what about all the single mums not to mention the mental health issues that could arise and the drug abuse, seriously havent we learnt anything from the stolen generation situation? who will be responsible hey you wont be able to blame me because I wont be here, but I guess it wont be your problem either because by that time you will have retired on your big pension and forgotten all about us .. I may not be an educated man but even I can see this policy is not the way to go. . I have worked hard all my adult life and paid my taxes , this is my home and my families home and it allways has been , I have paid my dues to the community for my mistakes as ordered by a judge now please let me go home ...
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Friday, 26 February 2016
It's not fair that there was a start date for things like the hoon law or mandatory 6months for running from the police yet my best mate gets immediately moved to immigration the day of his parole after doing all the necessary things to benefit his life change and required things for parole only to be told just weeks before parole he was being deported. Because the immigration minister decided to change the law those on the road to rehabilitation already serving or eligible for parole have been blind sighted. To add to this messy blunder the day of my mates time served release date instead of going home to his family home with his mum and dad he was taken to the detention centre instead and sadly his dad passed away that evening. Now who is going to take of his mum and family affairs, he is also a father himself who is going to take care of his kids. He is a changed man who has helped so many here in his life, myself included and intends on helping those with a promised job who have mental disabilities. He is only human and like the rest of us made mistakes and learnt his lesson. He is a asset to our community.
Your law and the lack of stipulated time frame has become very costly to some and you say fair, I think not. -
Tuesday, 16 January 2018
If they can’t do the right thing in this country send them packing
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Tuesday, 16 January 2018
Should be Sending them home daily by the truck load
Immigration blog
I find it hard to understand why some people show such a lack of respect to their host country that they will commit crimes serious enough to warrant imprisonment during their stay.
The minister's zero tolerance attitude seems perfectly reasonable. The Australian community shouldn't need to put up with people, who are not Australian, coming here and committing serious crime. Choosing to be a criminal is inconsistent with being made welcome to stay here. Not making yourself a criminal is breathtakingly simple.
Interesting that so many New Zealand and UK citizens have such difficulty behaving themselves while they are here. I wonder how many Australians are deported from the UK over the same period?