Australian Immigration Daily News

The Office of the MARA sent the following information to Migration Alliance via email today:

A systems outage to ImmiAccount is planned on Saturday 26 February 2022 from 2:00pm until 10:30pm AEDT to perform planned system maintenance. 

During the outage window you will not be able access the following services via ImmiAccount: 

The following email was received from the South Australian government today:

Skilled & Business Migration would like to advise that following an annual review, the Australian Government has agreed to the following changes to South Australia’s two Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMAs).  

DAMA Occupation List

Purpose

The purpose of the instrument is to update the approved form, place and manner (the arrangements) for making an application for a Special Category (Temporary) (Subclass 444) (Class TY) visa (SCV).

Item 1219 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations prescribes the requirements that an applicant for an SCV must meet to make a valid visa application. These requirements include that the application must be made in the approved form, place and manner for an SCV specified in a legislative instrument made under subregulation 2.07(5) of the Regulations (see also subitem 1219(1) and paragraph 1219(3)(a)).

Purpose

A visa applicant may make a valid application for an Electronic Travel Authority (Class UD) visa whilst in immigration clearance if, relevantly, the person has an ETA-eligible passport (see subregulation 2.07AB(2) of the Regulations).

Subregulation 1.11B(1) provides that a passport is an ETA-eligible passport in relation to an application for a visa if it:

Purpose and structure of the Bill

The purpose of the Migration Amendment (Protecting Migrant Workers) Bill 2021 (the Bill) is to amend the Migration Act 1958 to:

• establish new criminal offences and civil penalties that will apply where a person coerces or exerts undue influence or pressure on a non-citizen to agree to certain work arrangements

• introduce a power to prohibit employers who are subject to a specified sanction from employing additional non-citizens (other than permanent residents) for a specified time period

• require employers to use the Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) system to verify prospective workers’ immigration status and work-related visa conditions

• align and increase penalties for certain work-related offences and civil penalty provisions and

• provide the Australian Border Force (ABF) with regulatory powers in relation to compliance notices and enforceable undertakings for breaches of work-related civil penalty and offence provisions in the Migration Act.

The Bill contains one Schedule, comprised of seven Parts:

• Part 1 establishes new employer sanctions for coercing or unduly influencing a migrant worker to accept certain work conditions

• Part 2 provides for a prohibition on certain employers employing additional migrant workers for a specified period

• Part 3 strengthens obligations for employers to use the prescribed computer system to verify immigration status

• Parts 4 to 6 relate to increased penalties, enforceable undertakings, and compliance notices for work-related breaches

• Part 7 amends existing enforceable undertaking provisions in the Migration Act in line with the new enforceable undertaking provisions contained in Part 5.

Source: Migration-Amendment-protecting-migrant-workers-bill-2021-bills-digest.pdf