The following message has been sent to Migration Alliance by the MRT-RRT for immediate publication:

The Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal amalgamate with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) from 1 July 2015, becoming the Migration and Refugee Division of the AAT.

Due to planned maintenance and required systems changes, access to both our website and the online lodgement facility will be unavailable from 11.00pm on 30 June to 8.00am on 1 July 2015 (AEST).

This is to inform you that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) will launch a new website on 1 July. The new site will be located athttp://www.border.gov.au and replaces current sites immi.gov.au and customs.gov.au.

At the same time the Department’s email domain will change, from 1 July emails from DIBP staff will be sent from the @border.gov.au domain.

On or after 1 July, please update any affected hyperlinks on your website. Please also update your contact details for the Department, noting the new website address and email domain. 

Skills assessment for 10 occupations including Electricians, will not be required for sc457 applicants from China under the FTA, a letter from Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb to his Chinese counterpart has revealed.

Under the arrangements Chinese workers will only have to show evidence of their skills and training as proof of their skill.

The letter from Mr Robb stated, “Australia will remove the requirement for mandatory skills assessment for the following 10 occupations on the date of entry into force of the Agreement:

Automotive Electrician [321111]

Cabinetmaker [3941111]

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has ruled that there is no requirement under the Migration Act for two people to live together prior to lodging an application for a Partner Visa on the basis of a de facto relationship. The Court thus rejected an appeal by the Minister against a decision of the Migration Review Tribunal that reached the same conclusion. 

The Court’s decision in this case – SZOXP v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, (2015) FCAFC 69 (11 June 2015) – is of obvious significance for all RMAs who are advising de facto partners in relation to Partner Visa applications. The case removes an obstacle to these types of applications, as it apparently has been the case that the Department has been refusing applications for Partner Visas in circumstances where the applicant and sponsor did not produce evidence that they had lived together before the application was lodged.

The background of this case was interesting in itself, as the applicant and his sponsor had chosen not to live together for religious reasons. The applicant was a citizen of China. He filed an application for a Partner Visa on the basis of his claimed de facto relationship with his sponsor in October 2012. The couple was married about a month after the visa application was lodged with the Department.

Australia’s population rose by 64,000 to 23.626 million in the final quarter of 2014, an increase of 330,200, or 1.42%, on a year ago, according to new figures from the ABS released this week. Natural increase and Net Overseas Migration contributed 44% and 56% respectively to the total population growth for the year ended 31 December 2014.

The statistics show that net migration into Western Australia has plunged by two-thirds in just the past two years, dropping from 56,300 in 2012 to 18,900 last year. Migration to Queensland has also dropped heavily, from 43,600 to 24,200. But migration to Victoria and NSW — where the economies ­remain firm — has continued at elev­ated levels, with the 69,900 ­migrants to NSW last year the highest in five years.

Australian National University demographer Peter McDonald told The Australian that, ideally, a migration program responds to swings in labour demand. “These numbers suggest it is doing just that.’

The ABS job vacancies survey, which is considered the most ­reliable measure of labour ­demand, shows continued strengthening from the weakness over much of 2013-14.

The number of job vacancies across the country is up 6.6 per cent from a year ago, with most of that growth in Victoria and NSW, while the number of vacancies in Western Australia has dropped