The following email has been received by Migration Alliance:

'Please find attached a letter from Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney-General, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services, and the Hon. Philip Ruddock MP, Special Envoy for Citizenship and Community Engagement.

citizenship-consult.pdf

A very intriguing decision by Judge Driver of the Federal Circuit Court, Angkawijaya  & Anor v Minister for Immigration & Anor (2015) FCCA 450 (20 April 2015), provides fresh guidance to Registered Migration Agents and visa applicants concerning the evidence that is necessary to successfully get a Partner Visa application “over the line”. 

Interestingly, the case holds that it is not necessary to demonstrate that the relationship is based on “romantic love”.  

Perhaps it is possible that Judge Driver was listening to Tina Turner’s famous anthem on the radio before writing this decision, and hearing the song again for the umpteenth time confirmed the judge’s view that the answer to the question asked in the lyrics “What’s love got to do with it?” is “not much at all, if anything!” (at least for the purposes of migration law of course!).  So perhaps the judge would agree with Tina that, where the criteria for grant of a Partner Visa are concerned, love is truly nothing more than “a sweet old fashioned notion”!

Dear Members of Migration Alliance,

An AGM has been called for 17 July 2015 at 2pm.

In the intervening period Elections will be held for the positions of:

Dear Migration Alliance members,

Hope you are well. 

Official Invitation to support the Council of International Students Australia (CISA) National Conference 2015

Private education providers are set to face tougher regulations as the Department of Education sets out reviewing the legislative framework around foreign student compliance, according to a report in The Australian.

The review is linked to investigations by the Overseas Students Ombudsman which has warned private education providers of a systemic problem of non-compliance that is severely damaging the reputation of Australia’s education sector.

Sloppy student services and false attendance reporting are systemic problems plaguing overseas students at private education providers, the national Overseas Students Ombudsman has revealed.

In an ‘issues paper’ on poor compliance in the private education sector, the Ombudsman revealed that it investigated some 448 student complaints since the body's establishment in 2011. The Ombudsman had to intervene in 142 cases in order to prevent DIBP from sending students home. 

“It warned some providers were failing to intervene with at-risk students, allowing weak students to continue to study and fail.Student absences were also being miscalculated. Providers were marking students absent when they were merely late, or on days when it was a public holiday and there were no classes scheduled” noted the report in The Australian.

Students suffer the consequences of these inefficiencies as DIBP normally reacts by cancelling their visas if the issues it becomes aware of are not addressed properly.