In a bid to cool the rapid growth in house prices and deal with the claim that “The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) is hopeless” in dealing with foreign buyers, the federal government is considering a series of measures including visa checks and heavy fines, to deter foreign investment in the housing market, reports The Australian.

A parliamentary committee reviewing foreign investments in the Australian property market is expected to deliver a report that will be highly critical of the performance of the FIRB, the gatekeepers entrusted with the management of the flow of overseas investments into Australia.

Generally, foreigners are barred from buying established homes but are allowed to own them while in Australia, provided they sell them within three months of departure.

The Australian reports that the FIRB has been a sleep at the wheel in its enforcement responsibilities in this respect noting that, “[The FIRB] has not forced a single ­investor to sell an illegally ­acquired home since 2008, during which time foreigners have bought tens of thousands of established homes.”

It is expected that the committee will propose:

• a ban on marketing real estate developments solely to overseas investors;
• a nationwide land-transfer database to track the ­nationalities of offshore buyers;
• data-sharing arrangement that will require DIBP to automatically advise the FIRB whenever a property owner’s visa expires;
• impose fees for foreign investors seeking FIRB approval to purchase property;
• impose fines for a breach of the FIRB rules; and
• tighten regulation of offshore investment in real estate.

Australian house prices have risen dramatically in recent years, with the cities of Sydney and Melbourne leading the gains. Record-low interest rates have fed speculative residential-property buying among Australians themselves, but anecdotal evidence points to the growing participation of foreign buyers—especially from China.

The Office of the MARA annual report for the 2013-2014 year has been published.

I saw it on a Facebook post today from the DIBP.  The DIBP was advertising the Office of the MARA.  It reads as follows:

As at 30 June 2014, there were 5212 migration agents registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA). The authority decides who can register as a migration agent, monitors the conduct of agents, and manages complaints about them.

A new bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday has dramatically expanded the powers of immigration Minister Scott Morrison by granting the minister broad new powers to cancel or refuse visas to non-citizens who commit crimes in Australia.

The changes will effectively lower the threshold for the cancellation of temporary visas for non-citizens.A person can now fail the character test if there's a 'reasonable suspicion' - not a conviction - for involvement in crime gangs, people smuggling, genocide, war crimes, torture or slavery.Anyone who has one or multiple jail sentences adding up to 12 months - down from two years - or has an adverse ASIO assessment of child sex charges can also fail automatically.The minister can cancel or refuse a visa to anyone who fails the character test.

Commenting on the new powers, assistant immigration minister Michaelia Cash said the federal government had low tolerance of criminal behaviour by non-citizens.

'Entry and stay in Australia by non-citizens is a privilege, not a right,' she told the chamber on Wednesday, according to a report in The Australian.'The Australian community expects that the Australian government can and should refuse entry to non-citizens or cancel their visas if they do not abide by Australian laws.'

IN SUMMARY, the purpose of the Migration Amendment (Character and General Visa Cancellation) Bill 2014 (the Bill) is to amend the Migration Act 1958[1] (the Act) in relation to the character test and general visa cancellation provisions to:

Schedule 1—Character test

We have just received the following email from the ACS:

Whilst nationals from most of the top ten poorest countries in the world have made it to the department of immigration’s list for expedited processing of temporary work visas (sc400), economic giants China and India have been notably left out of the recently released list with no reasons provided.

Australia and China recently signed an intention to enter a Free Trade Agreement with several promises including simplifying of visa applications. India and Australia have also indicated that such an agreement is being negotiated and could well be signed in the near future. Both the leaders were here recently and even spoke at a joint session of both houses of the Australian parliament promising better trade ties.

Given this it may come as a shock to many that the recent government instrument IMMI 14/100 excludes both China and India from the expanded list of 197 countries and territories eligible to submit online applications for Temporary Work Visas. The list is over three-times the size of the previous list.

From 23 November, nationals from the countries listed in the instrument will be eligible to make online applications and are expected to enjoy faster processing of their visa applications eliminating the need to post or courier paper applications or make in-person visits to Australian DFAT offices.

The SC400 visa is for employers requiring foreign workers to travel to Australia to do short-term, highly specialised, non-ongoing work; participate in non-ongoing cultural or social activities at the invitation of an Australian organisation; or in limited circumstances, participate in an activity or work relating to Australia’s interests.