In light of the recently reported bungle by a Virgin airlines employee who prevented a valid visa holder from boarding a flight out of Australia, the question must be asked: Do the airline check-in staff who have the power to decide whether a passenger gets on board have any decent training on visa rules?

Should airline check-in staff be required to have at least a basic certificate issued by an independent immigration training organisation before they are allowed to work at the airline check-in counter? They are after all playing judge, jury and executioner to unwary travellers dream holidays and travel plans.

These questions must certainly be on the on minds of Indonesian tourists Betty and her mother Lam-In

According to a report in The Daily Telegraph today, Betty and Lam-In have a 12-month multiple-entry visas that allow stays of up to three months at a time in Australia. Last month they planned to fly Virgin to Fiji with friends for a long weekend then return to Sydney. It would be fun and keep their visas intact.

But at Sydney Airport, a Virgin employee refused to check them in. Perhaps she misread the DIBP instructions on the computer. Perhaps she misunderstood it or was clueless. But she chose to rule the visas were no good as her interpretation was that “the date of return was more than three months after they last entered Australia”. Betty’s pleas to speak to a supervisor were ignored with the explanation that the supervisors would say the same thing and were too busy anyway.

The event on Monday 19th May was a huge success.

Please find the complete presentation by:

NAB - Paul Bailey, Grant Healy, Stacey Martin, Shannon Kong, Lily Huang

MA has received queries from members about rebates to 457 business sponsors for training benchmark contributions, recently offered by Gold Coast Institute of TAFE (GCIT).  The offer has raised concern about compliance with the DIBP training benchmark requirements.

MA has researched this issue and provides the following advice to its members.

The offer of a rebate to business sponsors will act to invalidate the statutory requirements for the relevant contribution required by the Act and the Regulations.  The resultant receipt is untrue and constitutes a false statement caught by section 234 of the Migration Act 1958.

Put simply, if a rebate is paid to the business sponsor then their requirement to pay a designated amount is not met and thus invalidates the relevant attempt to meet the statutory requirement.

Please note that Training Funds can pay commission to Migration Agents for client referrals.  Commission arrangements are best managed through a Referral Agreement.  The Agreement should clearly set out the obligations of both parties, especially the requirement for Migration Agents to disclose commission to their clients, in compliance with Part 2.2 of the Code.

One of the hardest things about setting up a business in Australia is understanding all of the laws and cultrual issues tht affect the running of a business.  Now migration agents...you are in a position to not only help your clients through increased support, but at the same time, benefit directly.

With decades of experience at its disposal, CHINA HR can make sure your clients are compliant from day one in all of its staffing challenges.  It is difficult for companies who have been in Australia for several years to compete against local operations.  CHINA HR gives your clients that competitive advantage by applying its combined knowledge gained through years in the Australian workplace.  CHINA HR uses state of the art technology to support your client's business at an economical rate as well as providing access to executives who have worked in the highest levels of Corporate Australia.

CHINA HR is the expert in the provision of the following services:

Potentially, it is a multi-million dollar market for the migration advisory industry. With interest from overseas investors in the Significant Investor Visa programme (SIV) gathering pace the reality however may be that only RMAs working together with consultants experienced with business, investment and tax advice are likely to corner the market. Migration Alliance has worked closely with the likes of PwC, NAB, Ord Minnett, and several other consultants and companies to create a streamlined solution for SIV prospects which RMAs can easily access in order to start tapping into this potentially lucrative market.

The Coalition government’s concerted effort to remove obstacles in the SIV programme, has now had rich investors looking at it as a genuine pathway into Australia. “At $1 billion worth of investment so far and rising fast, Australia’s “significant investor” program is demonstrating its appeal – especially to wealthy Chinese. The general idea is to use the lure of residency visas in exchange for $5 million worth of approved investment in Australia. “ reports the Australian Financial Review.

Under the Coalition government some 190 applications have been approved under the SIV programme with a further 550 under consideration. The Coalition is now reviewing the programme in order to improve it further by removing cumbersome aspects of the application and expanding investment options. “The government continues to work closely with the financial services industry and other stakeholders to offer greater flexibility and investment choices for the future investment migrants,” said Senator Michaelia Cash, the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

Unlike many of the other visas RMAs deal with, the SIV poses some unusual challenges: given the large amount of money required from applicants on the one hand and the fact that applicants, on the other hand, need confidence that their migration advisory consultants will properly help provide direction on how they can manage their money and the process successfully.

Toward this, the Migration Alliance together with its partners have setup the SIV portal to help both RMAs and prospective applicants understand some of the key issues in the process. The portal is a good starting point for RMAs wanting to know more about how to assist prospective applicants. Some of the issues addressed include the following: