The Minister of Immigration has announced his intentions to make test tougher

In a Radio interview with 2GB on 2nd January, the Minister for Immigration, Peter Dutton said:

“The question we face is whether or not we have the right test, the right questions ... whether or not people know Don Bradman’s batting average is a true test of whether or not somebody shares an Australian value,”

He went on to say:

“The vast majority of people who want to become an Australian citizen embrace these ­values, but under the current ­arrangements people who don’t can still end up with the same valued prize of citizenship."

“My view is people who don’t embrace these tangible values shouldn’t expect automatic citizenship.” (source, The Australian, 3 January 2017, Joe Kelly)

It seems that the Minister for Immigration is planning to make the Australian Citizenship test more difficult. At the present time there is no details on what changes are being planned.

The White Australia Policy and what we can learn from it

The residence requirements in applying for Australian Citizenship

Work Visa Lawyers has advised many people who cannot meet the residence requirements, due to having gone overseas for an extended period, to look after a sick and often terminally ill parents.

If someone spends more than one year outside of Australia in the last four, then they will not meet the residence requirements to be able to apply for Australian Citizenship.

There are a number of exemptions and discretions in relation to the residence requirement including where:

• Administrative error led to you becoming unlawful or not becoming a permanent resident.

• You would suffer significant hardship if a period of temporary residence is not counted as a period of   permanent residence.

• You are a spouse, widow or widower of an Australian citizen, were a permanent resident, and maintained a close and continuing association with Australia during the relevant period.

• You have been engaged in activities of special benefit to Australia or work that required regular travel.

• You have completed the required amount of Defence services.

There is currently no discretion or exemption to allow persons to go overseas to care for sick parents, and still be able to apply for Australian Citizenship.

1. How to become an Australian Citizenship? What are the criteria for applying for Citizenship by conferral?

The relevant legislation is provided in the Australian Citizenship Act.

Birth -The most common way to become an Australian Citizenship, it to be born in Australia to one or more Australian parents.

Conferral - Outside of birth, another common way is to apply to become an Australian Citizen by conferral. This is when a person is an Australian permanent resident and applies to become a Citizen.

The basic requirements for Citizenship by conferral include:

• The residence requirements
  • Have been an Australian resident for at least 4 years (Absences of 12 months or less are permissible in this period)
  • Have been a permanent resident for at least one year (Cannot be overseas for more than 90 days in last year prior to the application.)

• The applicant must have a genuine intention to live in Australia following becoming an Australian Citizen.

• Be of good character.
  • The character requirements under the Citizenship Act are broader than under the Migration Act. For example, repeated driving offences can lead to a refusal of a Citizenship Application. 

It has been reported that four of the Melbourne’s Apex gang members will be deported after Australian authorities cancelled their visas. Victorian Police have been targeting the Apex gang which is a major factor in Victoria’s youth crime, cancelling the visas for the members who are engage in criminal activity.

Source:
http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/australia-is-deporting-members-of-melbournes-apex-gang/ar-AAm0qD3?li=AAavLaF&ocid=spartanntp

The Australian Federal Government will no longer be lowering the cost of applying for a working holiday visa. This means that backpackers will still have to pay a $440 application fee, instead of the promised reduced fee of $390. Farm and tourism operators are very disappointed, saying that this will result in lower numbers of backpackers visiting and working in Australia.The Australian Government is hoping that the higher fee will lead to more unemployed young Australians gaining employment in the fruit picking industry.

Source:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-20/government-about-face-on-backpacker-visa-fees/8135514

Many overseas students who aim to pursue their dream to come to Australia for further studies have lost the money they provided to Tu Futuro. They were shocked to realise that recently Brisbane based Education Agency – Tu Futuro have disappeared with the money that the students have paid for their tuition and accommodation.

The fraud has been reported to involve approximately 100 young foreigners who have allegedly lost up to $1 million. The students, who were from developing countries, mainly Brazil, were disappointed when they are were able to get in touch with the agency after realising that not all of the providers had been paid by the agency. For many of these students, this education fund represented their life savings or that of their parents.

The Overseas Students Ombudsman had received more than 40 complaints and is currently working with the Government agencies to ensure affected students were assisted in every possible manner. Brazil’s honorary consul in Brisbane has called for an investigation and compensation for the victims. Queensland Police is currently assessing the matter with the other government agencies.

Applicants applying for the General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas – subclass 189 Skilled Independent, subclass 190 Skilled Nominated and subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored visas, will need to meet points test requirements to be eligible to receive an Invitation to Apply. Applicants applying for Employer-Sponsored visas such as the 457 visa, RSMS 187 visa and the ENS 186 visa may also need to meet English testing requirements to successfully obtain a work visa.

There are many types of English tests which you can take to demonstrate your English ability, but the IETLS and TOEFL English exams have been the traditional English tests for Australian visas. Many prospective visa applicants face difficulties with their English exams because of various reasons:

• English not being the first language or mother tongue

• Not familiar with the exam format and time limits

• Not practicing with specimen materials before attempting the exams

The team at Work Visa Lawyers is always happy to help deserving applicants in successfully obtaining an Australian visa. More often than we hoped for, we come across many applicants who tried to submit an application themselves and face complications thereafter, or a refusal.

Here is a recently approved client, Wenru Pan describing her experience applying for a state sponsorship by herself, and later on with Work Visa Lawyers:

Dear Work Visa Lawyers,

I would like to say a big thank to your guys and I am really appreciate how the support has been for last four months working on my 190 state sponsored permanent visa.

My situation is really tricky and I have been rejected by the state nomination when I first tried to apply by myself. Then I decided to look for help from Chris who was highly recommended by one of my friends. Luckily, my state nomination was successfully approved after Chris’ magic.

Once the trust is built, I decided to let Chris to deal with my 190 visa submission as well. We submit the documents around early November (2016) and I was granted the permanent residency on 17th December, 2016. In other words, the whole process takes less than two months. I almost break the records among who I heard has been granted the permanent residency visa!!!!

I would highly recommend Work Visa Lawyers to all of you who are intending to live/ work in Australia for a long term purposes!

Thank you all the team members from Work Visa Lawyers

Best wishes,

Wenru Pan

So I was cleaning up after eating my tea and listening to the radio.  Thankfully ABC News Radio played Meryl Streep’s full Golden Globe acceptance speech for the Cecil B DeMille lifetime achievement awarddelivered on the 8 January 2017.

A great speech about what an inclusive and collaborative multi-cultural community can achieve. 

A warning against fear and intolerance and the harm it can cause.

Working as an Immigration Lawyer in Australia, the speech certainly struck a cord with me.

I work with people form all over the world and I believe they make a rich contribution to Australian society. 

Welcome to 2017! It was a year full of changes for Australia’s migration policies in 2016. Here is our recap of the significant changes to the migration programme for Australia in 2016 and some of the discussions and ongoing developments for 2017.

The Immigration News in 2016 has been dominated by employer scandals and crackdowns by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP).

While it may all sound like doom and gloom, the planning levels for permanent visas continue to be significant. 

The numbers of Australian permanent visas that are granted each year are controlled by planning levels. 

I am going to make comments below about news in relation to a wide range of visas including business, skilled, visitor and family visas.

All you need to know and do when your visa application is refused!

Receiving a refusal notification for your visa application is stressful and places you in a wave of uncertainty. However, quick action is required to resolve your visa status if your visa application was lodged onshore in Australia.

The same can be said if you received a Notice of Intention to Consider Cancellation (NOICC) for your current visa. It is best to quickly address the issues raised in the NOICC, than to challenge the decision to cancel your visa after the decision has been made.

What are the common reasons for a visa application to be refused?