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From 12 March 2010, all applicants applying for either a Skilled—Regional Sponsored (subclass 487) visa, Skilled—Independent (subclass 885) visa or Skilled—Sponsored (subclass 886) visa will be able to use an existing suitable skills assessment to lodge a valid visa application.

This will allow applicants nominating a trade occupation for the above visa subclasses to provide a skills assessment pre-dating 1 January 2010 and is in line with the minister’s announcement on 8 February 2010.

This change should alleviate the concerns of international students and stakeholders regarding the amendments introduced on 1 January 2010. These amendments required onshore General Skilled Migration applicants who nominated a trade occupation to provide a skills assessment dated on or after 1 January 2010 to make a valid application. Continue Reading

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The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) updated the Critical Skills List this weekend with many computer professionals breathing a huge sigh of relief!

When the DIAC announced changes to the Australian immigration procedures on the 8th February, the Migration Occupations in Demand List became defunct. This left many people with occupations previously in the MODL in the dark about their chances of a successful Australian visa application.

Computer professionals had to have an occupation listed in the MODL in order to qualify for the CSL. With the MODL gone this was now impossible to achieve. Thankfully for many of these IT professionals, their quandary is now over as the CSL includes many computing occupations on the list. Continue Reading

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As a result of the recent General Skilled Migration (GSM) changes we wrote about on the 8th of February, a review of the GSM Points Test is to be undertaken in the first half of 2010 and a discussion paper will be placed on the department’s website for public comment until 12 March 2010.

The discussion paper has now been published and an excerpt of the paper is provided below:

The review of the General Skilled Migration (GSM) Points Test is part of a comprehensive reform of the skilled migration program. The Government has agreed on the following important principles which should underpin a new Points Test: Continue Reading

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Today, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, announced a number of changes to the General Skilled Migration program.

 Let’s look at the key changes. We’ll cover these changes in more detail further on in this article.

• Offshore General Skilled Migration Visa Applications made before the 1^st September 2007 will be capped and then ceased.
• The current Critical Skills List (CSL) will be revoked and will be replaced by a new Skilled Occupations List (SOL) effective from the middle of 2010.
• The current Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) will be revoked and replaced with the same (and more targeted) Skilled Occupations List.
• The General Skilled Migration (GSM) Points Test will be reviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of the current test.
• New priority processing arrangements will be introduced for certain skilled migration visas.

Quite a lot to take in huh? We’ll try to break down the changes into a little more detail and as always, if you get stuck or have any further questions then feel free to pop into our forums. Continue Reading

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Western Australia job advertisements surged 6% in December which is the strongest monthly growth since May 2007.

Experts say that the renewal of the mining boom could force business to compete ferociously for workers. This isn’t good news for businesses in WA but it could be great news for folks looking to migrate to the state.

Just one day after Western Australia was declared the nations best-performing economy, treasurer Troy Buswell called for a state-based migration scheme as WA businesses were warned to brace themselves for skilled labour shortages. Continue Reading

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Wanted Down Under makes a return to the BBC with Series 4 Being aired this Monday at 10am on BBC 1.

I think this is the first time that Wanted Down Under has made it’s way onto BBC 1 with the last few series being relegated to obscure times of the day on BBC 2.

For those looking to Migrate to Australia, wanted down under has proved to be a very popular series to watch and I’d really love to hear your views of the latest Wanted Down Under series  if you’ve seen one of the programs which has gone to air so far? Continue Reading

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Prior to the 1st of January 2010, applicants applying for permanent migration based on one of the onshore General Skilled Migration (GSM) visa subclasses were required, at time of application, to provide evidence that they had applied for a skills assessment by the relevant assessing authority. At time of decision, a suitable skills assessment was required.

From the 1st of January 2010, applicants applying for either the Skilled – Independent (Migrant) Visa (Subclass 885), Skilled – Sponsored (Migrant) Visa (Subclass 886) or the Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Migrant) Visa (Subclass 487) will be required to have obtained a suitable skills assessment prior to applying for migration in order for the application to be valid and assessed for a decision. Continue Reading

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G’day everyone! Well, in less that 14 hours time it’s going to be Christmas day here in Australia.

For those ‘enjoying’ the snow throughout many countries in the Northern hemisphere, you’ll be interested to know that it’s forecast to be a not so chilly 36 Celsius here in Australia tomorrow.

We’ve got the ‘outlaws’ over from Sydney this Christmas so were looking forward to what will be the largest ‘family Christmas’ we’ve had in the three years that we’ve now been here. All we need to do now is work out how to cram 60 hours of defrosting time for the turkey into 24. I’m sure we’ll be OK

I know when we were in the UK planning our move to Australia we spent many years saying ‘just imagine what it’ll be like…. Christmas in Australia’. I can concur that it is the most wonderful place to spend Christmas and the sweat, tears, frustrations and almost endless waiting really were worth it. Continue Reading

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Since starting my new role in the mining industry, I’ve found myself working for an organisation which is much more reliant on skilled resources brought in from overseas.

I was chatting to one of the hiring managers the other day about this and being quite interested in the subject, I managed to steer the conversation onto the subject of Australian immigration and the challenges faced by companies following the many recent changes in immigration law.

One thing that I didn’t really appreciate until now is the hoops that the Australian Immigration Department are making companies jump through in order to justify bringing on board ‘foreign’ workers on 457 Visas. Continue Reading

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The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced earlier this month that the amount of funds international students will need to demonstrate and have genuine access to in order to be granted a Student visa will increase under proposed new changes.

Legislation changes are being pursued to increase the basic rate of living costs under the Migration Regulations from the previous rate of $12 000 per year. Subject to approval by the Governor-General, it is proposed that these changes will come into effect from 1 January 2010.

Under the proposed new regulations, prospective Student visa applicants and their family members must have access to the following funds to meet the living costs requirements: Continue Reading

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The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, has set new priority processing arrangements for certain Skilled Migration visas. These arrangements are designed to better address the needs of industry by targeting skills in critical need across a number of sectors. The current priority processing Direction commenced on 23 September 2009.

The Direction applies to applications in the pipeline that have not been finalised, and to applications lodged with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, on or after 23 September 2009.

To assist the visitors to our site, we have included the Frequently Asked Questions from the Department Website below.

To discuss these latest changes then post a comment at the bottom of this post or visit the thread in our forums which you can find by clicking here. Continue Reading

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The Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) is going to be overhauled whilst the Critical Skills List (CSL) will be phased out completely.

The Australian Department of Immigration is near to concluding its review of the MODL. As part of their review, the department will examine and report on the role and purpose of the MODL in targeting skill needs in relation to the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program, to complement the supply of tertiary qualified Australians.

It’s hoped that the review will enable DIMIA to use the MODL as a more strategic tool ensuring that skilled migration is better aimed at responding to future skill needs which cannot be addressed through domestic training and skills development.

The arrangements for the transition to the new MODL will be determined once the outcomes of the review are finalised. Continue Reading

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The 20 hottest spots to find work in Australia were revealed in the results of a new survey published by Australian financial institution Bankwest today.

Using Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, the report measured 20 zones across the country to record a minimum five percent increase in employment since November 2007.

Sydney’s north and Perth’s east topped the list, recording a 13 percent growth in employment since November 2007.

In the same period, employment grew by 11 percent in South Eastern New South Wales and 10 percent in Lower Western in Western Australia, Ipswich City, northern-northwest Queensland and inner Melbourne. Continue Reading

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Foreign students will face greater screening as the Government cracks down on visa fraud and scrutinises their ability to finance life in Australia reports the Age

The changes, announced by Immigration Minister Chris Evans yesterday, apply to students from India, Mauritius, Nepal, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Pakistan and take effect immediately.

Students from target countries will be subject to more stringent interviews and have limited access to visa applications online.

Applications for student visas have soared in the past year. They grew by 20 per cent to more than 362,000 in the year to June 30. Of those, 28,000 applications were rejected. Continue Reading

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During a recent visit to India, Australian Minister of Immigration & Citizenship, Chris Evans told press that Australian Immigration law is changing with a stronger focus on skilled workers.

Evans said in New Delhi, “We are reviewing the policy on migrants. Our government will adjust the policy based on the needs of the country and not be driven by the education choices of overseas students”.

Senator Evans is in New Delhi to advise the Indian government on steps that Australia is taking to ensure the safety of Indian students who choose to study in Australia.

Thousands of Indian students move to Australia each year, taking admission in vocational courses like cookery and hairdressing in Australian institutions to get permanent residency. Continue Reading

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The Australian Immigration and Citizenship department have started issuing letters to visa applicants who have applied for Australian Residency under certain visa classes.

The letter confirms that priority will be given to applicants who are applying under the employer or state sponsored visa classes. In addition the letter also confirms that priority will remain for those holding a primary occupation which is listed on the Critical Skills List (CSL)

Essentially though, the letter goes onto confirm that if you do not fall into one of these three categories, it now looks almost certain that the processing of your application will be delayed into the 2010 – 1011 Migration program year.

The key text taken from the letter is as follows: Continue Reading

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