The Rudd Government has no intention of putting a limit on the number of Australian Student Visas issued each year, the Australian Immigration Minister has announced.

The Australian Immigration Minister, Senator Chris Evans, said there was no basis for the concerns by education providers about the possible impact of proposed legislation that would allow the Government to cap and cease certain Australian visa sub classes.

“I want to assure the university sector and all providers of quality education that Australia will continue to welcome students from across the globe to study in our country,” he said.

“The proposed legislation is designed to provide flexibility in the management of the general skilled migration program and to ensure we are able to get the balance right when it comes to targeting the skilled workers we need.

“The legislation, which was introduced into Parliament last month, will allow the Government to control the numbers of visas issued in certain occupations if necessary but will not have any impact on students wishing to come to Australia to study.” Read the full story

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It’s a little late, however the new Skilled Occupation List (SOL), has finally been released by the Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Evans.

The current SOL has more than 400 occupations. The new list of occupations, which was announced by the Minister on 17 May 2010, includes 181 occupations. This makes the new SOL less than half the size of the previous list but still includes medical professionals including dentists, nurses and osteopaths, as well as engineers, teachers, IT professionals, welders and other trade occupations.

The new SOL will take effect from 1 July 2010 and will apply to all individuals who wish to apply for an Australian Visa to live and work in Australia under the General Skilled Migration Program. Read the full story

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In an unexpected move, the Australian Government has announced it will not accept applications for offshore general skilled migration, effective midnight AEST 7 May, until the end of the current program year on 30 June, 2010.

The temporary suspension applies to all primary applicants for the following Australian visas: Subclass 175 – Skilled Independent; Subclass 176 – Skilled Sponsored; and Subclass 475 – Skilled Regional Sponsored.

Applications for these Australian visa subclasses submitted on or after 8 May, 2010, will be considered invalid and the application will be returned to the client along with the Visa Application Charge although all associated fees, for example fees incurred for medical examinations, cannot be refunded.

Those who have already submitted a valid application, online or by mail, before midnight Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) on 7 May will have their application processed as normal and in accordance with the priority processing arrangements. Read the full story

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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. Read the full story

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Almost 90 per cent of temporary skilled migrants who were granted Subclass 457 visas in 2009-10 to date are managers and professional workers, new figures show.

The average total salary package for all new Australian temporary skilled migrant workers is almost $100,000 – an increase of $10,000 on the same time last year.

The highest paid workers on a Subclass 457 Australia visa were in the mining industry, with an average total remuneration of $169,000, followed by the financial and insurance services sector at $127,600.

Temporary skilled overseas workers in Western Australia were the highest paid with an average total remuneration of $114 800, followed by New South Wales ($101,100), Queensland ($97,900), Victoria ($94,200), Tasmania ($94,100), Northern Territory ($85,500), ACT ($83,600) and South Australia ($81,700). Read the full story

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The Australian Minister for Immigration yesterday announced significant changes to the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program.

Changes include:

• Cap and Cease of offshore GSM applications lodged before 1 September 2007
• A new Skilled Occupations List (SOL) to come into effect in mid 2010
• Abolition of the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL)
• Revocation of Critical Skills List (CSL) from mid 2010
• Changes to Processing Priorities and introduction of new State Sponsorship arrangements
• Pre 1 Jan 2010 Trade Skills Assessments will be accepted by DIAC from 1st Quarter 2010

Many of these changes have transitional provisions to ensure that the impact on international students studying in Australia are minimised. Read the full story

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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. Read the full story

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This article describes the evidence required for making a successful Australian spouse visa application as well as several other useful tips and hints on how to select the best professional adviser.

1. SPOUSE VISAS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO OBTAIN UNLESS YOU HAVE A JOINT BANK ACCOUNT OR LEASE

Not true as many couples do not have these important documents but still succeed. We can show you how to compensate with other even better evidentiary documents from yourselves, friends and family. Read the full story

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Skilled Independent Migration Visa is one of the categories within the General Skilled Migration or Skilled Visa group which can be applied for both on-shore or from within Australia or off-shore or applicant is not in Australia.

The General Skilled Migration caters to those who are not sponsored by an employer and the applicant applies on the strength of his own qualification in this type of visa.

Generally, the applicant must have skills and qualifications for an occupation listed on Australia’s Skilled Occupation List (SOL), must be over 18 and under 45 years of age, with good English language ability, and recent skilled work experience or a recently completed eligible Australian qualification, among others. Read the full story

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If you’re emigrating to Australia from the UK you’ll probably be worried about getting your visa, passing the medicals, figuring out where to live and getting a job. Rightfully so, but there’s one step that far too many Brits think about too late or even worse, not at all and this could be costing them Tens of Thousands of pounds!

Pensions are not the most thing to talk about but I was lucky enough to talk to Darion Pohl of Prism Xpat. Darion has many years and countless qualification in the area of UK to Australia pension transfers and he made the whole area interesting and understandable and when he talked about the huge amount of money that many Brits emigrating to Australia can save is they make the right financial decisions then I became really excited!

He revealed to me 10 essential tips that every Brit planning to emigrate to Oz should seriously consider. Read the full story

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The process of obtaining a visa for Australia and New Zealand can be a complex process. The complexity of the process depends largely on the type of visa being applied for and the evidence you have in support of your application.

For instance, short term tourists who are passport holders from certain countries (if there is no adverse record against their name) have free entry to New Zealand and are granted a visa when they arrive at the New Zealand airport.

The current list of countries is located at http://www.immigration.govt.nz/ Best check this passport status well in advance of ticket purchase and making travel plans.

Australia has a different system. If a potential tourist holds an acceptable passport and has no adverse immigration alert against their name, they may apply over the internet at the Australian government site http://www.immi.gov.au for an Electronic Tourist visa. They can only do this whilst they are outside Australia. Again, check the passport status and your status will in advance of ticket purchase and making travel plans. Read the full story

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Desperate to travel to the Land Down Under and be allowed to work while you’re there? You can, with the Working Holiday visa.

The good news is that you can easily get your own. The bad news? You’ll need to know many things about your work travel Australia visa before securing it, from how much it costs to who it’s for.

This article covers the basics of work travel Australia visa.

Who It’s For. The Working Holiday visa is for visitors who Read the full story

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One of the most critical questions for all potential migrants is to decide what class of visa to apply for.

The skilled migration Australia visa is one of the most popular, but is it right for most people? Let’s take a look at some of the different types of visa available.

A Working Holiday Visa is ideal for young people between 18 and 30 who want to spend up to a year in Australia. Whilst you can only have temporary or casual work, there are a great many of these visas available every year so you stand a good chance of getting one. Read the full story

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A student visa to study in Australia will only be granted if you satisfy the visa requirements and visa conditions for attendance and academic performance which come into effect after you have entered Australia. It is important to comply with your visa conditions to avoid visa cancellation.

You can apply under the visa option for your principal course of study.

You can apply for Vocational education and training to grant Certificates I, II, III or IV (except ELICOS), diploma, advanced diploma, vocational graduate certificate or vocational graduate diploma courses.

Visa for Higher Education applies to a Bachelor degree, associate degree, graduate certificate, graduate diploma, or Masters. On this student Visa you can study in Australia and eligible dependant family members can accompany you to Australia when you have commenced your course of study in Australia, you can work up to 20 hours per week while your course is going on and for unlimited hours during scheduled course breaks. Read the full story

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This article sets out in simple terms the main Australian visas that are available to a working holiday traveller in Australia. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list but a useful summary giving guidance on some key visa options.

Understanding your options The first step is to categorise each visa. Determine whether the visa is an independent visa option, obtainable by the applicant alone? Or does the visa require the sponsorship of an employer, spouse, family member or state body for the visa to be granted? Read the full story

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Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) has now released details of the Job Ready Program.

The Job Ready Program will affect international students completing trade qualifications (eg cookery, hairdressing) in Australia and who wish to apply for General Skilled Migration.

The Job Ready Program will be a 4-step process, and the total cost will be about $4,500. 

1. Provisional Skills Assessment
2. Job Ready Employment
3. Job Ready Workplace Assessment
4. Job Ready Final Assessment

Within this article we will cover the four step process in a little more detail and will try to summarise the effect of the change on your own visa application. Read the full story

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