iscah migration newsletter · 2019. 2. 22. · regional south australia. the exemption applies to...

Hey everyone,

Welcome to another big edition of all the visa news we have gathered over the last month.

Hope you enjoy it. If you have want backcopies they are on our website at www.iscah.com

Straight into it …

Iscah Migration NewsletterEdition Number 248 | 18th February 2019

© Iscah Migration 2019

Contents

1) New Skills assessment process for Marketing professionals

2) Updated processing times for lodged DOHA visa applications

3) Student fees waived for South Australian 457/482 visa holders

4) Wasted EOIs in the 189 Skill Select System

5) Iscah visa information videos for the last month

6) O�cial DOHA 189 Skill Select results from 11th January 2019

7) Update on Queensland Occupation Lists

8) South Australia wants more skilled migrants

9) Review of South Australian skilled occupation lists

10) Canberra/ACT matrix invitation results

11) DOHA Statistics on visa refusals for points test applications


13) Iscah comments about the December 2018 skill select round

14) What the heck happened to 2613 Software Programmers ?

15) New fuding to attract migrants to regional Australia

16) State cautious as Federal Treasurer embraces immigration

17) Uno�cial Skill Select results for 11th February 2019

18) When will you get your 189 invite – Iscah predictions

19) DOHA slammed for poor Citizenship processing

20) New policy on Vetassess work experience calculations

21) Another Dutton mess – this time Citizenship

22) A Labor government to replace new sponsored parent visa

23) Changes to Southern Inland (489 NSW) occupation list

24) WA government trying to lift International student numbers

Page 02

Two of Australia’s leading professional organisations, the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) and VETASSESS, have partnered to develop a skilled migration assessment criterion to support Australia’s thriving marketing sector.

The partnership between the AMI and VETASSESS is bringing together industry and education providers to ensure that the current assessment criteria for occupations across advertising, marketing and market research in Australia install con�dence and meet expectations for employer groups and organisations Australia-wide.

VETASSESS’ Executive Director, Rob Thomason, commented: “VETASSESS is proud that the Australian Marketing Institute has endorsed our criteria for skilled migration assessment for the marketing industry. VETASSESS is looking forward to an ongoing engagement with AMI to maintain the integrity and relevance across the marketing profession in Australia.”

More details here - https://www.vetassess.com.au/home/news-and-updates?

(Source: Vetassess)


https://immi.homea�airs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-processing-times/global-visa-processing-times

2) Updated processing times for lodged DOHA visa applications

3) Student fees waived for South Australian 457/482 visa holders

The student contribution fee for dependents of 457 and 482 visa holders attending government schools in regional areas is being waived. The move is expected to attract more foreign workers to settle or work in regional South Australia.

The exemption applies to all eligible students attending schools in regional areas and is e�ective from the 2019 school year. Previously, skilled workers with a sub-class 457 and 482 visa were required to pay a student contribution fee. In 2019, fees can be up to $5,300 per primary school student and $6,400 per high school student.

The student contribution fee was introduced by the former Labor Government in 2017, with immediate e�ect, for newly arriving families and then was extended to all 457 and 482 visa holders from the beginning of 2018.

The Marshall Liberal Government’s $350,000 investment is expected to bene�t around 80 current regional students, but the decision is particularly expected to bene�t regional businesses struggling to attract workers.

Education Minister John Gardner said the Government was focused on making living and working in regional South Australia more attractive to migrants. “This signi�cant investment will support regional businesses to meet the skills shortages and attract the skilled workers they need to grow,” said Minister Gardner. “

The Marshall Liberal Government is committed to unlocking economic activity in our regions, creating more jobs and strengthening regional communities.“ Waiving this fee for children of migrant families attending a regional public school is an incentive for more foreign workers to settle or work in regional South Australia and contribute to the state’s growing economy.

“We expect this move to grow business activity and employment in our regions, and to contribute to the vibrancy of regional schools and communities.

”The full list of schools that qualify for the fee exemption are available at education.sa.gov.au.

(Source: MIA)

4) Wasted EOIs in the 189 Skill Select System

(Source: Iscah and DOHA)

5) Iscah visa information videos for the last month

Episode 9http://www.iscah.com/four-visa-answers-5-minutes-episode-9-27th-january-2019

Episode 10http://www.iscah.com/four-visa-answers-5-minutes-episode-10-6th-february-2019/

Episode 11http://www.iscah.com/episode-11-four-answers-5-minutes-february-18th-2019/

Bonus video on the Skill Select 189 system http://www.iscah.com/video-explaining-wasted-189-invitations-january-2019-selection-round

(Source: Iscah)

Following our article last week about the large number of WASTED invites in the EOI system this has clearly slowed down the movement in dates for each occupation. We had estimated there were only around 1200 invites for the 11/01/2019 round. But in fact with all the wasted invites etc it turned out to be double this, even though the last invite date for each occupation did not move so much.

On the 11th January 2019 DOHA invited (In fact December 2018 was the same)– 2490 EOIs for the 189 visa– 10 EOIs for the 489 visa

The o�cial cut o� date and points for each occupation is as follows :– 2211 Accountants 80 points (24/08/2018)– 2212 Auditors 80 points (27/06/2018)– 2334 Electronics Engineers 75 points (29/11/2018)– 2335 Ind, Mech and Prod Engineers 70 points (02/07/2018)– 2339 Other Engineering Professionals 75 points (24/10/2018)– 2611 ICT Business & System Analysts 75 points (03/10/2018)– 2613 Software and Applications Programmers 70 points (23/01/2018)– 2631 Computer & Network Professionals 70 points(06/09/2018)489 cut o� 80 points (29/08/2018)189 cut o� 70 points (08/12/2018)

These dates are very SIMILAR to our ISCAH January 2019 uno�cial results and so at this stage do not signi�cantly change our predictions. We will put up our new waiting time estimates for your 189 invitation after the 11th February skill select invitation round.

(Source: DOHA)

6) O�cial DOHA 189 Skill Select results from 11th January 2019

All below occupations in bold have been removed from Queensland Skilled Occupations Lists (QSOL) for FY 2018-19. Occupations were closed on the dates listed below.01 February 2019Please note that the following occupations:

• ICT Business Analyst – 261111• Quantity Surveyor – 233213• Construction Project Manager – 133111• Marketing Specialist – 225113

will be removed from all the Queensland Skilled Occupation Lists (QSOLs) on 01 February 2019 as BSMQ has received many expressions of interest for these occupations and has �lled the quota.If you have not received an invitation by this date, BSMQ is no longer able to issue any new invitations.BSMQ may open these occupations later if the current invitees do not respond in the required time frame. If this happens, information will be posted to this page.

Please also note:

• Interior Designer – 232511• Actuary – 224111

will be removed from the o�shore QSOL list but will be kept on the QSOL Working in Queensland onshore list.

(Source: Queensland State Government)

7) Update on Queensland Occupation Lists

8) South Australia wants more skilled migrants

South Australia Premier Steven Marshall has urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to allow more skilled young migrants to enter the country to help regional areas.Last year, Mr Morrison �agged his plan to cut Australia's permanent migration intake by about 30,000 due to public concern over congestion in the big cities.Mr Marshall has called for the prime minister to consider expanding Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMAs) because states such as South Australia and Tasmania have vastly di�erent needs to Sydney and Melbourne."What we’re calling for is a simpli�ed pathway to further DAMAs, so we can get skilled migration to the areas where they’re most needed in Australia," he said.This moved was endorsed by Business SA chief executive Nigel McBride."What we’re seeing is policy is being set at a national level, responding to the complaints out of Sydney and Melbourne, but don’t recognise the huge need not only in South Australia but right across regional Austra-lia," he said.The premier’s plan includes more incentives for international students, and looking at ways of keeping them here once they’ve �nished their studies.The immigration intake cap has been set at 190,000 since 2012-13. For most of those years, the real intake has nearly met the cap. But in 2017-18 the intake plummeted to its lowest level in a decade, with just 163,000 permanent arrivals – made up of both skilled and family visas. Mr Morrison said he expected the cap would be lowered next �nancial year, due to a shift that will give the states the responsibility to set and justify their migration planning levels.

(Source: SBS)

9) Review of South Australian skilled occupation lists

Immigration SA has conducted a mid-year review of its occupation lists - the State Nominated Occupation List (SNOL) and the Supplementary Skilled List (SSL). Changes will take e�ect on the afternoon of 11 Febru-ary 2019.

https://migration.sa.gov.au/skilled-migrants/mid-year-update-to-the-immigration-sa-occupation-lists

(Source: South Australian State Government)

10) Canberra/ACT matrix invitation results

4. Invitation date: 31 January 2019Number of invitations issued: 186Matrix score range: 130 to 65 with a Matrix submission date: 31 December 18

Next invitation round – 21st February 2019

11) DOHA Statistics on visa refusals for points test applications

DOHA statistics on - Approval/refusal rates after 189,190, 489 visa lodged - and other data from the 189,190,489 lodged visa case loadhttps://www.homea�airs.gov.au/foi/�les/2018/fa181100146-document-released.PDF

(Source: DOHA)


DOHA have �nally released the o�cial skill select results for 11th December 2018 here –

https://immi.homea�airs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skillselect/invitation-rounds

As predicted in our article about the January 2019 skill select round the number was split as 1500 for Pro Rata and 1000 for Non pro rata for the dec 2018 round.Also the numbers we had predicted for each pro rata occupation in January 2019 are almost exactly the number that have now been released for the Dec 11th 2018 round. The following were the number invited for each pro rata occupation in December 2018.

- Accountant 300- Auditor 107- ICT business/Systems Analyst 117- Software/Applications programmer 581- Electronics Engineer 24- Ind/Mech/Prod Engineer 142- Other Engineers 56- Comp Net Professionals 173

That makes us even more con�dent in this having been the split for the January 2019 roundAlso we note that Software Programmer went backwards at 70 points from 06/04/2018 to 01/04/2017 (NOTE THIS WE THINK WAS A SUSPENDED EOI THAT WAS REOPENED IN DECEMBER 2018) to 23/01/2018 in the last 3 invitation rounds. This simply means as per our article on wasted invites that there has been an enormous of wasted ones in this occupation, well over 200 each round. And so these wasted invites go back into the pool after 60 days, and get reinvited. So that sends the 70 point "last invite date" backwards unfortu-nately at that 70 points.

(Source: Iscah)

13) Iscah comments about the December 2018 skill select round

We have received a lot of emails from people asking about 2613 Software and Applications Programmer invites and the confusion over the invite dates. So we thought we would update everyone with our thoughts :

Cut o� date for the last 4 invitation rounds –

11th October 2018 70 points (EOI e�ect date 17/01/2018) 1011 invitesThis round cleared all the 75+ pointers and moved the invite date from 21/09/2017 up to 17/01/2018 at 70 points, so nearly 4 months. We believe around 635 visas were lodged (on DOHA �gures we have) and so 376 were wasted. These wasted EOIs would go back into the EOI system in 60 days in time for the Dec 18 round, except for a small number who had been invited previously.

11th November 2018 70 points (EOI e�ect date 06/04/2018) 1011 invitesThis round cleared all the 75+ pointers and moved the invite date from 17/01/2018 up to 06/04/2018, so nearly 3 months. We believe around 700 visas were lodged (on DOHA �gures we have) and so 311 were wasted. These wasted EOIs would go back into the EOI system in 60 days for the Jan 19 round, except for a small number who had been invited previously.

11th December 2018 70 points (EOI e�ect date 01/04/2017) 581 invitesThis round cleared all the 75+ pointers and moved the invite date for 70 pointers back 12 months to 01/04/2017. The only thing that makes sense to us (assuming DOHA have not made an error) is that when the 75+ pointers were all invited there was only ONE invite left for those at 70 points to be given away. Someone had suspended their EOI that had an e�ect date from 01/04/2017, then unsuspended it recently. And so this would be the oldest 70 pointer in the skill select system. So they get that invite. Our estimate is that around 300 were wasted in December (including 150 from Oct18 that had come back into the skillselect system after 60 days)

11th January 2019 70 points (EOI e�ect date 23/01/2018) 581 invites (approx)This round cleared all the 75 pointers and moved the invite date at 70 points back to 23/01/2018 when it was e�ectively 06/04/2018 two months previously. This one is easier to explain. Again there would not have been many invitations given to the 70 pointers and there were lots of wasted 70 pointers invited back from November 2018 (who would have had an EOI e�ect date somewhere from 17/01/2018 to 06/04/2018). These wasted invites would have gone back into the skill select system after 60 days just in time for the Jan19 round. And they all have to be invited a second time now. We think there may have only been around 50 invites given to 70 pointers and so e�ectively they were given to people being invited a SECOND time with an EOI e�ect date from 17/01/2018 through to 23/01/2018 who had previously been invited in Nov18. Also our estimate is around 260 wasted in January 2019 (including around 110 from Nov18 that had come back in the skillselect system after 60 days)

What happens now ?We assume that DOHA will continue with around 581 invitations for each of the next few months.Presently around 400 EOIs are being lodged at 75+ points each month and these will have to be invited �rst

14) What the heck happened to 2613 Software Programmers ?

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each round. Hardly any of these are likely to be wasted as they are EOIs lodged in the last 30 days. That leaves around 181 invites for the 70 pointersThere are probably around 250 wasted invites at 70 points in the skillselect system with an EOI date from 23/01/2018 to 06/04/2018 that have to be invited for a 2nd time before DOHA can get to invite the real 70 pointers with an EOI date from 06/04/2018 onwards.

Even when these 250 are cleared there will be around 40% of the 70 pointers in April18 and a few months after that likely to be wasted as many people will have improved their points and lodged a second EOI. But left their �rst EOI in the system at 70 points. These will waste 2 invites each.So we think DOHA will likely get back to April18 invites at 70 points by around the 11/03/2019 skill select round. But that 70 pointers will continue to move slowly through that period after that.We will update our estimates based on this new wastage and movements after the February 11th round next week. Hope you have found this useful. (c) Iscah 2019

(Source: Iscah)

The Government will provide $19.4 million in funding over the next four years to support regional areas to attract skilled migrants.Regional employers and skilled migrants wanting to live and work in regional areas will be given access to priority processing on visa applications.Department of Home A�airs o�cials will also be deployed to regional communities to work directly with employers and communities experiencing critical skills shortages.Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural A�airs David Coleman said these initiatives will support regional employers to get the skilled workers they need to grow and develop their businesses.“Our skilled visa programs are about supporting Australian businesses and creating opportunities for more Australians,” Mr Coleman said.“There are a number of regions outside Sydney, Melbourne and South East Queensland who are calling out for skilled migrants. These regional initiatives will help these communities and local business attract migrants where they are needed most.”Where Australian workers are not available, visa settings can be tailored to suit the needs of speci�c regions through tools such as Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMAs).The Northern Territory recently signed its second DAMA agreement, and Warrnambool on Victoria’s Great South Coast is expected to sign one soon.Mr Coleman said the Government is signi�cantly expanding the DAMA program, with o�cials from the Department of Home A�airs already in discussions with a range of regions that are experiencing labour shortages to see whether a DAMA could be put in place to supplement the local workforce.“Training and skilling Australians is one of our top priorities, but there is a need for additional workers to supplement the workforce, particularly in regional areas,” Mr Coleman said.“DAMAs provide �exibility for regional employers to sponsor migrant workers, as well as incentives to migrants to live and work in regional areas, including by creating a pathway to permanent residence.“There are economic gaps in regional areas which immigration can help to �ll, and that is exactly what we are doing through these new or expanded measures.”Information on visa options for regional communities and prospective regional migrants is available on the Department of Home A�airs website: www.homea�airs.gov.au/regional

(Source: DOHA)

15) New fuding to attract migrants to regional Australia

Josh Frydenberg has argued forcefully for the need to maintain a strong immigration intake to safeguard the nation’s economy amid growing global headwinds, as the nation’s biggest states ratchet up demands for more infrastructure spending to cope with congestion problems.In an apparent softening of the government’s position last year, when Scott Morrison declared Australia’s major cities were “full” and committed to lowering the permanent migration cap, the Treasurer yesterday talked up immigration as vital for the nation’s economic success.“Our plan is to continue to grow the economy and to continue to have a very strong and robust and welcoming immigration system,” the Treasurer said, after agreeing on measures with the states to plan for population growth. He said immigration was also critical in mitigating the challenges of an ageing popula-tion and “it will continue to be strong here in Australia”.At its �rst meeting today, the Treasurers’ Forum on Population agreed to undertake regional analysis of the nation’s skills and infrastructure needs, and improve forecasting of population growth to ensure better planning of the nation’s cities.State treasurers backed the initiatives, aimed at channelling population growth towards the smaller states and regional areas, but warned improvements in planning must be backed by greater infrastructure spend-ing.“We continue to not get our fair share of infrastructure investment,” NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said.“Victoria and NSW have the lowest rate of commonwealth infrastructure investment on a per capita basis. The federal government get all the bene�ts of immigration but we get all the costs.”Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said the federal government must commit to properly funding the state’s infrastructure needs.“We account for a third of the nation’s population growth and our economy generates more jobs than anywhere else,” he said.“If the commonwealth cares about Victoria’s population, they’ll unlock the $3 billion they are playing politics with so we can deliver projects Victorians need.”South Australian Treasurer Rob Lucas said his state was “unashamedly open to population growth”.The Prime Minister last year indicated the permanent immigration cap of 190,000 would be lowered. “The roads are clogged, the buses and trains are full,” he said in November.

(Source: The Australian newspaper)

16) State cautious as Federal Treasurer embraces immigration

The one consistency about DoHA at the moment is their inconsistency with their monthly number of invitations. Despite having documents showing they were happy at the 2500 for Dec/Jan they look to have reduced the numbers to around 600-1200 this round. We will give a more accurate number later today. This is likely to have again been split by their preferred 60% for Pro Rata and 40% Non Pro Rata.To produce our results we collect data from our own clients, online forums, other online sources, and feedback from our FB and newsletter followers. As well as using mathematical logical assumptions we know in the past to be correct.

If you aware of any more recent invites for any of these occupations please email us at [email protected] with some details so that we can see if this table can be updated over the next 24-48 hours.SO COME BACK AND CHECK for updates(Please note it is highly likely there are more recent invites we are unaware of … this is just the best we know so far)ALSO NOTE THAT Accountant may be up to 7th Feb 2019 at 85 points – we are trying to con�rm

http://www.iscah.com/3902-2/

(Source: Iscah)

17) Uno�cial Skill Select results for 11th February 2019

http://www.iscah.com/will-get-189-invite-february-estimates-iscah/

(Source: Iscah)

Here are Iscah’s latest estimates of how long we think you will have to wait for a 189 invitation from TODAY – 11th February 2019. Depending on when you lodged your EOI, what the e�ect date is and the occupation.These may not turn out to be DoHA settings, we are just trying to give a rough estimate in this age of uncertainty. If their policies change .. WE WILL CHANGE OUR ESTIMATES ACCORDINGLYOur main assumptions are based on– We think DOHA invited around 600 invites in February 2019– We always go with DOHA’s numbers going forward until they give evidence they will change – so 600 now for March, April, May and June 2019– These numbers to be split 60% for Pro rata occupations and 40% for Non pro rata occupations– From July 2019 we are estimating back to 2500 per round on average and the Occupational Ceilings for each occupation (again until we hear something di�erent)– In the last round even with limited Accountant invites (maybe around 72) it just about cleared those at 85 points. So if it remains like that it means we do not need an estimate for 85 pointers.. they will all be invited each month. We may add this �gure next month– we have factored in the wasted invite �gures although this will have a lesser e�ect with reduced invites per round

18) When will you get your 189 invite – Iscah predictions

An interesting review on DOHA (lack) of performance in processing citizenship applications The Australian National Audit O�ce (ANAO) yesterday tabled the �ndings of its audit into the E�ciency of Processing of Applications for Citizenship by ConferralThe audit was prompted by questions from the O�ce of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Refugee Council of Australia, Members of Parliament and others, who publicly enquired about the length of time being taken to process Australian citizenship by conferral applications.The ANAO report predictably found that:- Applications for citizenship by conferral have not been processed e�ciently by the Department of Home A�airs. - Applications have not been processed in a time-e�cient manner. Processing times have increased and long delays are evident between applications being lodged and decisions being taken on whether or not to confer citizenship. Signi�cant periods of inactivity are evident for both complex and non-complex applica-tions accepted by the department for processing. - Applications have not been processed in a resource-e�cient manner. The Department has a suite of initiatives in train that are designed to improve e�ciency but implementation has been slow. It has not set external key performance indicators to inform Parliament and other stakeholders of how e�cient it has been in processing conferral applications. Further, the department is not checking the quality of the decisions being taken.

The report made three recommendations for improvement to the Department of Home A�airs, which included:- reintroducing externally reported key performance indicators and expanding the publication of processing times (both rejected by the Department) - the improved monitoring of performance standards (the Department agreed in principle) - a revised funding model for citizenship activities be developed by the Department of Home A�airs and the Department of Finance (the Department agreed).

(Source: MIA)

19) DOHA slammed for poor Citizenship processing

Employment Length Calculation ChangeVETASSESS currently uses only month and year to calculate the employment dates. As of 14 February 2019, we will be considering the exact date, including day, month and year for the Date Deemed Skilled to align with the Department of Home A�airs requirement for the date an applicant’s employment is considered ‘skilled’.Please note that we will continue to retrieve these dates from o�cial documents only. Supporting employ-ment documentation can include payslips, tax returns, and a statement of service from your employer clearly indicating the exact period of employment and if applicable, any period of unpaid leave.

(Source: Vetassess)

20) New policy on Vetassess work experience calculations

The Auditor-General on 11 February 2019 found in its audit of citizenship application processing that these are not being processed in either a time e�cient manner or a resource e�cient manner. But this is a tiny portion of a wider malaise in the administration of a once world class immigration system the Government and the senior leadership of the Home A�airs Department has allowed be run down. The record numbers of largely non-genuine asylum seeker applications (see here and here) and the Government’s lack of action on these (the backlog of these at primary and review stages is now likely to be well in excess of 60,000 – Home A�airs will not reveal the actual backlog) is the end result of the wider malaise.The Auditor-General has found “signi�cant periods of inactivity are evident for both complex and non-com-plex applications accepted by the department for processing… Home A�airs did not have processes in place to monitor and address periods of processing inactivity, including the length of time between an application being received and substantive processing work commencing.” The Department has fallen so far short of its performance target of processing 80 percent of applications within 80 days that it has removed this target from the Home A�airs website. Processing times “reported each month to September 2018 have increased signi�cantly since March 2017.”The Auditor-General �nds “overall, the relative complexity of the applications lodged has decreased. Growth in demand for citizenship in recent years was driven by people with good supporting documents who arrived in Australia on a skilled visa.” He also �nds “Home A�airs has not checked the quality of the decisions taken to approve or refuse Austra-lian citizenship in 2017–18. This was notwithstanding that its Quality Management Framework outlined that two per cent of the decisions should have been checked. As at August 2018 the department had not implemented an ANAO recommendation it agreed to in May 2015 relevant to assessing the quality of decisions taken.”This is an extraordinary tale of ine�ciency and neglect on the part of the Home A�airs leadership. But it is not just con�ned to processing of citizenship applications. Blow outs in processing times and massive increases in application backlogs is a characteristic of immigration administration across the Depart-ment. Contributing to the problems have been poorly designed and poorly implemented changes to visas as well as the treatment of visa processing sta� as ‘second class’ public servants (compared to the more revered Home A�airs sta� in uniforms and with guns) leading to an appalling decline in sta� morale. Visa processing sta� have been intimidated by the constant fear-mongering, not just by Dutton, but also by the Home A�airs leadership.Dutton et al would have us believe these processing time blow-outs and massive backlogs are just the result of applying ‘greater scrutiny’ and that as a result, our immigration system now has more integrity. Nothing could be further from the truth.Any experienced immigration o�cer will tell you large backlogs are a honeypot for the spivs; the carpetbag-gers; the people smugglers. It is the massive backlogs that have led to an increasing portion of people by-passing normal o�shore visas and instead securing visitor visas to get into Australia and then applying for the actual visa they need. As a result, almost 25 percent of net overseas migration is now represented by people arriving on visitor visas and then extending stay. This astonishing percentage would usually alarm any immigration administrator. But the Government has sat back and watched this percentage rise steadily over the past �ve years. The slow processing times have also contributed to an extraordinary backlog of people in Australia on bridging visas (at times getting up to 200,000). And it is this backlog that is making it increasingly attractive for people smugglers to bring in people on visitor visas and then apply for asylum, knowing that it will take years for these applications to be dealt with to �nality.

21) Another Dutton mess – this time Citizenship

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Australia has for years avoided creation of large backlogs of asylum applications from people already in the community. We have long boasted of our ability to avoid this problem that has beset countries in Europe and the US. But it appears that while Dutton et al were obsessing about asylum seekers on boats (most of whom turned out to be genuine), the people smugglers have been bringing in non-genuine asylum seekers right under his nose.And the mess will not be �xed by outsourcing visa processing as the Government has proposed (see here). It will take many years and likely hundreds of millions of dollars to get on top of the problem. And if govern-ments just kick the can down the road, as they have in Europe and the US, we may never return to an immigration system with real integrity, e�ciency and fairness. ( Source: www.johnmenadue.com )

Shadow Immigration Minister Shayne Neumann has told SBS Punjabi that Labor would “very soon” announce its policy on parent visa to replace the government’s temporary sponsored parent visa which he said was a “monumental failure”.

Labor will soon announce its policy on a temporary sponsored visa for the parents for migrants and replace the new visa the coalition government is likely to make available soon.“I don’t agree with the current government’s position on [the visa]. They have broken their promise to multicultural and migrant communities. The visa they are talking about, I might add, which was supposed to be in November 2017, hasn’t been delivered,” Shadow Immigration Minister Shayne Neumann said. After a campaign by multicultural communities, the Coalition, under former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, promised a special visa for parents of migrants in June 2016. Parliament cleared legislation in November last year that the visa was linked to and the government said the new visa would be made available in the �rst half of 2019.The legislation that the visa was tied to has been passed by the Federal Parliament, paving the way for the new visa. However, the opposition and migrant groups are unhappy that the Government’s visa is signi�-cantly di�erent from what was initially promised. The visa that the government is going to deliver is signi�cantly di�erent from the one promised before the 2016 federal election. The promised visa did not have an annual cap on the number of visas and the spon-soring children would have been required to pay a refundable bond.However, the new visa that the government has touted as a new pathway for grandparents to visit their families in Australia will have a fee of $5,000 and $10,000 for a three-year and �ve-year visa respectively and will be subject to an annual cap of 15,000. Families can only sponsor one set of parents and will be able to renew the visa only once. “They did not talk a cap, they did not talk about the fact that you have to pay a fee. They talked about a bond. They did not make it clear that you have to choose which set of parents come.“So they have failed on the temporary parent visa,” Mr Neumann told SBS Punjabi.New parental visa a "blackmail and deceit", says the visa campaignerThe high cost of the new parental visa has left those who campaigned for it disappointed. He said Labor would “very soon” bring its policy on the visa.“I imagine our policy will be very di�erent from the current government’s policy because our policy in the last election was di�erent from what the current government is saying.“We know the importance of the family and grandparents in the lives of young people. Children have a right to be cared for by both sets of grandparents,” Mr Neumann said.

(Source: www.sbs.com.au)

22) A Labor government to replace new sponsored parent visa

iscah.migrationiscahmigrationiscah.com

Phone: 08 9353 3344 Fax: 61-8-9353 3350E-mail: [email protected]

Iscah MigrationSuite 14 (Kewdale Business Park)133 Kewdale Road, KewdalePerth Western Australia, 6105PO Box 75 Welshpool BC 6986

Steven O’Neill (Iscah Manager - MARN 9687267)

Registered Migration Agent 9687267

OK folks, see you all on Monday 18th March 2019.

Keep safe.

Southern Inland in NSW have updated their 489 occupation list herehttps://www.rdasi.org.au/assets/RegionalMigration/c2430-ca5e5/1.-February-Updated-skills-list-14.02.2019.pdfThe following occupations have been removed -Chef Motor Mechanic (General) Electrician (Special Class)Computer Network & Systems EngineerRegistered Nurse (Developmental Dis) Special Education Teachers necTelecommunications EngineerTelecommunications Network Engineer Telecommunications Field Engineer Telecommunications Technical O�cer

(Source: NSW state government)

23) Changes to Southern Inland (489 NSW) occupation list

GO back two decades and WA could lay claim to a �fth of all international students studying in Australia.

Today, the State’s market share is just 6 per cent and dwindling. WA is the only State or Territory to shed lucrative overseas students over the past two years — down 3000 odd — during a period in which their total number swelled more than 165,000.Those 869,000 foreign students contributed more than $31 billion to the national economy in 2018. WA’s slice of the pie with around 51,000 was less than $2 billion. Against that backdrop StudyPerth last week unveiled a seven-year action plan with the ambitious target of doubling overseas student numbers in WA to 100,000 by 2025.

Even if that goal is reached, StudyPerth executive director Phil Payne concedes it would simply put the State back where it should be after years of neglect by successive State governments.“I think most people would say we’ve been too focused on minerals and agriculture,” he said. “International education is a real asset to every State and it should be a bigger asset in WA. In Victoria it is their No.1 export. We are not punching at our weight and the purpose of the plan is to get us there.”In essence, the action plan is a commitment to overhaul and ramp up overseas marketing of Perth as a study destination and improve the international student experience through a series of events and activities helping foreigners discover the city, integrate into the WA lifestyle and �nd employment and course-relevant work experience. It is the practical implementation of an overarching strategy and accompanying $2 million funding commitment over �ve years announced by Premier Mark McGowan last October.The international education sector has been a particular focus for Mr McGowan over the past six months. Among his �rst acts after winning power in early 2017 was to pull Perth from the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme, a move touted as protecting local jobs from overseas workers.One of the biggest unintended consequences was the torpedoing of growth in the local international student market.

24) WA government trying to lift International student numbers

The McGowan Government in August announced the introduction of a graduate skilled migration program that allows the “best and brightest” overseas students to apply for visas to remain in WA if they have an o�er of employment for any of more than 200 occupations. They must also have studied in WA for at least two years and speak pro�cient English. Mr McGowan said the graduate visa program had proved so popular he had already written to the Federal Government seeking to increase the number of places from 800 to 2000.The �rst cab o� the rank in the new StudyPerth action plan is the introduction of an annual welcome event at Government House for new arrivals.StudyPerth also plans to have an international student support centre, most likely in or near Yagan Square. In Northbridge the city’s �rst dedicated o�-campus student accommodation building, Campus Perth, this month welcomes the �rst of its 700 residents, mainly from China and South Korea.

(Source: www.perthnow.com.au)

iscah migration newsletter · 2019. 2. 22. · regional south australia. the exemption applies to...

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