Tuesday, June 30, 2009

July changes to Migration Act

Australia's Migration Act is one of the most amended pieces of legislation in the country - second only to the taxation laws. thankfully most of the changes are made in two "batches" each year. Some of the changes taking place on 1 July 2009 are:

# Increase in fees and charges
# Form changes
# Contributory Parent Visas – removal of "split application" strategy
# Balance of family test – time of application
# Change of sponsor for remaining relative and parent visas
# Removal of work limitation condition on Retirement (Subclass 410) visa
# Extension of entry period for Subclass 462 (Work and Holiday) visa holders
# Bridging visas – including permission to work arrangements
# Subclass 050 Bridging (General) visas added to the list of relevant visas under Regulation 2.43(1)(a)(i)
# Technical Amendments: Gazette Notice
# Approval of electronic forms for Approved Destination Scheme visa applications.
# Changes to the People Trafficking Visa Framework
# Health Waiver – Participating States and Territories
# Same-Sex relationships
# General Skilled Migration (GSM) – English requirements
# Subclass 457 visa update
# Business Skills – Senior Managers Provisions for Subclass 163 – Policy Change

I am grateful to the Migration Institute of Australia (www.mia.org.au) for providing this summary of changes in their news bulletin to members.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Detention Debt Controvesy


Australia's policy of mandatory detention of people found to be unlawfully present here is widely known. However, it is not so well known that people who are detained are required to pay the costs of their own detention at the rate of $125/day. Needless to say (in a slow moving bureacracy) many detainees end up with debts of thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of dollars.

The government introduced the Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Bill 2009 into parliament in March and it was debated in the lower house this week. It is opposition policy to oppose the bill because it's abolition will be one less deterrent for people smugglers.


Unfortunately for the opposition, there are some dissenters in its ranks with a number of MP's threatening to cross the floor and vote with the government. These are quite extraordinary times with one MP saying the policy was "cruel and contrary to Australia's best values".


Another said he was ashamed of being a member of the parliament that had introduced the policy 17 years ago saying: "God forgive me that I was part of the parliament that did that, that caused so much distress for so many families over such a long period of time" and "it was wrong in the Hawke years, it was wrong in the Howard years and the wrong will be righted today."

Strong comments and some indication that it's not only the government that wants a more compassionate immigration system.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Worker Protection Legislation

The Migration Legislation (Worker Protection) Act 2008 was proclaimed this week to commence on 14 September 2009.

The purpose of the Act is to preserve the integrity of the local labour market and to ensure that the working conditions of foreign workers (mostly 457 visa holders) meet Australian standards.

There are four broad categories of changes:

  1. the sponsorship undertakings will now be legislated (rather than being a promissory undertaking). This means that the undertakings can be changed by amendment;
  2. there will be tougher sanctions, including civil penalty provisions for non-compliance with the undertakings. These powers will include powers of a Court to order repayment of debts owing to visa holders (currently recourse is through employment laws). The objective is to provide more meaningful penalties for non-compliance;
  3. there will be greater sharing of information about visa holders between government departments and agencies; and
  4. there will be a monitoring regime to promote compliance with sponsorship obligations which provides for the appointment of inspectors with powers to enter premises and require documents or things in relation to a sponsor’s compliance with the sponsorship obligations and other requirements.
These changes won't affect the great number of honest employers who already meet their obligations, but it may help to clamp down on the small rogue element that is always present.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Ministerial Intervention

There are a number of sections of Australia's Migration Act (ss 351, 391, 417, 454, 501J) which allow the Minister for Immigration to substitute a more favourable decision to a visa applicant after the review process is finalised - this is known as "ministerial intervention".


The powers are non-delegable and non-compellable and should only be used where the Minister decides it is in the public interest to do so. This usually arises if there is some compassionate or compelling circumstance or in a situation where there is some unintended consequence in a strict application of the Migration Act.

The current Minister (Senator Evans) was the subject of adverse comment, by the Shadow Minister in parliament on 15 June over his use of this power. In the 18 months that he has been Minister, this intervention power has been used over 100o times. In contrast Minister Ruddock (1996-2003) only used it 1916 times in that whole period. I suspect that Minister Vanstone used it even less!

I am a supporter of the concept of discretion (in all areas of law) and I am not sure if the use of this power is a reflection on a more compassionate Minister or whether there was a backlog from the previous government that is now being cleared. In any event, I'm not sure the criticism is warranted.

If you want to read the whole debate it's in the House of Representatives Hansard (ie the daily transcript of parliament) which is downloadable in PDF format from this link. The relevant part starts at page 116 and is a speech by Dr Stone.

Photograph used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chazoid/2836358990/sizes/s/

Thursday, June 11, 2009

457 Info Pack

DIAC have very helpfully published on their website a package outlining the recent (and proposed) changes to the 457 visa program.

That package is available by clicking here.

Monday, June 8, 2009

ASCO to ANZCO Change over

Last week migration professionals were invited to a joint presentation by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and DIAC in Canberra to hear about changes between ANZSCO and its predecessor the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO).

There are a number of key differences between the two:

  1. ANZSCO’s major groups are based on skill level and skill specialisation;
  2. There are new and merged occupations, including an expanded range of ICT, health, agricultural, sport and recreation occupations; and
  3. Unlike ASCO, ANZSCO will not have tasks or duties defined for each occupation.

With DIAC planning to implement ANZCO in early 2010 there are bound to be a few teething problems including the drafting of new occupation lists, a dictionary of duties and some method of comparison between old and new occupations. This is not to mention the implications that lie in waiting for the various assessing authorities.

We will have to wait to see what transitional arrangements are put in place and hope that the change over is well managed. You can read more about ANZCO on the ABS website.

I am indebted to the Migration Institute of Australia (www.mia.org.au) for compiling a list of these changes as a resource to members.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

DIAC Strategic Plan

DIAC (the Department of Immigration and Citizenship) has just released its new strategic plan setting out its direction and focus for the next three years.

DIAC's accountability to parliament will now be measured against six performance criteria (instead of two as before). The criteria are:

  1. Contribute to Australia’s future through managed migration. Administer our migration programs to ensure long-term social and economic benefits to Australia, while responding to changing economic circumstances.
  2. Protect refugees and contribute to humanitarian policy internationally. Uphold Australia’s convention obligations through rigorous assessment of asylum claims against immigration law, and promote the development of innovative and responsive humanitarian policies internationally.
  3. Contribute to Australia’s security through border management and traveller facilitation. Establish the identity and facilitate the entry of genuine travellers through a layered approach to border management.
  4. Make fair and reasonable decisions for people entering and leaving Australia—ensuring compliance with Australia’s immigration laws and integrity in decision making. Deliver efficient, fair and reasonable services to our clients, using an evidence and risk-based approach to maintain the integrity of our programs and systems.
  5. Support migrants and refugees to settle in the community and participate in Australian society. Enrich Australia by creating opportunities for maximum participation in our society and economy through targeted settlement services.
  6. Promote Australian citizenship and a multicultural Australia. Effectively administer Australia’s citizenship laws, and foster community confidence in the advantages of citizenship and diversity. This includes the development of a new cultural diversity framework built around the concept of social inclusion, civics and social capital.
It's too early to tell whether this is "new direction" is just bureaucratic spin or whether there will be an improvement in services for me and my clients (ie visa applicants). I genuinely hope it's the latter.

Photo used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/klbw/3188339277/sizes/s/

Monday, June 1, 2009

DIAC TV


Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship ("DIAC") has its own channel on Youtube where it can showcase some of the programs and initiatives in which it is involved. Although DIAC is often in the news for the bad things its done, its good to see some good news stories as well!

The channel is embedded in my tumblelog or you can view it directly at http://www.youtube.com/user/ImmiTV

Photo used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbot45/81766440/sizes/s/