Visa to Australia made easy: Click here for details

Faster processing times for Australian Partner Visa and Significant Investor Visa; new online application services launched

By Majorie van Leijen
Published Monday, December 09, 2013

Applying for a partner visa to Australia will now be faster and easier, with the introduction of ImmiAccount.

From today [Monday], applicants for a partner visa to Australia will be able to apply through a single entry point on the website of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP).
(more…)

Victoria a hot spot for foreign spouses

JOHN MASANAUSKAS
HERALD SUN
DECEMBER 26, 2013 8:00PM

ALMOST 12,000 Victorians secured residency visas for their spouses and partners from overseas last year, new figures show.

More than 2000 Indians, 1245 Chinese and about 1000 UK-born migrants were among 11,840 people to get partner visas in 2012-13.

The total number for Australia was more than 46,000, including people in gay relationships, said the Federal Government’s latest State and Territory Migration Summary Report. (more…)

Union cautious about unpaid labour conditions of willing workers on organic farms scheme

By Xavier La Canna and Rick Hind

Updated Fri 3 Jan 2014, 9:33am AEDT

A union representing workers in the Northern Territory has raised concerns about the willing workers on organic farms scheme, known as Wwoofing.

The scheme is popular with backpackers who trade their labour for food and accommodation and need to work for 88 days in a rural area to qualify for a second working holiday visa in Australia.

United Voice union spokesman Matt Gardiner says the scheme can work if it is not undercutting paid workers, and the Wwoof organisation ensures unpaid workers are protected. (more…)

Soldier’s family torn apart by White Australia policy

December 22, 2013
Lucy Marks

Forced to separate from his family: Don Carter. Photo: Matthew Smithwick

Despite serving in Townsville, Don Carter’s African American father could not migrate to Australia.

Don Carter grew up in a family divided by World War II and the colour of his parents’ skin. His Aboriginal mother and African American father, an allied serviceman stationed in Townsville, were married, then separated after neither could migrate to their partner’s country after the war, due to racist migration policies. (more…)

‘Racist’ label angers Kiwis in Australia

MATT STEWART

A Kiwi rights lobby in Australia is threatening legal action against Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp after its papers ran stories painting New Zealanders as dole bludgers and backdoor migrants.

David Faulkner, of the OzKiwi website, said he was appalled by articles that appeared on Saturday in Brisbane’s Courier Mail, the Northern Territory News and other Murdoch-owned mastheads featuring headlines such as “Kiwi layabouts are flooding in”, and “Immigration back door”. (more…)

Migration for gas workers ‘down under’

13 Dec 2013 | By Stuart Radnedge
Migration for gas workers ‘down under’

Queensland will need to employ tens of thousands of new workers for their gas industry and the chief executive of Energy Skills Queensland, Glenn Porter has warned that a skills shortage is looming.

According to migration experts The Emigration Group, it is likely skilled British workers that will provide a large bulk of the workforce needed.  Paul Arthur, Director of The Emigration Group said,  “Queensland is predicting they will employ up to 17,000 workers in the gas sector by 2024.  This is more than double what they originally predicted, and it is likely they will need to look to migration to fill skill shortages.” (more…)

Melbourne migration agency raided

A Melbourne migration agency believed to have been making false promises of permanent residence has been raided by federal police.

The suspected unlawful agency is also believed to have provided migration assistance when it is not registered to do so. (more…)

Immigration Influx Buoys Australia as Mining Boom Fades: Economy

By Michael Heath and Candice Zachariahs 

Dec 10, 2013 9:14 AM ET

Manoj Wanzare, an Indian fund manager with a master’s in business administration, personifies Australia’s best bet to address the risk of a slump in income growth as the nation’s once-in-a-century mining boom fades.

Wanzare, 37, has the type of education credentials that Australia is singling out for credit in its immigration system. The initiative offers the prospect of increased productivity and a fresh pool of domestic demand amid a slowdown that’s seen the economy expanding at three quarters of a percentage point less than its average of the past decade. (more…)

Foreign workers may fill oil and gas skills shortage, report finds

By resources reporter Sue Lannin
Updated Mon 16 Dec 2013, 8:52am AEDT

A skills shortage in the oil and gas industry may be filled by foreign workers if the resources industry and Australian governments do not do more to train workers, a new report has found.

The Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency (AWPA) says in its Resources Sector Skills Needs 2013 report that as mining investment winds down, tens of thousands of jobs are expected to go in the construction industry. (more…)

Expat crims find life in NZ difficult

By Andrew Koubaridis

5:30 AM Monday Dec 16, 2013

Victoria University migration researcher Paul Hamer believes Kiwi-born criminals being deported by Australia will increase as the number of Kiwis living there grows. Photo / APN (more…)