ISCAH Migration Newsletter
(Copyright
2007)
Edition
Number 114
Monday 17th
December 2007
Dear
Readers
Hope you
have all done your xmas shopping and are settling down for a good, relaxing,
well deserved time with family and friends.
The kids
had a chance to see Santa a few times last week including down at the Fremantle
Dockers family day last Sunday. When I told Santa what I wanted, he just
laughed, he agreed all dockers fans wanted that .. lets see what happens in the
new year !!
Just a
short note that if you ever want to reply to the newsletter, please do not just
press reply as it may not come to us. It goes into some black hole in space. It
is important that you contact us at newsletter@iscah.com
or through contact details on our website at www.iscah.com
On to the
newsletter ..
Has been a
busy few weeks with Immigration issues so lets get cracking.
1)
The $100,000 deposit for skilled migration
2)
New Minister
3)
Restrictions on 457 visas through Labour High Companies to remain
4) Skilled Pathway ‘D’ through TRA
for skilled Trades People
5)
6)
When a person can claim work experience as part of a skilled application
7)
Applicants for 485 Graduate Skilled (temporary) visa
8) Processing times for GSM visa
applications in
1)
The $100,000 deposit for skilled migration
Where to
start with this one ? Is just an amazing situation that skilled visa applicants
who were relying on this for their last 5 points find themselves in.
In short
there are somewhere between 2,000 – 5,000 visa applicants I estimate who are
affected. They lodged their skilled visa applications prior to 1st
September 2007 and would not have applied if there was not the facility to gain
the 5 remaining points to get to the 110 or 120 point passmarks (depending on
which visa they applied for).
It does
not matter for applications lodged after 1st September 2007 as after
that date all visa applicants knew these 5 points were not available.
These 5
remaining points were gained by depositing (from any source they saw fit,
whether loaned or not) $100,000 in government bonds for 12 months. And gaining
a return of maybe around 6% per annum. The bonds were deposited in DIAC
appointed organisations, in general these were government owned State Treasury
Corporations around
Legal
actions have been commenced by the National Australia Bank (one of
The State
Treasuries have taken the view they do not want to expose themselves to any
more problems with this and they have ALL withdrawn from accepting the $100,000
bonds. Which leaves not just those 227 in a difficult situation but also
between 2000 and 5000 visa applicants who were induced to apply by DIAC’s
migration program all facing not obtaining their Australian permanent visas.
This is a
totally unfair outcome for those people. They could never have expected this
process to stop. It is not like other factors of the points test that can
change during the process and which DIAC point out is a risky party of the
process. This was a rock solid way of gaining the 5 points, at least in the
minds of the visa applicants.
DIAC have
been looking at this issue for around 2 weeks now and as yet no solution. The
whole industry is holding their breath to see what they come up. Will the
passmark drop by 5 points to compensate (nobody can apply for those visa
categories any more so it won’t induce new applications), will they request the
Commonwealth bank or some other institute to accept the bonds, will they just
refuse/pool all those applications ?
We thought
we would have heard something last week, but clearly it is a complicated issue.
There are a number of options to follow if DIAC choose to do nothing. However
we have a new minister who deserves a chance to come up with a solution that is
reasonable in the circumstances.
Watch this
space !!
(Source:
DIAC and Iscah)
2)
New Minister
Talking
about the new minister, of course we had a change in government two weeks ago
in
Senator Evans was elected to Federal Parliament in 1993,
and was sworn in as the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship in the Rudd
Government on 3 December 2007. He is also the Leader of the Government in the
Senate.
Senator Evans served as Chair of the Joint Native Title
Committee and was appointed as the Opposition Whip in the Senate following the
1996 election.
He was appointed to the Shadow Ministry after the 1998
election as the Shadow Minister for Family Services and the Aged. Following the
2001 election he was appointed Shadow Minister for Defence, and in 2004 became
the Shadow Minister for Defence Procurement, Science and Personnel.
In October 2004 Senator Evans was elected as the Federal
Labor Leader in the Senate, and also became the Shadow Minister for Social
Security. In June 2005 he became Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs and
Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services and in December 2006 became
Shadow Minister for National Development, Resources and Energy.
Prior to entering Federal Parliament Senator Evans was
the State Secretary of the Labor Party's WA Branch and before that was
Secretary of the Fire Fighters Union in WA.
Chris is married with two sons. He is very keen on rugby
union and is also stubbornly loyal to the Fremantle Dockers Football Club.
(Don’t you love that last paragraph – He is part of the
mighty purple army. Love the guy already. Lets hope he turns into a good minister
who listens to all the stake holders !)
(Source:
Minister’s website)
3)
Restrictions on 457 visas through Labour High Companies to remain
One of the
worst thought out changes from the previous minister (Kevin Andrews) was the restrictions
on labour hire companies being able to sponsor skilled employees to
It has
been devastating for the Information Technology industry in particular. An
article appeared in the press about this last week as the initial response from
the new minister as to whether these restrictive policies will be repealed
NEW
regulations making entry harder for foreign temporary workers, which was handed
down during the dying days of the Howard government, will remain in place for
the foreseeable future.
The new
regulations around 457 visas have almost choked off fresh applications,
according to the recruitment industry and IT employers, who were hoping for a
quick fix from the new Labor government.
A spokesman for Immigration
Minister Chris Evans said the minister had no plans at this stage to address
the changes to 457 skilled temporary migrant visa rules that were introduced by
former immigration minister Kevin Andrews on October 1.
Industry group Information
Technology Contract and Recruitment Authority (ITCRA) has also withdrawn a
statement issued in late November that claimed Labor's former shadow minister
for immigration Tony Burke would consider repealing the new rules.
The statement sparked a spat
between ITCRA and Mr Burke, with ITCRA writing to the then shadow minister to
clarify commentary about the matter, which was reported in The Australian.
A spokesman for Minister Evans
said ITCRA had apologised in the letter for "misinterpreting" Mr
Burke's position.
ITCRA has said the changes
effectively killed off new applications for 457 visas, thanks to stringent new
reporting requirements that recruitment and contracting agents must meet.
"The Minister has not made a
decision yet to alter the rules, but that's not to say that that may not
change. He hasn't had a chance to consider it yet," the spokesman for Mr
Evans said.
However, ITCRA executive director
Norman Lacy stood by his original comments over his meeting with Mr Burke and
said the then shadow minister had misinterpreted media reports.
"If you have the impression
that we're saying that you made a commitment to specific detailed outcomes,
then we haven't made that statement. If that's the way you've interpreted the
article then we apologise for that, but we actually didn't say that and neither
did The Australian on our behalf," Mr Lacy said.
Mr Lacy said he did not believe
that Mr Burke's request for an apology was an issue or that it would affect his
organisation's appeals to suspend the changes to the 457 visa.
"This was a side activity.
The central issue is still that we're seeking suspensions of the regulation to
allow an opportunity for the new Government to consult with the industry, which
is something the old government failed to do," Mr Lacy said. ITCRA's case
recently received a boost when it joined forces with the recruitment and
consulting services association (RCSA), which has more than 3000 members
engaged in the hire, recruitment, contracting agency or consulting services
industry.
The pair will now lobby the
Government to introduce a transition period for companies to implement the
changes.
The RCSA estimated that since the
changes were introduced on October 1, more than 1000 people have been prevented
from working in the country using the 457 visa.
(Source: Australian Newspaper 13/12/07)
4) Skilled Pathway ‘D’ through TRA
for skilled Trades People
This
pathway allowed tradespeople to show they met
It was
removed on 4th September 2007 due to alleged abuse of the process.
In short fraudulent work references. The TRA have suggested it is only a
temporary suspension and another process may be established shortly that allows
a combination of work experience and maybe some accreditation with local
authorities in a visa applicant’s home country.
The latest
news from the TRA on this appears in their Christmas newsletter where they say
“Stay tuned for a further announcement about the future of Pathway D early in
the new year”.
Merry
xmas. Boom Boom.
(Source
TRA)
5)
A number
of skills assessing authorities have announced they will be closing for the
Christmas/New year period.
For
example the TRA have announced they are closed from 24 Dec to 02 Jan. Vetassess
will close from 24 Dec to 07 Jan.
DIAC are
OPEN 24th December, 28th December, 31st
December
Iscah will
be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day. But open the rest of
the time, albeit in the obligatory shorts and a tee shirt attire.
6)
When a person can claim work experience as part of a skilled application
Under the
General Skilled Migration (GSM) visa program a visa applicant often has to show
a period of work experience at a skilled level. This is not as simple as it
sounds as DIAC will only count work experience that took place AFTER a person
has reached the “Australian” skill level for that occupation. That often means
qualifications or a set period of work experience has to be attained first. And
then only AFTER that “deemed date” can work experience be counted.
DIAC have
issued the following statement on how to work out when a person can start
claiming work experience ..
As you are aware, when
considering whether an applicant has been working at
a skilled level the Department will first look at whether the applicant has
the entry level qualifications for that skilled occupation as prescribed by
ASCO. In instances where the applicant has a formal qualification the time
the applicant was equipped to undertake work at a skilled level is when the
applicant met the academic requirements for the relevant award. In
instances where the applicant has gained their entry level skills through
on the job training the time the applicant was equipped to undertake work
at a skilled level is:
- when the applicant completed the number of years work experience
prescribed by ASCO as being the equivalent of an entry level qualification
(eg. in the case of a computing professional 5 years); or
- when ASCO is silent on the amount of work experience that would be
equivalent to an entry level qualification (eg. in relation to trade
occupations), the period of work experience the relevant assessing
authority considers equivalent.
In the case of applicants with a trade occupation who go through the
offshore VETASSESS skills assessment process this will be 2 years work
experience.
In the case of applicants with a trade occupation who go through the
onshore TRA skills assessment process this will be:
- 4 years experience for a person assessed under pathway A - Formal
Apprenticeship;
- 5 years experience for a person assessed under pathway B or C - Informal
Apprenticeship or Vocational Traineeship.
(Source:
DIAC)
7)
Applicants for 485 Graduate Skilled (temporary) visa
Just to
clear up some confusion with applicants, DIAC have confirmed that for this visa
..
- Overseas police clearances ARE
required for the grant of this visa.
- Medicals and Xrays can either
be temporary or permanent medicals. Of course if you are going to shortly
apply for a permanent visa, then it would be cheaper to do permanent
medicals and use them for both the temporary and permanent visas.
Any grant
of a 485 where the case officer has not yet received the overseas police
clearances (we recently had one), is a mistake by DIAC.
(Source:
DIAC)
8) Processing times for GSM visa
applications in
As of 11 December 2007 the ASPC Admin Section is processing
applications as
follows:
Onshore Applications: receipting and acknowledging applications received on
10 December 2007.
Offshore Applications received after 1 September 2007: receipting and
acknowledging applications received on 10 December 2007.
Offshore Applications received prior to 1 September 2007*: receipting
applications received on 29 August 2007 and acknowledging applications
received on 31 July 2007.
PROCESSING AND ALLOCATION INFORMATION - For the week of 11 December 2007
Applications lodged on or before the dates shown below have been allocated
to case officers for further processing.
Onshore Skilled visas (permanent and provisional)
Student/Graduate applications - Class DD and DE visas
Paper based applications: 15 June 2007
(subclass 880), 16 April 2007
(subclass 881) and 18 April 2007 (subclass 882)
E-lodged (on-line) applications: 20 July 2007 (subclass 880) and 30 July
2007 (subclass 881) and 30 July 2007 (subclass 882)
Onshore Skilled Independent Regional (Provisional) (SIR) – Class UX visas
Paper based applications:7 August 2007
eSIR (on-line) applications: 26 July 2007
New Zealand Citizen (Residence) - Class DB visas
All applications: all applications are now allocated to case officers
Skilled Migration visas - All paper based applications for Class BN, BQ,
BR, UX and UZ visas
(Subclasses 134, 136, 137, 138, 139, 495 and 496): 24 January 2007
e-lodged Skilled Independent Regional (Provisional) applications: 17 August
2007
General Skilled Migration visas– Class VE, VF,VB and VC visas
(subclasses 175, 176, 475, 476, 885, 886, 887, 485 and 487)
E-lodged (on-line)
applications: 21 September 2007
Paper based
applications: allocations yet to commence
(Source:
DIAC)
Okay folks
that is for another year. Unbelievably how quick this one has gone. I hope you
and your family have a great experience over this festive period and stay safe.
See you all for the next newsletter on Monday 21st January 2008 !!
Cheers
Steven
O’Neil
Iscah
Migration