ASC Migration Blog

Spain has become the 11th country to be added to Australia's working holiday visa program which will allow young Spaniards to engage in short-term work and study. An agreement has been signed which will also allow young Australians to experience the vibrancy of Spain's culture as a result of this new reciprocal agreement.

Former Vietnam refugee Hieu Van Le is the new governor of South Australia. 37 years ago he fled war-torn Vietnam with his partner, moved to South Australia and has been contributing to that State ever since. Hieu Van forged a career as a very successful accountant and his office is filled with the accolades from his work as a patron of hundreds of charities and other organisations

Hieu Van's journey from immigrant to governor of South Australia is proof that a successful career and future is within everyone's reach. Begin you journey downunder here.

Australia's Working Holiday Maker visa program grew by close to 16% last year with the grant of over 258,000 visas.

The latest country which will enter into an agreement with Australia is Israel. This type of visa can be a popular stepping stone to the subclass 457 visa and subsequently to permanent migration in Australia.

A commencement date will be announced soon which will add to previous expansions with Greece, Poland, Spain and Portugal.

There are expected to be severe labour shortages in Australia by the end of the next decade and a serious labour shortage which is expected to reach 2.3 million workers by the year 2030.

A range of solutions to ensure Australia's future economic growth include boosting skills training, as well as extending the skilled migration program as the economy and employers will require high level skills and will need to get them from a well-trained workforces or a skilled migration programme. 

Family and Carer visas (previously scrapped) have been reactivated. Consequently it is now possible that thousands of Australian families will have a chance to reunite with relatives from around the world.”

The four visas in this category now re-available are, Age Dependent Relative Visa, Remaining Relative Visa, Carer Visa and the Aged Parent Visa.

Family reunion is now very much back in vogue. For specific advice contact us now.

The rate of overseas students in Australian educational institutions has grown by a massive 10% in the last year which is double the growth rate in the preceding 10 years. Indian and Chinese students continue to lead the way in new enrolments however Republic of Korea and Thailand follow.

New stringent requirements introduced in the last couple of years, requires a student to carefully plan their pathway to permanent residency. Consequently the necessity to engage an Australian Registered Migration Agent is more important than ever. Begin your journey to Australia here

3500 job vacancies will be required for one project alone at the Ichthys Gas Project near Darwin Australia. Thousands of other jobs like Carpenters, Plumbers, Electricians, Riggers, Formworkers, Pipelayers and Welders are also in demand.

And with Bricklayers, Wall and Floor tilers and Chefs been added to the ‘Skilled Occupations List’, Australia is an attractive proposition with a great future for migrants and their families. Begin your journey to Australia HERE

The Department of Immigration will no longer issue permanent partner visa notifications by letter.

Partners in Australia on a temporary De Facto Spouse or Partner visa will now be notified at the permanent processing stage by email.

Presently there are 19 countries on the Working Holiday Visa (WHV) list. These are Belgium, Canada, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong Special Region, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan and United Kingdom.

However the Department of Immigration intends to expand the number of eligible countries and add Greece, Mexico, Spain, Poland and Israel.

Applicants must meet a number of requirements such as being aged between 18 & 30 years of age, not travelling with dependent children, have enough funds to support their arrival in Australia, hold a passport from one of the eligible countries listed and have not previously entered Australia on a Working Holiday Visa. 

However, if you are from Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Poland, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay or USA, you may be eligible to apply for a Work and Holiday visa which has a few additional requirements.

Applicants for Australian visas will have more choice in English language testing.

Soon applicants for a number of visas will have two additional tests to choose from when proving their English ability to the Immigration Department. Temporary graduate, Skilled, Work and Holiday are a few examples of visas subclasses which will accept scores from alternative tests. For further information on the list visa subclasses contact us now. 

The two added tests are the Test of English as a Foreign Language internet-based test (TOEFL iBT) and the Pearson Test of English Academic. Changes will come into effect in November this year.

Even further expansion of English language test market is anticipated in early 2015. 

The Australian government proposes to extend streamlined visa processing arrangements to students enrolled in advanced diploma level courses at approved education providers.  The change is expected to be implemented by early 2015.

The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection believes that streamlining of the visa application process for advanced diploma courses will benefit eligible students through simpler and faster visa processing.

The eligible education providers in the higher education and Vocational Education and Training sectors will be able to access streamlined visa processing directly.

The implementation is expected to attract more overseas students.

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The 2014-15 migration program will mainly focus on The Skilled Stream, particularly on employer-sponsored visas. The Budget  allocates almost 70 per cent of the visas to skilled migrants in order to cope with Australia’s skills needs, including skills shortages in regions.

With the reprioritisation towards employer-sponsored visas, employers will be assisted in finding workers to fill vital positions where they have been unable to find local workers.

The Family stream will adjust to the increasing demand for close family reunions by creating more places for partners, children and parents. Also, as from next year, the existing applications for close family members are expected to be processed faster.

The family stream will see more places being allocated for partners and children which together increase by 335 places, in recognition of the strong social and economic benefits of close family reunion, while the number of places in the contributory parent category will increase by 500 places.

Next year migration program provides a total of 190 000 places including 128 550 for skilled migration, 60 885 places for family migration and 565 places for migration under the special eligibility stream.