by Myer Lipschitz
26. June 2009 05:40
No I'm not about to offer you a set of free steak knives but would like to point out that in addition to Melbourne's "liveability" quotient it does score highly in the migration stakes as well.
It is the only major Australian city that has its metropolitan area included in the list of "designated areas" for immigration purposes. In fact the whole of the state of Victoria is defined as a “designated area”.
Essentially this means that extended family members such as first cousins and grandparents can also act as sponsors in addition to the other usual family members namely parents, children, adopted children or stepchildren, brothers and sisters, adoptive brothers or adoptive sisters, or stepbrother or stepsister aunts, uncles, adoptive aunts or adoptive uncles, or step aunts or step uncles, nephews, nieces, adoptive nephews or adoptive nieces, or step nephews or step nieces.
The implications of the broader definition of family are quite profound and give Melbourne a distinct advantage over Brisbane, Perth and Sydney in that family members seeking to apply under the 475 [provisional] visa only need to meet a pass mark of 100 points as opposed to the usual 120 points for an independent visa.
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