Australian Immigration News February 2010

Upcoming Australian Immigration Seminars

SOUTH AFRICA:

Johannesburg:

Seminar will be held at the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton on Tuesday 2 February 2010.
Consultations: 3 to 7 February
Register for this Australian Immigration Seminar.

Durban:

Seminar will be held at the Riverside Hotel on Monday 8 February 2010.
Consultations: 9 and 10 February
Register for this Australian Immigration Seminar.

Cape Town:

Seminar will be held at the Commodore Hotel on Thursday 11 February 2010.
Consultations: 12 and 13 February
Register for this Australian Immigration Seminar.

MAURITIUS:

Seminar will be held at the Labourdonnais Hotel on Monday 15 February 2010.
Consultations: 16 and 17 February
Register for this Australian Immigration Seminar.

SINGAPORE:

Seminar will be held at the Orchard Hotel on Saturday 6 February 2010.
Consultations: 7, 8 and morning of 9 February
Register for this Australian Immigration Seminar.

MALAYSIA:

Thinking Of Moving To Australia - Beware!!!

A new year brings with it opportunities for change and, as we all know, resolutions are born in January with many broken in the same month. Change is good, but some changes need careful planning and patience. Dissatisfaction can be a good reason for change but when it comes to a change in your country of residence, planning and patience are essential.

A quote from an unknown source says that 'experience is a hard teacher, she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards'. Many an immigrant has learned this lesson the hard way. Quitting their employment, hastily divesting their assets and uprooting themselves and family for a life in greener pastures, confident that everything will work out when they get there. Unfortunately, because of a lack of research and careful planning, those greener pastures can soon turn a nasty shade of brown.

Australia can indeed appear to be a much greener pasture, especially for those living in countries where violence is part of your everyday life and where economies are crumbling. Australia is beautiful. It has space, it is generally safe and it has a rapidly recovering economy and employment market.

Sounds good? So you start looking for a job in Australia and are lucky enough to obtain an offer. You accept the offer of employment, tell your family and friends that you are moving, sell your house, ship your goods to Australia and say your goodbyes. You don't really consider the requirements for permanent residency or, if you do, assume that it will be a shoe in because you have a job. Not always so.

If you are considering a move to Australia the best place to start is to download the questionnaire from our website complete it and e-mail it to us together with payment of the small assessment fee. Better still -  attend one of our free seminars and/or book an appointment to meet with us when we are next in your part of the world http://www.immagine-immigration.com/immigration-seminars/seminars.asp We can then explain your options, costs and timeframe of moving to Australia.

Our recommendation is always that you obtain residency before making the move. This will greatly enhance your prospects of finding employment in Australia. Generally speaking, employers are reluctant to consider applicants who are not yet in the country. If we assess you as eligible for residency, but you still need a job offer, then it is best that you come to Australia for as long a period as possible with a view to finding employment. You will find it much easier to line up job interviews either directly or through a recruitment company if you are physically in the country.

Australia's Subclass 457 Work Visa

This visa provides for long-term entry for up to 4 years for people with an offer of employment in Australia in an occupation approved for Work Visas. Visa applicants may be sponsored by Australian or overseas businesses.

Essentially there are three separate and distinct applications for the 457 Work Visa:

1. Approval of the employer as a business sponsor

2. Approval of the Nominated position

3. Approval of the employee's subclass 457 visa application

Wives and children [secondary applicants] can be listed on a primary applicant's application entitling them to work and study but if children are of school going age parents should be aware that they may be expected to pay international student fees at government schools until such time as they obtain residence visas.

Employer Eligibility -- not just any employer will do

One of the main requirements for an employer to be approved as a Business Sponsor is to demonstrate their contribution and commitment to the training of their Australian employees. This is done by providing evidence of meeting one out of the two following Training Benchmarks The applicant for approval as a sponsor may choose which benchmark they will meet .

• Training Benchmark A - Industry Training Fund?
  
  Applicants can meet Training Benchmark A by paying the equivalent of at least 2% of recent payroll expenditure to an industry training fund. The industry training fund must operate in an industry related to the applicant's business.
  
  Industry training funds are statutory authorities responsible for providing funding for training of eligible workers in certain industries. Industry training funds operate in a range of sectors including construction and mining but are not limited to these industries. Where there is no industry training fund operating in the same sector as the applicant for approval, the applicant can show evidence of having made a contribution to a recognised scholarship fund that supports education or training for Australian citizens or permanent residents in a university or TAFE course related to the business of the applicant.
   
• Training Benchmark B?
  
  To meet Training Benchmark B, applicants must provide evidence of spending the equivalent of 1% of payroll on training for their employees who are Australian citizens or permanent residents.

Australia's Market Salary Rates

Business sponsors must ensure equivalent terms and conditions of employment for both local and foreign employees. This means that they must pay their overseas workers the market salary for the position and the terms and conditions of employment may be no less favourable than those offered to Australian employees.

Where there is an equivalent Australian in the workplace, the market salary rate will be determined by the industrial arrangement that applies to that worker. The Subclass 457 visa holder must be provided the same terms and conditions that are provided to the equivalent Australian worker.

Where there is no Australian performing equivalent work in the same workplace, the employer may demonstrate the market salary rate by reference to a range of specified evidence to substantiate the market salary rate.

In addition, for the nomination to be approved, the market salary rate must be greater than the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) of $45,220.00 per annum. This means nominations for which the applicable market salary rates are below the TSMIT are likely to be refused.

It is the market salary rate for the nominated occupation, not the nominated worker's proposed salary, which is compared to the TSMIT. Therefore, it is not possible for a 457 sponsor to inflate a nominated worker's proposed salary in order to meet the TSMIT requirement.

It is important to note that 457 Work Visas are temporary and reliant upon the employment position remaining open. If the position is terminated or the visa holder chooses to leave the position, he/she must do one of the following:

• find another employer who is willing to nominate; or
   
• apply for another type of visa (if possible); or
   
• leave Australia within 28 days unless the visa expires before that time, in which case you must leave Australia prior to visa expiry.

Subclass 457 visa holders are responsible for all health costs for themselves and their family for the length of their visa. They need to provide evidence that they have obtained adequate and acceptable health insurance before their visa can be granted. Some nationals such as UK nationals are entitled to Medicare reciprocity in Australia and may not be required to obtain their own private health insurance.

The business sponsor undertakes a range of obligations including the obligation to pay reasonable and necessary travel costs to enable the sponsored persons to leave Australia and to keep proper records of employment if the department requests same for the purposes of monitoring the employer and the employee.

The above is a brief overview of one of the most complex visa categories. We at IMMagine Australia Immigration are aware of the pitfalls and difficulties and our expertise and experience can certainly make the process a lot easier for you.

Some Interesting Facts About Australia

Who knows when you might get to use these interesting facts – in a game of trivial pursuit perhaps or when the conversation at you next dinner party comes to a standstill.

Emus and kangaroos, both native Australian animals, cannot walk backwards, and for that reason, are on the Australian Coat of Arms.

Cape Byron is Australia's most easterly point. It is located on the north coast of New South Wales, 800 kilometres from Sydney and 175 kilometres south of Brisbane (which is in Queensland).Byron Bay is hugely popular with its fantastic surf beaches, unspoilt hinterland and relaxed lifestyle.

National Anthem? - In 1977, Alan Jones, a former Australian Formula One driver, scored a surprise victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. Initially officials were going to play the Austrian anthem but then realised that Australia and Austria were not the same country. Unfortunately, they didn't have the Australian anthem so instead a local drunk played "Happy Birthday to You" on a trumpet.

Convicts of African descent – As you may know, Australia was, in its early days, used as a convict out-post for England. Convicts comprised many different racial groups and many of these minority racial groups were very prominent in colonial society. Australia's first bushranger was a convict of African descent. Another African convict was arguably Sydney's first eccentric as he walked around in a top hat and tails.

Australian Customs And Quarantine

For those of you travelling into and out of Australia, below is a brief list of items that are prohibited in Australia together with a list of those items that are restricted and must be declared to customs both on arrival in and departure from Australia.

Prohibited items

Drugs including marijuana, cannabis, heroin, cocaine and amphetamines. Counterfeit goods and offensive types of pornography are also banned.

Restricted items

These items cannot be imported into Australia without a permit.

• Firearms, weapons and ammunition;
• Performance and image enhancing drugs including human growth hormone, DHEA and all anabolic and androgenic steroids;
• Currency – Whilst there is no limit to the amount of currency you can bring in or out of Australia you must declare amounts of A$10,000 or more in Australian currency or foreign equivalent.
• Food, plants, animals and biological goods – including plant and animal goods, equipment used with animals, biological materials, soils and sand. Failure to declare could result in an on-the-spot fine or prosecution;
• Medicines including prescription medications, alternative, herbal and traditional medicines, vitamin and mineral preparation formulas.
• Protected wildlife - Australia's strict laws control the import and export of protected wildlife and associated products. This includes traditional medicinal products and regulated products such as coral, orchids, caviar, ivory products and many hunting trophies;
• Heritage-listed goods. A permit is required to import or export heritage-listed goods including works of art, stamps, coins, archaeological objects, minerals and specimens;
• Veterinary products;
• Defence and strategic goods.

For more detailed information please access the Australian Customs website www.customs.gov.au

If you are unsure if an item needs to be declared, declare it anyway. Better to be safe than sorry and it often gets you processed a lot quicker. The line of people declaring is always much shorter than the line not declaring.

The Shipping News - Timing Is Everything. Or Is It??

As a prospective emigrant to Australia, you would at some stage have had to face the daunting task of making the big decision"to go", closely followed by a plan ofaccording to what timeline you would ideally like to see it all happen and the beginning of life Down Under.

For those of you already well on their way with thisprocess, most of you would probably have come to the sometimes frustrating realisation that your timing plan is most often probably not how things are eventually going to work out.

Aside from the actual Australian migration application process, one of the other timing considerations will be to co-ordinate the shipment of your household goodsto your new home in Australia.

Although the actual shipping time on the water for containers to all Australian main ports (Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane ) is only +- 35 days, one should add on atleast a week at origin to allow for packing and placing in the port , as well as +- 10 to 20 days in Australia for customs clearance, actual quarantine inspection and eventual delivery & unpacking in your new home. Should your shipment only require inclusion in a shared container, the timing will be heavily affected by when your removalist will manage to fill and dispatch their shared container with matching loads, a process over which there is little control.

Our Australian delivery agents will have little control over the final clearance process as the quarantine inspectors will not be rushed to visit the warehouse to inspect your goods. If they find any signs of possible contamination, the process of fumigating or destroying the offending item may take another few days.

To decide on the preferredtime of shipment, one should work backwards fromyour ideal delivery date in Australia. Other factors willhowever also affect your ideal planning. These are most notably the length of time required to sell one's property and the occupation dates agreed on, working around school terms, availability of your new home in Australia, the date one might be expected to arrive to begin work, the availability of temporary accommodation with friends or family until your goods do arrive, costs and availability of cargo storage, and the availability of flights.

During the past 2 years, it hasbeen common for clients to have their ideal plans turned upside down purely by the depressed property market and resultant struggle to sell.

Although the outlook for 2010 appears more positive in this regard, clients should be mindful that in the bigger picture of your long term settlement in Australia, the old adage of "timing is everything"may not quite hold true this time around.

Contributed by Adrian Schultz, Director of EconoFreight International Movers, Cape Town, RSA. For queries or quotations please feel free to contact Adrian at adrian@econofreight.co.za or call (from SA) 0861-MOVING (668464).