Australian Immigration News 1 April 09

Upcoming Australian Immigration Seminars

Singapore - Saturday 18 April 09 at 10.00 a.m. - Orchard Hotel, 422 Orchard Road (Lavendar Room), Singapore. The seminar costs S$15 per person payable on the day.
Individual consultations to establish your residence eligibility will be held on 19, 20 and 21 April.

Johannesburg - Thursday 7 May 09 at 7.00 p.m. - Sandton Sun Hotel, Cnr. Fifth & Alice Streets Sandton.
Individual consultations to establish your residence eligibility will be held on 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12 May.

Cape Town - Wednesday 13 May 09 at 7.00 p.m. - Commodore Hotel Portswood Road, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town.
Individual consultations to establish your residence eligibility will be held on 14, 15, 16 & 17 May.

Durban - Monday 18 May 09 at 7.00 p.m. - The Riverside Hotel, 10 Northway Drive, Durban North.
Individual consultations to establish your residence eligibility will be held on 19 & 20 May.

And if you perhaps don't qualify for residence of Austraslia or want to check to see if you are eligibility to emmigrate to New Zealand then come to one of our New Zealand Immigration seminars.

Australia Reduces Numbers In Skilled Migrant Program

Because of the amount of largely inaccurate speculation that has followed these two news items we thought it opportune to present a more balanced perspective. We have provided a copy of the article in question just in case any of you missed it (See below).

Because neither Australia nor New Zealand have changed their eligibility criteria and the drivers prompting South Africans to consider emigrating to both of these countries haven't lessened we are finding good numbers of people still attending our seminars in South Africa who are quite content to wait out the longer processing times. Once visas are issued and economies stabilize they will utilize these permanent residence visas to immigrate

Australia Reduces Skilled Migrant Program By 14% - Implications

On 16 March the Australian Immigration Minister reduced the quota of skilled migrant category visas that will be issued for 2008-2009 by 14% from 133,500 to 115,000 to “Protect local jobs while ensuring employers can access skilled professionals in industries still experiencing skills shortages”.

Essentially this means that the Australian Government has ‘capped' or set a limit for the skills stream of 115,000 places until 1 July 2009.

Processing of visas will continue in accordance with the prioritisation program implemented by the government and certain (General Skilled Migrant) GSM applications will still continue to be issued in accordance with the prioritisation program.

This program stipulates that permanent applications will be processed in the following order :

1. Employer Sponsorship
2. State or Territory Sponsorship
3. An occupation on the CSL (Critical Skills List)
4. An occupation on the MODL (Occupations in Demand)
5. All other applications

There hasn't been a change to any of the criteria for awarding points and applicants can still go ahead and submit their residence visa applications, however, those applications that have no bearing to the critical shortages list, don't have state/territory sponsorship and don't involve and offer of employment will not be issued a visa for this immigration year (ending on 30 June 2009).

It’s The Economy Stupid

Ever since the financial turmoil hit the world in earnest towards October 2008 we have noticed that our immigration seminars in South Africa for both New Zealand and Australia have still been attracting good numbers of attendees but various factors in South Africa such as high mortgage rates, the National Credit Act, the declining value of property and lack of liquidity in the banking system have all contributed towards South Africans general unwillingness to make the move abroad in this uncertain climate.

The situation in South Africa hasn't however lessened the intention on the part of South Africans to consider immigration alternatives because of the usual ills that still persist in South Africa such as declining educational standards, high levels of crime, violence and corruption to name but a few. There is no doubt that the combination of the National Credit Act, the decline in value of property, the seemingly never ending increasing cost of living and very high bond rates is affecting the timing of the move. The desire to immigrate however is not diminishing. In fact we would go further and say the inclination to start over in New Zealand or Australia is actually increasing.

The recent announcement to cut Australia's immigration quota has not affected South African's eligibility in obtaining permanent residence in Australia. It has simply lengthened the process and most of those people that we consult with in South Africa are not looking to make the move in this uncertain economic climate and are quite comfortable about obtaining a longer term insurance policy so the longer processing times won't have that much of an impact upon slowing down the number of people in South Africa filing Australian residence visa applications.

So What Is The Economy Like In Australia?

Recent stimuli packages introduced by the Australian Federal Government of AU$52 Billion including the ‘cash splash' payments and other initiatives such as the first home buyers package have kept a recession at bay, however, with almost all of Australia's major trading partners recording significantly lower growth rates, it seems as if a recession will be inevitable. Australia is experiencing lower prices for its commodities and given that the commodity price boom was a huge force in driving economic growth in recent years the slump in prices will subtract from growth for some time to come. The recession is forecast to be shallow and not long lived.

I would suggest that anyone thinking of quitting their job in South Africa at this point in time to look for employment in Australia should thoroughly investigate their employment options before embarking upon this type of action, however, as mentioned earlier most South Africans don't fall into this category and seem to be quite happy to be applying for residence visas in the full knowledge that it is going to take a bit longer to process(in the light of the cuts to the immigration quota) and are content to take a long term view of the outlook for Australia and the world economy.

The Sunday Times Article – Largely A New Zealand Story

1. NZ has not 'imposed regulations' that give priority to NZ job seekers. This has always been the regulation. Work permits exist to fill 'temporary gaps in the labour market'. Any person from anywhere who seeks to work here has that application to work tested against the availability of local labouri.e. if it is believed the local labour market 'should' be able to fill the vacancythen thework permit can be declined. No change there. All that is happening now is that as NZ's unemployment rate creeps up (currently 4.4% from 3.4% this time last year) the Immigration Department is starting to more closely ask the question as to whether the local labour market should be able to fill the vacancy and at the less skilled end of things it is true that work permits (or 'renewals' as some incorrectly term them) may become more difficult to obtain. Point is though policy has not changed and the Government at this time is not planning on making any (and that is from veryreliable sources within the NZ Government less than three weeks old).
    
2. The number of South Africans choosing to emigrate to NZ is not falling. The interest is just as great as it has been over the past decade. What is changing is that as the property market continues its slide in SA the timing of people emigrating isbeing affected. The experience of our own clients is that most have all their money tied up in their home and until they free that up through a sale they cannot get the tens of thousands of Rands an average family needs to spend on the process - shipping, flights, Government fees, funds to live off here before the first pay cheque arrives...). 
    
3. New Zealand has been in a shallow recession for 12 months caused initially by drought (that might surprise a few of you) and high (by NZ standards) interest rates and exacerbated by slowing global demand for NZ export products. NZ is a country that relies hugely on exports given that it comprises only 4.2 million people. Yes people are being laid off but not on a massive scale. What is equally true is that those that are losing their jobs as the recession bites are the lesser and unskilled. Because NZ has had such acute skills shortages in recent years most companies are holding on to all their best and brightest as when the recession ends (predicted to do so in the second half of this year) employers cannot afford a return to what we have had in the past five years - thousands more jobs being created than people to fill them.
    
4. The Labushagnes. It is my understanding that Mr Labuschagne worked for a Security company here. Although I do not pretend to know the details I assume that he, like many before him, was employed as a Security Guard. These are pretty much minimum wage, low skilled jobs and when he went to apply for another work permit I have little doubt that he failed the 'labour market test' i.e. that the Immigration Department concluded that the position 'should' have been able to be filled locally (and I am sure they are right). I question whether he was 'deported' however. His temporary work permit was not renewed and there is a big difference. If there is an issue here it is either that the Labuschagnes failed to do their research. When they were granted their work permits the letterhe got would have confirmed that the permit was temporary.
   
   It is an unfortunate part of my professional life that people make all sorts of assumptions about immigration policy that are fuelled by chat rooms and forums and well intentioned advice from friends and family that is fatally flawed. This might be one of those times.
   
   I do feel a great deal of sympathy for the family. How awful, having come to NZ and put down roots and to think you are building a new life to have to pack up and ship out. It is all very well to sit here and say, well, that's policy and sorry buddy maybe you should have got better advice but the Immigration Department does a very poor job of communicating with its clients over this sort of thing and it has real potential to embarrass NZ (even though policy if you are told it or can find it is clear). There are many more Mr Labuschagnes here from many countries and none should take staying in NZ for granted when their current temporary work permits expire.
     
5. Has the welcome mat has been withdrawn? Absolutely not. Is it likely to be? Absolutely not. That too is advice from a senior Government source less than four days old. New Zealand continues to encourage permanent migration of South Africans. There is no plan tocut the annual target of 47,000 or so migrants from around the world.  New Zealand still has critical skills shortages and businesses are still hiring. Overwhelmingly the 100,000 or so South Africans living in NZ will tell you that they are not only happy with their choice but that NZ has a great big heart that is extremely welcoming in a way they never imagined but which surpasses their expectations.
     
6. The responsibility of the migrant to research. As a professional and licensed (by the NZ Government) adviser I am often frustrated that so many South Africans fail to properly research their eligibility for temporary and permanent stays in New Zealand. Having said that NZ's own Government adds to this with advice and information that is often confusing, inconsistent and hard to find. The reality is though that migration is hugely complex - logistically, emotionally and financially and I compare it to climbing Mount Everest. You can try it on your own by researching the internet, relying on others who have done it (once) and asking friends and family. The truth is those most likely to succeed will be those that have retained the services of a professional mountaineering company with experienced guides. There is no doubt that as the typical SA migrant's net worth falls they are increasingly forced to try this process on their own. Statistically one in three (source; Immigration New Zealand) skilled migrant applicants to New Zealand will fail. When you take out those that use professional advisers, although I don't have an exact number for you, it is my estimate that the numbers are probably closer to 50% for those that do this themselves. That is a very sobering figure.
   
   I am constantly on at the Government to recognise that this process is complex and many a migrant is mislead not by incompetent or unethical private sector consultants (although SA is not short on them) but by the NZ Government.
   
   Will all South Africans get jobs when they get to NZ? I doubt it. Those that have researched, visited, talked to and retained professionals like ourselves can only minimise the risk of failure. They cannot eliminate it. There is little doubt that getting work in NZ is going to be tougher in 2009 than in 2008. There is equally little doubt that the several thousand South Africans that have arrived in NZ over the past five years have on the whole moved very quickly into work given NZ's effective zero rate of skilled unemployment and this may have resulted in signals being sent back to SA that work in NZ was plentiful (it was) and getting work permits easy (for some it was, some it wasn't). Times however have changed and it is incumbent on every person wishing to move their family to NZ that they look carefully before they buy that airline ticket. Our clients are on average currently taking six to eight weeks to secure skilled employment.
      
7. Is New Zealand paved with gold? I give potential migrants a bit more credit for intelligence than than that. If anyone tells them all their problemswill disappearwhen they board that flight at O.R. Tambo they are going to be disappointed. Nothing is tougher than emigration. Nothing, even to a country as welcoming, friendly and instantly recognisable to a South African as New Zealand is.
     
8. Industry Licensing - from 4 May 2009 all NZ based immigration advisers must be licensed under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007. It is an offence from that date to provide advice to anyone if you do not hold a license. Overseas based advisers have until May 2010 to get their licenses. I cannot state strongly enough that as licensed advisers we are held to an incredibly strict code of conduct by the Immigration Advisers Authority and to lose our license through a client complaint will see our businesses destroyed. Those seeking a new life here owe it to themselves and their children to get good advice. Never has the incentive been greater. It is the migrant's responsibility to get that advice even if it means paying for it or they risk being asked to leave the country sometimes years after they have arrived.
   
   What has happened to the Labuschagne family is sad but it appears from what I know about this and similar cases that the outcome was inevitable from the time they arrived in NZ a few years ago. That they didn't know it is awful but temporary work permits are temporary work permits - they offer no guarantee of permanent residence or a stay beyond the initial validity of that permit.