Australian Immigration News July 2009

Upcoming Australian Immigration Seminars

Singapore:

Malaysia: (Australia and New Zealand)

Myer will be presenting seminars in Malaysia on Tuesday 7 July at the Le Meridien Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

South Africa:

Myer will be presenting seminars in South Africa as follows :

Working In Australia – Changes To The 457 Work Visa Program

The Government recently announced changes to the subclass 457 visa program in order to ensure that it continues to provide industry with needed skills, while not undermining local training and employment opportunities.

The 457 visa program plays an important role in the Australian economy. It is a temporary visa program entirely driven by employer demand for skills that are not available in Australia. It allows employers to access the skills they need, with the overseas workers then returning home when those skills are no longer required, unless they have obtained Permanent Residence while in Australia. The subclass 457 visa may be granted for up to four years and is a multiple re-entry visa for the duration of the visa. An application for a 457 visa is split into three separate and distinct applications:-

a. Sponsorship Approval Application – This is an application whereby the employer applies for approval to act as a sponsor. Part of this application includes the employer having to show that it is a substantial business, capable of paying the employee's salary, has a successful track record and has a policy of training local staff;

b. Nomination Application – The employer must nominate the employee for a particular occupation. That occupation must be on a list that is prescribed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship from time to time. The gross salary payable must not be less that approximately $46,000 per annum and approximately $62,000.00 per annum for certain IT occupations.

c. Visa Application – This application is the employee's visa application. As well as satisfying the health and character requirements, the employee must satisfy all of the visa requirements including that he or she is qualified by way of qualifications and/or work experience to fill the nominated occupation.

If the visa applicant has a spouse and/or children, they are included in the application and may also work and/or study in Australia.

Changes to the 457 Visa Program from 1 July 2009

1. The indexation of the minimum salary level (MSL) for all new and existing 457 visa holders by 4.1% on 1 July 2009, in line with all employees' total earnings last year as reported by the ABS. This ensures that the wages of overseas workers keep pace with local wages.

2. The implementation of a market based minimum salary for all new and existing 457 visa holders from mid September 2009, to ensure overseas workers are not exploited and local wages and conditions are not undermined.

3. Increasing the existing minimum language requirement from 4.5 IELTS to 5 IELTS for 457 visa applicants in trade occupations and chefs, to address concerns about the exploitation of workers from non-English speaking countries and align the 457 visa English language standard with the permanent sponsored visa for trades' occupations.

4. Progressively introducing formal skills assessment from 1 July 2009 for 457 visa applicants from high risk immigration countries in trade occupations and chefs.

5. Introducing a requirement that employers seeking access to the 457 visa program have a strong record of, or demonstrated commitment to, employing local labour and non-discriminatory employment practices. This will help address concerns that some employers may discriminate against local labour in hiring overseas workers.

6. The development of training benchmarks to clarify the existing requirement on employers to demonstrate a commitment to training local labour.

7. The extension of the labour agreement pathway to all ASCO 5-7 occupations, to ensure that employers using the 457 visa program to access these occupations satisfy obligations on local training and employment.

These measures were developed through 2008 in response to concerns about the integrity of the 457 visa program, at a time when the demand for skills was high and the program was growing strongly.

In the six months to December 2008 the number of 457 visa applications were running at historically high levels, with an average 700 primary visa applications a week lodged by people offshore seeking to come to Australia on a 457 visa.

The slow down in the Australian economy in the wake of the global financial crisis and the subsequent decline in demand for 457 visas, has not diminished the need to implement these measures and restore public confidence in the program.

The first three months of 2009 has seen on average 430 primary visa applications a week lodged by people offshore seeking to come to Australia on a 457 visa. This shows that the program is responding to the changing economic circumstances.

These measures represent fundamental and long-term improvements to the 457 visa program so WATCH THIS SPACE!!!.

The 7 Year Australian Insurance Policy

Let's face it, not everybody is ready to pick up their bags and move to Australia straightaway! For whatever reason, be it personal, family, economic or otherwise, right now may not be the time to leave your home country and move halfway across the world to Australia.

It is like life insurance -- when you most need it, you cannot afford it and when you least need it, you can afford it. Similarly, right now you may not be ready, willing or able to migrate to Australia, but you meet the requirements now; whereas, in a few years, you may be ready willing and able to move to Australia, but you don't meet the requirements – and then it is too late!!!

Australia is one of the few countries that allows such a large timeframe between the time a Visa is granted and the time the Visa expires, which allows the migrant a great degree of flexibility. Most other countries expect their migrants to move to their country within 12 months of the grant of a Visa -- so why not take advantage of this flexibility if you can?

General Skilled Migration (GSM) is the largest program within the Australian migration policy. Approximately 2/3 of all migrants to Australia use GSM to gain Australian permanent residence.

So where does The7 Year Insurance Policy come in?

For the purposes of this article, I have divided the GSM application process into three stages:

· Skills Assessment Application

· Visa Application

· Landing or Settling-in phase

Skills Assessment Application

Before you can lodge an application for permanent residence under GSM, you must first have a skills assessment for your nominated occupation. Each occupation has an assessing body that looks at your qualifications and/or work experience to determine whether they are comparable to an Australian standard.

On average, skills assessment applications take between 2 to 3 months to be processed and finalised.

Visa Application

The period of time from the date your Visa application is lodged at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), to the time the Visa is granted, depends on a number of factors including where your application fits in to the priority processing procedures followed by DIAC.

On average, Visa applications can take anywhere from 8 to 18 months to be processed and finalised.

Landing or Settling-in phase

Generally, once your permanent residence Visa has been granted, you have a period of 12 months from the date of your medical examinations to land or settle-in, in Australia. This means you have to enter Australia, and once you have cleared customs and immigration, you can depart and go back to your home country. (Of course you can stay permanently if you choose). Your permanent residence Visa is valid for a period of 5 years from the day that it was granted; which means you do not have to live in Australia during that time but can remain in your home country until the Visa is about to expire.

If you add up all of the time frames above, you will see that from the date you lodge your skills assessment application to the date your 5 year Visa expires, is on average approximately 7 years (sometimes less and sometimes more). Thus, The 7 Year GSM Insurance Policy.

It's like winning the Lotto - if you don't have a ticket, you can't win the jackpot.

In immigration terms, if you don't apply when you qualify, you can't get a permanent residence Visa.

The Moral of the story is therefore to apply now if you meet the requirements as the rules may change tomorrow or you may no longer meet the requirements!

Act now before it is too late.

Melbourne Third Most Liveable City

I have since moving to Melbourne last year been telling friends, family and those attending our immigration seminars that Melbourne is the best city in the world only to be proven a liar by a recent survey that ranked us as the third most liveable city in the world.

The survey was conducted by the economist intelligence unit's liveability poll which ranked cities on five factors: healthcare, stability, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Melbourne ranked the highest of any Australian city coming third in the poll. 140 cities were scrutinized for their liveability and Australian cities held three of the top 10 spots. Perth was equal fifth with Calgary in Canada, Sydney shared 9th place with Zürich in Switzerland and Adelaide was in 11th place and Brisbane 16^th in the list.

The only two cities considered more "liveable" then Melbourne were Vancouver in Canada and Vienna is in 2nd place followed by Melbourne, Toronto, Perth, Calgary, Helsinki and Geneva. Clearly weather was not a major consideration in the survey otherwise Melbourne would have leapfrogged above Vancouver and Vienna!

Some of our clients in South Africa might be interested to read that Johannesburg was 92nd and at the very bottom rung of the ladder is Harare.

But That's Not All

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.

Comparative Analysis Of New Zealand Versus Australia Immigration Policy

As I am licensed to provide immigration advice in both New Zealand and Australia I'm often asked the question as to which country it's easier to immigrate to and as my fellow director Colin Adno is fond of saying it's easier to qualify in the country in which you meet the immigration policy.

To the uninitiated this may sound axiomatic however if one were to adopt this viewpoint one would assume that the settings of immigration policy achieve the desired outcomes and this is far from the case.

The architects of immigration policy seem to exist in a state of flux fluctuating between designing an objective set of policy criteria [so as not to give the decision-makers too much discretion] and allowing the decision-makers freedom to make common sense decisions that will provide good immigration outcomes.

The architects always seem to favour a model of objective criteria versus common sense decision making. Probably to avoid accusations of inconsistency in decision-making. The more objective the criteria for decision-making the greater the propensity for absurd decisions. At Immagine we are fond of espousing three golden rules:

1. Assume nothing

2. Suspend all logic

3. Just when you understand the rules they change them.

Having said all of the above the major differences between Australia and New Zealand's immigration policy seemed to be as follows:

Age

New Zealand -- age limit of 55 for skilled migrant category whereas Australia has a cut-off age of 44 for the skilled category

New Zealand -- no age limit for long-term business visa's but Australia has a cut-off age of 44 for non sponsored business visas and 54 for state sponsored business visas

English language requirement

New Zealand -- compulsory

Australia -- compulsory but also adds points depending upon levels of proficiency

Family members

New Zealand -- under New Zealand's skilled migrant category the definition of family members tends to be more narrow than Australia and having family in New Zealand counts for a lot less than under the Australian skilled migration model. Family members in the Australian model can be as distant as first cousins and family members play a greater role often reducing the required pass mark by 20 points equating to a 16.6% lower threshold that needs to be met than for those without family members.

Money

New Zealand's business category [long-term business visa] does not require any specific amount of start-up capital. Once one has operated the business for a period of two years on long-term business visa one can apply for permanent residence under the entrepreneur category with a relatively low requirement that the business must be benefiting New Zealand and profitable or capable of becoming profitable.

Australia on the other hand only allows certain types of applicants such as business owners, senior executives, senior managers and investors to apply for a business visa and certain thresholds must be met in terms of an applicant's business background [often factors such as the turnover of the business, size of business and position occupied are of fundamental importance in determining who is eligible to apply for the provisional visa.

The Australian provisional visa is issued for a period of four years [as opposed to the three year period in New Zealand] but then the threshold for obtaining permanent residence once the business has been operated for two years in Australia is often higher with minimum requirements as to turnover, the value of assets and staff members coming into play.

Returning residence visas

One can qualify for an indefinite returning residence visa in New Zealand enabling applicants who have spent as little as 12 months in New Zealand since a residence permit has been issued to qualify for an indefinite returning residence visa allowing them to live overseas for an indefinite period of time but always return to New Zealand as a resident permit holder.

In Australia returning residence visas are issued for a period of five years. Extensions are obtainable by living in Australia for a period of two years within that 5 year period or alternatively having close ties to Australia. These returning residence visas are only issued for five years at a time.

Conclusion

A man once asked Abraham Lincoln how long a man's legs should be. I don't know what prompted the question but Abraham Lincoln's answer of "long enough to reach the ground" was eloquent in its simplicity. As to whether it's easier to meet New Zealand versus Australia immigration policy very much depends upon the parameters of the policy and the attributes of the applicant.

The Australian Economy

The World Bank recently released a fairly gloomy report expecting the global economy to shrink by nearly 3% for the 2009 year. It appears from the global development finance report that the developed world will be hardest hit by the global financial crisis. Amongst it's predictions were that global Gross Domestic Product will contract by 2.9% this year. This is more severe than the International Monetary Funds forecast of a contraction of 1.3%.

As far as 2010 is concerned the World Bank is forecasting a modest recovery with the world economy expected to grow by 2%.

Australian House Prices

So far this year Melbourne house prices have increased the fastest in Australia jumping 6.1% in the 5 month period from January to May.

This is especially depressing news for those, like myself, seeking to purchase property in Melbourne. In comparison to the decrease in property prices in New Zealand and South Africa it felt as if the market barely softened towards the latter portion of last year when the global financial crisis was at its most virulent.

Property prices in the whole country continue to rise except for Perth who suffered a .5% decrease. The rest of the country's price increases were as follows:

Adelaide: 0.5%

Canberra: 2.1%

Brisbane: 2.6%

Sydney: 5.2%

Darwin: 5.1%

Melbourne: 6.1%

Nationwide Australia's house prices increased by 3.9% for the period.  In part this is largely due to the First Home Buyers Grant and the most dramatic price rises have been away from the inner city suburbs (which tend to be the more pricey).

Australian Immigration Blog

We have recently created an Australian Immigration Blog on our website where we will be regularly posting articles of interest to migrants.  Posts will include articles on changes to Australian Immigration Policy and the impact on migrants, life in Australia  for migrants and much more – check it out and please don't hesitate to ask questions or seek clarification on any of the posts.

http://www.immagine-immigration.com/australian-immigration-blog/