Almost two decades after fleeing persecution in Afghanistan for a new life in Australia, Melbourne resident Reza* still hasn't stopped looking over his shoulder.

“This [tension] is in our mind because the Department of Immigration [now known as the Department of Home Affairs], they do not give us citizenship,” he told SBS News.

“We thinking maybe one day they send us back to Afghanistan.”

The Hazara man (an ethnic group native to Hazarajat in central Afghanistan) was granted permanent residency by Australia in 2010, has been waiting more than three years to learn if he can take an oath of allegiance to his adopted home.

“I wish for that; that one day I am Australian citizen,” Reza, now aged in his 40s, said.
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While almost 13,000 migrants attended Australia Day citizenship ceremonies across the country on Friday, others shared Reza’s predicament.

Delayed cases increase 450 per cent

An 18-month investigation by the Commonwealth Ombudsman, released in December, found the number of people subject to heightened identity checks and waiting more than two years on the outcome of a “citizenship by conferral” application - such as former refugees - had skyrocketed 450 per cent.

This increase - a jump from 338 cases requiring enhanced screening in November 2016 to almost 2000 by the middle of last year - was despite an overall drop in the number of complex applications awaiting a decision, the ombudsman found.

Citizenship by conferral is a stream open to permanent residents who satisfy a range of criteria, pass a citizenship test and take part in a citizenship ceremony.


As of early January, there were 167,820 outstanding conferral applications, 5680 of which were more than two years old.


The ombudsman's investigation focused on those subject to "enhanced screening and integrity checks" due to background factors such as country of origin, an "irregular" arrival or due to any changes made to personal information.


The oldest of these case had been “on hand” for more than four years, according to the report. This compared to the department’s “service standard” for processing most cases of just 80 days.


“In early 2016, the Commonwealth Ombudsman started to experience an increase in complaints from people awaiting decisions on their citizenship applications for more than a year, and sometimes over two years,” the December report said.


“In the past year and a half, we have received approximately 300 complaints about delays by the department."

FOR FULL STORY PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW:
www.sbs.com.au/news/road-to-citizenship-gets-longer-for-demonised-applicants

With the parliamentary year set to begin in just over a week, the Turnbull government will have a second go at passing legislation to make it harder to officially become an Australian citizen.

The Senate killed off proposed citizenship changes late last year but the government has not given up hope of getting revised measures through parliament in the first half of 2018.

The new roll-out date for the changes is 1 July.

"We've made a couple of changes based on the feedback we've received, and off the back of those changes, we hope that it will go through the parliament," Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge told SBS News this week.

"This bill is designed to ensure that new citizens have every chance to seize the great opportunities which Australia has to offer, but they'll only be able to seize those opportunities if they have a basic understanding of English and if they're integrated into the community."

Crossbench negotiations

The Turnbull government's plans were first announced in April 2017. They included making permanent residents wait four years instead of one to apply for citizenship and requiring them to pass a university-level English language test.

Tony Burke, Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia, told SBS News: "As long as the government is bringing back a proposal that is deliberately designed to prevent people who would make good Australians from ever becoming citizens, then Labor's going to stand opposed to it." 

"People approach me about citizenship more than any other issue and they say the fact that legislation was defeated has given them hope," he said.

What about those already in the queue?

Without support in parliament, the government has admitted it will need to make concessions to pass the legislation. Until then, all applications will continue to be assessed under the current requirements.
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The crucial Nick Xenophon Team voting block has told SBS News it will not budge unless the government promises to re-model its proposal so that it does not affect migrants who are 'already in the queue' and have obtained permanent residency.

FOR FULL STORY PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW:
www.sbs.com.au/news/turnbull-government-eyes-off-citizenship-changes-for-first-half-of-2018

​As part of certain points-based visa applications made to the Department of Home Affairs, individuals who pass the NAATI Credentialed Community Language Test can claim Credentialed Community Language (CCL) points (sometimes referred to as the ‘five bonus points’).
For more details please follow this link….
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Michael Pascoe

The 457 visa for temporary workers won’t be officially abolished until March 1, but the number granted has already fallen by more than a third – heralding a squeeze on foreign workers by the coalition.
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Australian National University researcher Henry Sherrell has foundthe number of primary 457 visas granted in the 2017 September quarter was down by 35.7 per cent on the same period of 2016.

​Eight of the top 10 occupations for primary 457 visas saw significant double-digit declines.  Photo: Arsineh Houspian

And the dive was not because some jobs – most famously, “goat farmer” – have been ruled ineligible. In a paper published by the Parliamentary Library, the ANU Development Policy Centre research officer reports only a fifth of the decline in 457s came from the scrapped occupations.


Eight of the top 10 occupations for primary 457 visas had significant double-digit declines. Developer programmers were down by 42 per cent to 350 in the quarter, ICT business analysts plunged 49 per cent to 238, resident medical officers dropped 18 per cent to 436 and the top 457 job, cook, was off 29 per cent to 452.


Given the near-record employment growth last year, the sharp reduction in 457s appears to have nothing to do with demand for labour, but a response by employers and would-be employees to hiring and gaining permanent residency being made more difficult and expensive.
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The size of the fall and the breadth of occupations to experience it during a period of very fast employment growth should raise some interesting questions about the nature of the Australian workforce and how 457s have been used.

The Australian Taxation Office will investigate more than 20 million international visa holders and foreign students using data-matching audits to catch tax avoidance and enforce superannuation compliance, the agency said on Sunday.

The three-year data matching audit will cross-reference information from the Australian government's Home Affairs Department with Australian Tax Office records.

"It is estimated that records of 20 million individuals will be obtained over the course of the three-year period," the ATO confirmed with Reuters on Sunday.

"These records will be electronically matched with ATO data holdings to identify non-compliance with obligations under taxation and superannuation laws."

Information on visa holders, foreign students, their sponsors, education providers and migration agents will be reviewed along with address records, travel movements and visa lodgments over financial years from 2017-18 and 2019-20.
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If any discrepancies are found, the individual will have 28 days to respond to a request for information before administrative action is taken, said the ATO.

See Link for full story:
amp.smh.com.au/money/tax/australian-tax-office-to-audit-20-million-foreign-visa-holders-20180121-h0lpeg.html

Happy New Year everyone!! 

I hope you all had a relaxing break over the holidays. 
As I’m sure you are aware last year was a difficult time for many people wanting to apply for visas in Australia. Changes to many types of visas have made it very difficult for most people to find an option to stay. Below I have outlined some of the changes in summary form. 

Updated Occupation Lists

Updates to the occupation lists for temporary and permanent skilled visas took effect today 17 January 2018.

Good news for the three occupations below, which were previously unavailable on either list, will be added to the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL)

• Property Manager
• Psychotherapist
• Real Estate Representative

Good news for the two occupations below as they will be moved from the STSOL to the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL): 

• Horse Breeder
• Management Consultant

Bad news for the two occupations listed below will be completely removed from the lists of eligible skilled occupations for all skilled visa programs on 17 January 2018.

• Building Associate    
• Hair or Beauty Salon Manager

​Also new/amended requirements (caveats) for employer sponsors visa will apply for a number of other occupations. Including a minimum salary of $90,000 base for Recruitment Consultants to be sponsored.  

For more information please click on the link below:
 
Summary of 17 January 2018 changes to the lists of eligible skilled occupations
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457s to be refused if incomplete

• The subclass 457 processing network is implementing a revised approach regarding managing incomplete applications to reduce processing times for complete applications.
• These new arrangements will commence on 15 January 2018 and will involve refusing applications assessed as not meeting a legislative requirement at the initial assessment stage. 

New Temporary Skills Shortage Visa (TSS) is coming!!

The new TSS visa is being introduced in March 2018. There will be 3 streams available. 

• Short-term stream – this is for employers to source genuine temporary overseas skilled workers in occupations included on the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) for a maximum of two years.

 

• Medium-term stream – this is for employers to source highly skilled overseas workers to fill medium-term critical skills in occupations included on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) for up to four years, with eligibility to apply for permanent residence after three years

 

• Labour Agreement stream – this is for employers to source overseas skilled workers in accordance with a labour agreement with the Commonwealth, on the basis of a demonstrated need that cannot be met in the Australian labour market and standard visa programs are not available, with the capacity to negotiate a permanent residence option.

Transition from subclass 457 to TSS

• Employers who are already approved standard business sponsors for subclass 457 will be able to sponsor skilled overseas workers under the TSS visa program.
• If subclass 457 nomination and visa applications are both lodged prior to TSS implementation, they will be processed under the current framework.
• If a subclass 457 nomination application is lodged without an associated 457 visa application being lodged before the commencement of TSS, it will, however, effectively become 'redundant' as subclass 457 nominations cannot be linked to TSS visa applications, even where the nomination has already been approved.

Permanent Visa Changes for March 2018 (ENS 186/RSMS 187)
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• the nominee's occupation will need to be on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) unless their employer is in a regional area, in which case additional occupations will be available or transitional arrangements apply.
• Employers will be required to pay the Australian market salary rate and meet Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) requirements. (currently $53,900/year)
• the eligibility period for the Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream will be extended from two to three years
• at least three years' work experience relevant to the particular occupation will be required
• under 45 years at time of application
• sponsors will be required to pay a contribution to the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) at nomination stage
• Note if you held (or lodged) a 457 visa before 18 April 2017 you may be still eligible to apply for PR through the transitional arrangements. 

My thoughts
 
Lets hope these drastic changes do not affect the long-term health of the West Australian economy. The effects of the removal of the RSMS visa from Perth last March has dramatically reduced students desire to stay in WA. The changes above will again limit their ability to gain residency in Australia.  Many overseas students I have spoken to are now starting to move to other states and some are looking to leave Australia permanently to study in other countries such as Canada.  Australia is a fantastic country that has grown on the back of always welcoming overseas migrants.  My hope is that when the government starts to see the financial effects on the economy of these changes they will be forced to introduce more options for people to stay and call Australia home.
 
That’s all for now.
 
If you have any questions related to the changes please do not hesitate to get in touch.
 
Andrew EP McAuley
andrew@visamakers.com.au
0416 468 333
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