News (displaying articles: " tagged diac")

As SkillSelect has been in place for a full migration year, running from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013, we now have a significant amount of information on how the program has been working in practice to assist us in advising potential applicants.

The Australian government delivered its budget for the next fiscal year last week and one of the main announcements was the expansion of the next year's skilled migration program.

Applications for skilled migration to Australia are currently categorised into one of five priority groups. Each group has an associated processing timeframe set as per a Directive drawn up by the minister for immigration and citizenship, Chris Bowen. The application will then wait in that priority group until it is allocated to a case officer, who will then begin assessment of the information and documents provided.

Applications for skilled migration to Australia are currently categorised into one of three priority groups, each with an associated processing timeframe set as per a Directive drawn up by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. The application will sit in that priority group until it is allocated to a case officer, who will begin assessment of the information and documents provided.

Australian Immigration Report 2011: The Year That Was

As of 1 August 2011, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) have classified the UK and Ireland, along with 12 other countries, as places where anyone applying for an Australian visa that is part of the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program must submit their health assessments electronically. This must be done using the Department’s 'eHealth' system. eHealth will be mandatory for all applications, with the only exceptions being for employer sponsored visas (ie. subclasses 457, 119 and 121).

It seems that DIAC are putting the fees up for a number of visa subclasses from 1 July, 2011. They have stated that many visas will have their application fees go up by 15%.

We have been waiting for 1 July, 2010 to bring us changes to the General Skilled Migration (GSM) Australian visa process for some time. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) have previously implied that the changes we have been waiting for, primarily concerning the new form of state sponsorship called State Migration Plans, would be revealed today. As reported earlier, the State Migration Plans have yet to be released. Despite this, some changes have taken place today that I think are worth bringing to the attention of the many visa applicants in need of information.

A hot topic of discussion amongst Australian visa applicants and migration agents alike has been the Migration Amendment (Visa Capping) Bill 2010. This controversial bill has flown under the radar of most media outlets, but has the potential to be the most unfair and destructive item of legislation ever introduced to the Australian migration system.

For South Australia's manager of General Skilled Migration (GSM), Ann Johnson, to open a seminar by requesting that everyone "leave your guns at the door" is a fairly strong indication of the current mindset held by the many frustrated migration agents in attendance. It's also a reminder that it's not the Australian States and Territories who are responsible for the many changes made by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

After last week's announcement from DIAC that they would be suspending the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program, we knew that the changes would impact every level of the Australian immigration process; the only question was how quickly other immigration stakeholders would react and whether they'd follow DIAC's lead and suspend their activities for the timebeing.

The Australian Government has today announced that they will not accept applications for offshore general skilled visas, with this unprecedented measure taking effect from midnight 7 May, 2010. The temporary suspension will the remain in place until the end of the current program year on 30 June, 2010.

Upon the announcement of the most recent wave of Australian visa changes, it was announced that the Australian government would be replacing the current Skilled Occupation List (SOL) with "a more targeted list of occupations to better meet the medium and long-term future skill needs of the Australian economy."

With the world of Australian immigration so tumultuous as of late, the opportunity to communicate directly with the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) is always one we're happy to take advantage of. That's why we welcomed the invitation to yesterday's Migration Agents Forum held at the Australian High Commission in London, an event held to give registered migration agents in the UK the chance to engage with senior members of DIAC.

State Migration Plans are set to be a key part of the Australian General Skilled Migration (GSM) program, but there remains little information as to exactly what they will be and how they will work. When the Australian immigration changes were announced on 9 February, 2010, it was said that 'state migration plans are developed by State/Territory governments and include occupations that are in demand in each individual state and territory. Each state migration plan is approved by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.'

More than 2 million viewers tuned in last week for the first episode of Phil Spencer’s new programme, Relocation: Phil Down Under.

Even in the ever-changing world of Australia immigration, it's still generally accepted that upon being requested bt your Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) case officer to submit health and character checks, you're in the final stages of having your Australian visa application finalised and potentially just a month or two away from being ready to migrate.

While the scheduled MODL review has yet to be announced, 2010 has still already been an eventful year for migration updates made by various departments and bodies that are set to have a lasting impact on the Australian immigration process. Today, I'll look at changes made to the application fees associated with some aspects of emigrating to Australia.

In an unexpected, and unannounced, Christmas present from the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) new legislation has been made regarding Australian skilled migration that will be implemented from 1 January 2010.

Good news could finally be on the horizon for a number of the skilled Australia visa applicants caught by the processing changes made on 23 September, 2009. An announcement is yet to be made, but there are now strong indications from the Department of Immigration of Citizenship (DIAC) that certain offshore State/Territory Sponsored skilled visa applicants in non-Critical Skills List occupations are going to be processed in the next few months.