Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

The Council of Australian Governments has taken up the controversial issue of making more changes to visa and immigration laws to allow semi-skilled workers and guest workers to enter the country. Until now, Australia (along with its neighbour, New Zealand) have been aggressively competing with other w

Australia must increase its migrant intake to stop the economy from stagnating in coming years, a leading business information company says.

IBISWorld said that without more migration to offset the nation's aging population and low natural birthrate, the economy would suffer and key industries would lack sufficient staff.

Foreign workers are arriving in Australia at the rate of 158 a day.

More than 58,000 workers holding temporary skilled work visas arrived in Australia in the year to April, according to Immigration Department figures, The Australian reported.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has released the statistics for the first quarter of 2006. Generally, the aggressive program to recruit skilled workers and issue visas and work permits is successful. Businesses are reporting that they are experiencing far fewer vacancies than the record levels of a couple years ago.

A Senate committee has told Prime Minister John Howard to scrap his planned new immigration laws which would lock women and children in offshore detention centres.

The laws have sparked division in the government, with Liberal backbencher Judi Moylan telling a joint party meeting she was reserving her right to vote against the bill or abstain.

The 2006 Budget has included an additional NZ$16 million over four years to further increase border and security issues. New Zealand continues to aggressively recruit foreign workers for many skills, but has also taken advantage of its strong economy over the past years to evaluate and tighten visa and residency permit policy and implementation.