Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

More than 3000 highly skilled British citizens have pre-registered to attend the Opportunities New Zealand Expo held in London later this month. The Expo brings together New Zealand employers and experienced professionals who are dedicated to moving to New Zealand.

Over 200 New Zealanders from 40 businesses and organizations such as Statistics New Zealand, Teach NZ and Opus and will head to London to recruit skilled British and expatriate workers.

Australia's immigration department has announced that Bangladesh and Australia have signed a work and holiday agreement, allowing young professionals to work in each other's countries.

University-trained Australian and Bangladeshi travellers aged between 18 and 30 will be able to work and holiday for up to 12 months.

Australia's Remote Area Planning and Development Board has launched a project to create awareness and improve access to skilled migration options.

It has also established an online questionnaire for employers record and track vacancies. The information is also used to link potential employees with regional employers. One of the questions asks if the employer would be willing to hire a suitably-qualified immigrant.

Board manager David Arnold says both the public and private sectors are having extreme difficulty filling some positions.

Skilled migrants to Australia will soon be able to sponsor same sex partners to come to Australia, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said.

She said citizens and permanent residents can currently sponsor same sex partners to migrate to Australia but skilled migrants were not offered the same provisions. She said this soon would be changed so skilled migrants could include same sex partners on their visa application.

The New Zealand Department of Labour has announced it will be hunting for skilled workers willing to move to New Zealand. The recruitment campaign will take place at CeBIT, the world's largest information and communications technology (ICT) trade fair, which takes place in Hanover in mid-March. The New Zealand pavilion will showcase innovative local technologies, as well as promoting the New Zealand lifestyle and providing practical migration information and employer contacts.

New Zealand had a seasonally adjusted gain of 550 long-term and permanent migrants in January, Statistics New Zealand said on March 1.

The net migration gain compared with a gain of 1180 in December.

On an actual, unadjusted basis, arrivals exceeded departures by 1700, unchanged from a year earlier, the government agency said. There were 300 fewer permanent departures as well as 300 fewer permanent arrivals than in January 2005.