Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

A Work and Holiday (W&H) Visa arrangement between Australia and Thailand came into effect on 31 Aug.

The new arrangement means that 18 to 30 year-old Thai and Australian nationals who have already completed their university education will be eligible to apply for W&H visas for stays of up to 12 months in Australia or Thailand.

Workers on container ships will be subject to electronic clearance before arrival at Australian sea ports from March 2006, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone said on 1 Sept.

This represents yet another layer of security for arrivals by sea, to bring them to the same level of security as air arrivals.

A 10-year-old Iranian boy took legal action against the Australian government on 30 August. His lawyers say he was psychologically hurt by living in immigration detention camps. Shayan Badraie is suing the Immigration Department and two detention centre operators.

Shayan's legal team told the New South Wales Supreme Court that the government had failed to provide adequate care to the boy while he was in custody and he had developed post-traumatic stress as a result.

Immigration has come under political debate in New Zealand. New Zealand First says that the Labour and National Party's immigration policies have not ended skill shortages, and are keeping New Zealander's wages low. The First party says young people are leaving the country in search of higher wages, and unskilled workers immigrating to New Zealand are replacing them.

New Zealand First would drop the corporate tax rate from 33c to 30c in the dollar and raise the minimum wage from $9.50 an hour to $12.

Australian Immigration officials are facing possible legal action after being accused of contributing to the death of an elderly Syrian woman seeking to extend a visitor visa due to ill health. While visiting Australia from Lebanon, she had become increasingly frail and suffered from anaemia, diabetes and arthritis. Her family had hoped to extend her visitor visa, saying that she was too frail to travel home.

The New Zealand Government is trying to encourage its own expatriate New Zealanders to come home. More than 460,000 New Zealand-born citizens - or 14 per cent of the NZ-born population - live overseas. About 600 New Zealanders leave each week for Australia.