New Zealand has made what can arguably be considered the most dramatic changes to its immigration policy in a decade when the New Zealand Immigration Service increased requirements that immigrants coming to New Zealand for economic/employment reasons have a clear prospect of employment. The aim of this is to avoid having highly qualified immigrants in low-level, low-paid jobs. Approximately 24,000 potential immigrants arrive in New Zealand annually under the general skills category, and 20,000 applications are pending.
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Australia and New Zealand Immigration News
Items tagged with "Australia and New Zealand Immigration News":
A report on immigration to Australia figures has been published in Australia showing that Immigration has been rising in comparison to previous years. Net migration was 136,000 in 2000-01, and 134,000 in 2001-02. Net migration included, for 2000-2001, 80,600 settler immigrants and 13,800 refugees, plus 93,000 longer-terms arrivals, including those on work visas of one year or more.
From 7 October 2002, the points required for a passmark in the General Skills Category will be 30. The change is being made in order to manage the 2002-2003 New Zealand Immigration Programme.
On October 1 the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMIA) in Australia has taken the decision to remove certain IT skills from the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL)
People seeking to migrate to Australia on the basis of their work skills receive points if their nominated occupation is on the MODL, which is current at the time their application is assessed (not when their application is lodged).
Effective October 1, 2002, the ACS has implemented new guidelines for IT Professionals applying for a standard skills assessment or RPL assessment for the purposes of migration to Australia.
Major changes to the requirements for the qualifications and skills of IT Professionals to be assessed as "suitable" for migration include the following:
Due to ever-increasing migration applications for New Zealand, the New Zealand Immigration Service has again increased the current pass mark for General Skills migration visas from 28 to 29 for the month of September. The changes come into effect on 7 September 2002.
This is the second time that the Government has given short notice of changes. It ended the practise of a month's warning after previous changes in January led to a flood of applications prior to their implementation. Now the pass mark is reviewed monthly and changes implemented in a week.