Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

New Zealand's immigration department announced they will grant foreign entertainment industry workers easier access to New Zealand work visas if they are working for less than 14 days; It will not be necessary to seek the consent of local unions or guilds in this situation.

Australian immigration from 1 July 2012 will be introducing significant changes to their skilled migration program. If you wish to come under the current skilled immigration programme you should apply for a skills assessment as soon as possible. You need to be ready with your skills assessment and, have passed the English language test before you can submit your immigration application.

Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman announced a significant government investment in Immigration New Zealand's IT system will help attract more skilled immigrants and boost security.Coleman said the New Zealand government would be contributing NZ$75 million towards the new IT system.

The Australia Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) announced they will perform an evaluation of the Professional Year visa program in 2011-2012. The evaluation will assess if the Professional Year visa is achieving its original objectives and also identify potential improvements to the immigration program.

The Australian government has announced this week that more international students will be eligible for the Post-Study work visa as part of the Australian government's response to the Knight Review of the student visa program.

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen will push to increase Australia's refugee intake by almost 50 percent at Australia Labor Party's national conference this weekend. Under Bowen's proposal, Australian immigration would allow more refugees to reside in Australia, increasing the current figure of 13,750 to as many as 20,000 people annually."I have had the view for some time that we could and should take more refugees," he told ABC Radio on Thursday.