Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

As the unemployment rate falls in Australia, more and more Australian businesses are finding it difficult to fill vacancies. Many new job opportunities exist as a result of continuing economic growth in Australia.

Citizens of the UK will usually have an advantage when immigrating to Australia. Good English language skills will give you more points under the points based system for an Australian visa.

The net inflow of immigration to New Zealand has slowed down due to increasing departures from the country, mainly to Australia. However, immigration to and from New Zealand has overall resulted in a net gain to the population.

There is strong support for skilled migration among Australia's population, according to a new study commissioned by the Australian SBS Television Network.

According to the study, over 60 percent of Australian's favour diversity and feel that migrants enrich the Australian way of life.

In addition, six out of ten first generation migrants felt a sense of belonging to Australian society. For the second generation, the sense of belonging was much greater.

Australian educational institutions are welcoming changes to student visas announced by the federal government on 19 December 2010.

The education sector in Australia has been reeling in response to a sudden collapse in demand from international students. The education sector in Australia is a multi-billion dollar industry and depends heavily on international students, especially from India and China.

Australia plans to simplify their temporary work visa program by reducing the number of different visas available. The planned changes are a result of responses by key stakeholders to a discussion paper released by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

"The government has considered submissions made in response to the initial discussion paper and has drawn up its proposed model for visa simplification," said Immigration Minister Chris Bowen.

The Australian government has announced a review of the student visa program along with a set of measures intended to help Australia's international education sector.