Immigration news

Media release from the Australian government, 23 March 2004.

The Australian Government recently announced that it will introduce a new visa for skilled migrants who are prepared to live and work in regional Australia.

From 1 July 2004, eligible people who want to come to Australia as skilled migrants will be able to obtain a three-year temporary residence visa (Temporary Skilled-Independent Regional Migration Visa) if they commit to living and working in regional Australia.

After two years, they will be able to apply for permanent residency.

More people travelling to the United States as visitors will be subjected to systematic fingerprinting and getting their photograph taken in the wake of tougher new border control laws. These rules will come into effect in September and will apply to visitors from 27 countries, most of which have close ties to the US.

Currently the majority of these countries are part of the visa-waiver scheme and their nationals are considered non-visa nationals. This means that nationals of most of these countries do not require any type of visa to enter the US for less than 90 days at a time.

Today the Australian Government announced an increase in the pass mark for the General Skilled-Independent visa category for migration to Australia from 115 to 120 points. This will increase the skills of migrants who intend to come and work in Australia on a permanent basis. The last time the pass mark was increased was in July 2002, from 110 to 115 points.

This change is intended both to increase the skills and the numbers of migrants coming to Australia and will in particular try to attract migration to regional Australia.

Home Secretary David Blunkett has announced the suspension of all immigration applications from Romania and Bulgaria as the Government launches an inquiry to investigate claims that certain cases, some potentially false, had been pushed through to clear backlogs in the already clogged system.

The Government seems to be in trouble after the British Consul in Bucharest blew the whistle on what was referred to as "seriously lax controls" which possibly allowed Romanian and Bulgarian migrants to enter the UK with false papers.

The Home Office has announced that because the quota of 10,000 SBS Hospitality sector work permits has almost been reached, the programme will temporarily be suspended from today. Any applications that are submitted to the Home Office will not be accepted and will be returned to the applicant with the fee.

The Food Manufacturing sector of the SBS programme is not affected by this particular quota and will remain open.

The joint standing committee on migration has proposed that the age limit of 45 should be removed on skilled migration applications for Australia. Currently, migration legislation is such that no one over the age of 45 can apply for residency in Australia under the General Skilled categories.