Posted in Immigration News, tagged (the 'Regulations'), 1 July, 1 July 2009, 1994, 5 year, access, amended, Amendments, announced, application, Applications, associated, Assurance of Support (AoS), Australia, Benefits, bond., broader, category, circumstances, clearly, community, compelling, Contributory, Contributory Parent category visa., Contributory Parent Visa, Contributory Parent visas, costs, costs of parent migration, DIAC, existing, fiancé, financially, five years, Government’s, granted., immediately, immigration, included, initial, intent, legislation, legislative change., migration, Migration Regulations 1994, obtaining, offset, order, Parent, Parent migrants, partially, partner, payment, people, permanent, planning, policy, potential, prevent, prohibited, Prospective Marriage visa, provision, reduce, regulations, related., relation, response, route, significant, split, sponsor, sponsoring their partner, spouse, strategy, ten year, two years, under, undermines, VAC, visa, visa (Subclasses 143 and 864), visa grant, visa holders on June 28, 2009|
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DIAC have just announced that the anyone obtaining their Contributory Parent Visa after 1 July and then planning to sponsor an existing partner will be faced with a potential 5 year wait. What this means, as an initial response, is that people going down that route who have not included an existing spouse in the application should be doing so immediately.
This is the text of the announcement:
Amendments to the Migration Regulations 1994 in relation to Contributory Parent visas and split applications
1 July 2009 Legislation Change
Client summary
From 1 July 2009, the Migration Regulations 1994 (the ‘Regulations’) are amended to prevent persons who are granted a permanent Contributory Parent category visa (Subclasses 143 and 864) from sponsoring their partner or fiancé for a Partner or Prospective Marriage visa for five years from the day of their visa grant, if they:
* were granted their permanent Contributory Parent category visa on or after 1 July 2009; and
* were in a spouse or de facto partner or fiancé relationship on or before the date their permanent Contributory Parent category visa was granted and now wish to sponsor that partner or fiancé.
This limitation may not apply in compelling circumstances which are not financially related.
Additional information:
There have been a number of instances in which couples seeking to migrate under the Contributory Parent category visa provisions have resorted to the split application strategy, whereby:
* only one member of a parent couple applies for and is granted a permanent Contributory Parent category visa; and
* once eligible (usually after two years of being lawfully resident in Australia), this parent subsequently sponsors their spouse (the other parent) under the partner visa category which has a much smaller Visa Application Charge (VAC).
Up until 1 July 2009, this strategy is not prohibited by migration legislation and it is being used in order to reduce the costs associated with migration under Contributory Parent category visa. However, it clearly undermines the Government’s policy intent of ensuring that those parents who migrate under the Contributory Parent visa category make a contribution by means of the VAC to partially offset the significant costs of parent migration to the broader community. Contributory Parent migrants are also subject to the provision of a ten year Assurance of Support (AoS) and payment of a bond.
Furthermore, those who lodge a split application benefit by by-passing the ten year waiting period for parent visa holders to access Government benefits and assistance, whilst spouse visa holders are able to access such benefits within two years of visa grant.
Amendments are being made to information products affected by this legislative change.
Source : http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=616147
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carers, legal guardians and independent students could get 50% back on some education expenses. This includes items like computers, educational software, textbooks and stationery.
All the latest NEWS from Perth 
Premier says WA needs skilled Chinese workers
Posted in Immigration News, tagged 2011, activity, allowances, Ansteel, Australian labour, Chevron's Gorgon LNG project, chinese, Chinese steel maker, Chinese workers, CITIC Pacific's Sino, Colin Barnett, conference in Perth, contemplates, deep water port, developing, expected, federal government, foreign, foreign worker, in 2011, include, iron, Iron project., labour shortages, major, massive, media, mill, Mr Barnett, natural gas, new, Oakajee, peak, perth, planned, Pluto Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, port, Premier, PREMIER Colin Barnett, Premier says, premier's comments, prevent, project, projects, relax, Resources, sector, severe, skill shortages, skilled, skilled worker, skilled workers, skills shortages, State, steel, trades, trades areas., viability, WA, WA needs, WA projects, WA's, WA's first steel mill., Woodside Petroleum Ltd's, work, Workers, yesterday on July 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »
PREMIER Colin Barnett may ask the Federal Government to relax foreign worker allowances to prevent labour shortages at major WA projects.
WA faces severe shortages of skilled workers in 2011, when there is expected to be peak activity in WA’s resources sector, Mr Barnett told a media conference in Perth yesterday.
The premier’s comments come as a large Chinese steel maker, Ansteel, contemplates the viability of developing WA’s first steel mill.
Other massive projects planned for the state include Woodside Petroleum Ltd’s Pluto Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, Chevron’s Gorgon LNG project, a new deep water port at Oakajee and CITIC Pacific’s Sino Iron project.
“I expect we will face serious skills shortages if these projects go together at the same time,” Mr Barnett said.
“Hopefully, we can build these projects with Australian labour but I expect there will be skill shortages, in particular trades areas.
“We need to be prepared to bring in some of their (Chinese) workers.”
Source : www.news.com.au
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