Closure of the Capital Investment Scheme on 31 October 2009

From 31 October 2009, the South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA) has announced it will not accept any further applications from General Skilled Migration (GSM) applicants who wish to lodge a capital investment, as it will close the scheme.

Since the announcement of the reopening of the capital investment scheme by SAFA on 29 January 2009, the department has contacted all applicants whose cases had been assessed and who indicated they intended to lodge a capital investment.

Any applicants who have indicated on their application form that they intend to lodge a capital investment, but have not yet done so, are advised to finalise their capital investment before the scheme is closed.

Applicants who did not indicate on their application form that they intended to lodge a capital investment, but now wish to do so because they will be relying on the five bonus points to meet the Point Test, should also contact the department and finalise their capital investment before the scheme is closed.

This is the final opportunity for all pre 1 September 2007 GSM applicants to lodge a capital investment. As there will be no further capacity for applicants to make a capital investment to gain the bonus five (5) points, the department will not provide applicants any additional time to make a capital investment once the scheme offered by SAFA closes. Please note that this also applies to those applicants who have appealed to the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) and those applicants seeking judicial review.

Applicants who still intend to make a capital investment are strongly urged to do so before 31 October 2009.

Please note that only SAFA provides an approved designated security that enables an applicant for a pre-1 September 2007 GSM visa to be awarded bonus points for making a capital investment.

For more information  :  http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/capital-investment-scheme-faqs.htm

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Regulation of the Migration Advice Profession in Australia

Migration agents operating in Australia are required by law to be registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (Office of the MARA).

Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (Office of the MARA)

Prior to 1 July 2009, the MIA acted as the MARA under a Deed of Agreement between the MIA and the department. The 2007-08 Review of Statutory Self-Regulation of the Migration Advice Profession, which was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the regulatory scheme, recommended that the government consider establishing a regulatory body separate from the MIA.

In response to the review recommendation, the Minister announced the establishment of the Office of the MARA as a discrete office attached to the department and headed by a specifically designated senior officer solely responsible for Office of the MARA activities. The new body is located in Sydney and assumed functions from the MIA from 1 July 2009.

The Office of the MARA is supported by a representative advisory board, which includes a nominee from the MIA, a nominee from the Law Council of Australia, a consumer advocate and a community representative.

The Office of the MARA undertakes a range of functions including:

• processing registration and re-registration applications
• administering the profession’s entrance exam and continuing professional development program
• monitoring the conduct of registered migration agents
• investigating complaints about registered migration agents
• taking appropriate disciplinary action against registered migration agents who breach the migration agents Code of Conduct or otherwise behave in an unprofessional or unethical way.

See: Office of the MARA website

Source  :  http://www.immi.gov.au/gateways/agents/regulation-of-advice-profession.htm

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Australia work visa holders get wage increase

Effective from 1 July, people moving to Australia on a temporary skilled work visa will be entitled to a higher minimum salary.     

The minimum salary that must be paid by Australian employers taking on foreign workers holding a temporary skilled work visa (457 Subclass visa) has increased by 4.1 per cent. The increase brings the minimum salary in line with the rise average wages since the previous wages review of August last year. The 457 Subclass visa entitles Australia immigration workers for a period of between three months and four years.

In addition to the changes in minimum salaries, the English language ability standards for trades people moving to Australian were also adjusted on 1 July. Previously, trades people were required to demonstrate a ‘vocational’ level of English. Under the new regulations, they must be able to demonstrate a ‘competent’ level of English. This brings the trades, such as carpentry, bricklaying and cookery to the same level in terms of English requirements as the other occupations listed as ‘in demand’ by the Australian immigration authorities.

The Skilled Occupations List includes all the occupations that are suffering skills shortages in Australia. Trades included in this list include a wide variety of professions e.g. fitters, hairdressers, cabinetmakers, landscape gardeners, electricians and locksmiths.

Source  :  www.globalvisas.com

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Stamp duty on home loans under review

STAMP duty on housing loans could be abolished after the Henry tax review, which is likely to recommend states be given a share of income tax to make up the difference.

The most likely path to do this would be for the Commonwealth to give the states the ability to impose their own surcharge on income tax, which would be collected for them by the Australian Tax Office.

 The Henry review has been inundated with submissions calling for the end of stamp duty.

Tax economists argue that the tax on moving house, although easy to collect, leads to poor use of the housing stock and poor labour mobility, The Australian reports.Having to pay stamp duty not only discourages elderly people from moving to more appropriate accommodation, it also deters people from moving house to a better jobs market. 

At a conference conducted by the Henry tax review at the Melbourne Institute last week, both international and Australian tax economists said stamp duty should go, with Melbourne University professor John Freebairn describing the tax as “a piece of garbage”.

The review panel is being influenced by state submissions arguing that replacing stamp duty by extending other state taxes, such as payroll tax or land tax, would be too difficult to implement nationally.

Tasmanian Treasury secretary Don Challen, who is close to the inquiry’s head, federal Treasury secretary Ken Henry, told last week’s conference that reform of state taxes would succeed only with leadership from the national government.                                                                                                                                                     

“If you want to achieve a difficult reform, you’ve got to make it a national one,” Mr Challen said.

He said it would be too hard to win political consensus to extend land or payroll taxes.

“It requires eight lots of political commitment and eight lots of legislation and that path is doomed to failure,” he said.

However, he said he believed states would be willing to act on stamp duty if the commonwealth provided an avenue for alternative revenue.

The idea of giving states a cut of income tax was pressed two years ago by the OECD, which suggested the states “piggy-back” on income tax. The OECD also urged states to drop stamp duty.

One of the world’s leading experts on federal taxes, Canada’s Richard Bird, said the states were heading for a financial crisis because they did not have a sufficient tax base to support their burgeoning health and education costs, which were all rising much faster than the consumer price index.

One of the problems with stamp duty for the states is that it is vulnerable to the state of property markets.

Stamp duty usually raises about $14 billion a year for the states, but the recent state budgets showed big falls of more than $1bn each in NSW and Queensland, in 2008-09, for example.

“In Australia, it should certainly be feasible to permit states to impose a surcharge on the federal personal income tax base,” Professor Bird said.

He said that, ideally, Australia would follow the Scandinavian practice of allowing states to have a flat tax surcharge on income, rather than mirroring the commonwealth’s progressive taxation.

The states would be allowed to set their own level, making states more responsible for their own finances.

Source  :  www.news.com.au

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Four Corners Emigration is in Administration

Website is still live ! 

www.pomsinoz.com

 

I just read your threads about this Four Corners Emigration situation. It is indeed a very big concern. I can confirm I just had a phone call from a worried client named Neil who has paid all his fees to Four Corners and is near the end of the process of getting his Visa. Just had his request for medicals and police checks. He told me that he received a letter on Wednesday advising that Four Corners have gone into administration and then a letter today that Migration Bureau have taken over his file. He telephoned Migration Bureau to get some help and was apparently asked to pay some money to have somebody review his file.

As he has paid all his fees already he was obviously reluctant to pay any more money which is understandable. He wanted to know if from this point he could complete the process on his own. My answer was ‘yes’ in his case. In reality this gentleman counts himself lucky. He should be fine and have his visa shortly. But still needs to contact DIAC and submit the relevant forms to put himself on record and update his correspondence address to make sure he receives all future correspondence from DIAC.

If there is anybody out there that been affected and want to have a talk to someone I am happy to help if you wish to call me on 0207 427 5975.

Sammy Naghi
Australian Solicitor L.S. No: 42619
Registered Migration Agent No: 0641061
Direct Tel: +44 (0) 20 7427 5975
Taylor Hampton Solicitors LLP
www.emigrate-to-australia.co.uk  

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