Brits applying for some Australian visas will welcome the Australian Government’s recent decision to relax conditions governing certain types of visa.
Article written by The Overseas Guides Company
New rules for visas for parents and grandparents of permanent residents and Australian citizens are expected to be in place by the end of 2012. These will allow older relatives to visit Australia for an extended period of up to 12 months. It will still be necessary for applicants to pass health and character requirements, as well as show that they have adequate funds to support themselves.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen acknowledged that the current parent visa option that people have to take can be lengthy and this new tourist visa, whilst not granting all of the same freedoms as the Parent Visa, is a suitable temporary measure. Visas will be granted on a case by case basis and is a great temporary measure for those eligible so that they can stay in the country while they wait for their Parent Visas to come through.
Meanwhile, Tim Nicholls, Queensland Treasurer announced that the state is going to relax visa requirements in a bid to attract more migrant workers to the area. After Western Australia, Queensland has been the next best state for the resources and mining boom that the country has been experiencing. Due to the fact that Australia visa restrictions are determined at state, not federal level, Queensland has ended up way behind in the number of skilled migrants that it has attracted. As an example, last year Australia issued over 22,000 skilled migrant visas. Only 212 of these were for Queensland.
The current visa policy is far stricter than in neighbouring states. An engineer seeking a skilled migration visa will require as much as seven years’ experience to qualify in Queensland. In Western Australia, it’s only necessary to have 12 months of experience.
In an effort to attract more foreign labour to the region and combat growing skill shortages, Mr Nicholls said the state would be working with the national government to offer more visas to foreign workers.
In another announcement, Immigration Minister Bowen told how new legislation is going to be introduced to clamp down on employers who employ staff without a valid Australian visa. The move has been made in order to ensure employers have no choice but to abide by the immigration laws in the country.
Further recommendations state that employers who flaunt immigration law should be punished with civil or criminal penalties for not being duly diligent when checking employees’ visas.
Anyone moving to Australia can make their visa application easier and increase their chances of success by employing the services of a qualified migration agent, one that is registered with the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) and a Member of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA). Email: info@overseasguidescompany.com for a recommended Australian migration agent./p>
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