Fazeem Aives

Australian Citizenship approvals see an 88% increase in a year Compared to 70,000 citizenship approvals last year, more than 132,000 citizenship by conferral applications were approved this year, the Immigration Minister has said. ‘Between 1 July 2018 and 31 May 2019, more than 132,000 citizenship by conferral applications have been approved, up from 70,000 in the same period last year. This represents an increase of 88 per cent,’ Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman said. Minister Coleman attributed these outcomes to a range of reforms implemented by the Department of Home Affairs. These measures include the [...]

Beware of Unregistered or Fraudulent Migration Consultants. In light of the recent visa scandal that featured on Carte Blanche detailing the unethical practices of a certain “immigration and visa firm”, now more than ever it is vital for potential migrants to protect their interests as well as their family’s, by making sure that they choose a registered migration agent for professional advice and assistance. By law, any migration agent operating in Australia and giving advice and assistance on the Australian visa application process must be registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA). Australian registered migration agents are [...]

DIBP has been made changes to the lists of eligible skilled occupations for Australia’s skilled visa programs on 1 July 2017. -DIBP added some new occupations to the lists of eligible skilled occupations; - SOL and CSOL lists have been updated with newly introduced Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) and the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL); - Removed some occupations from the lists of eligible skilled occupations.

As part of the 2017–18 Budget, the Australian Government announced a number of changes to existing visa application charges, including the introduction of a number of new visas. The visa application charge is the amount of money in Australian dollars (AUD) that must be paid for a visa application. In some cases the visa application charge is nil.​

On Friday 5 May 2017, the Government confirmed that, subject to the passage of relevant legislation, the temporary sponsored parent visa will be introduced during the 2017-18 Migration Programme year. The temporary sponsored parent visa is designed to allow the parents of Australians to spend longer periods of time with their children in Australia without placing additional burden on Australia's health care system.