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Registered Migration
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Parish Patience
Solicitors, Immigration Law Section
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| Issue No 11 | July 1999 | ||
New skilled migration program |
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New skilled migration programThe new rules for skilled migration were finally revealed in full detail at the end of June. The most important details, including the Skilled Occupation List (SOL), the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL), the list of "relevant assessing authorities" and the pass and pool marks for the new points tests are now available in a booklet on sale for $10 at offices of the Department of Immigration in Australia and Australian diplomatic posts overseas. A key feature of the new program is PASA, or Pre-Application Skills Assessment. An application for one of the new visa classes is not valid unless accompanied by satisfactory evidence that the applicant's occupational skills have been assessed by the "relevant assessing authority". Another important change is the introduction of mandatory Assurances of Support for the family sponsored visa subclasses (138 and 139). The person giving the Assurance need not be the sponsor, but must satisfy minimum income requirements imposed by policy (a previous attempt to introduce such requirements by legislation was overturned by the Senate in March). The Assurance must be backed up by a bond of $3 500 for one adult and $1 500 for each subsequent adult. A new "Skills Matching" class allows applicants who would not satisfy the points test to pay a reduced fee ($150) and be placed in a Skills Matching Data Base for two years, during which time they may be selected for nomination by certain State or Territory agencies. All applicants will be required to obtain assessment in an occupation on the SOL before applying, as well as satisfying the minimum requirements for age (under 45) and English language ability (a score of at least 5 on all four elements of the IELTS test). Further details are available from the Department's Client Information Sheet and Summary of Regulation Changes. Application forms for the new visa classes can be downloaded from the Department's website. Remember, however, that occupational assessment must be completed before the visa application is lodged.
Continuing attacks on the legal professionThe last few weeks have seen several articles appearing in the press, as well as radio interviews and commentary, which have painted a picture of greedy lawyers conspiring to abuse the procedures of the judicial system on behalf of illegal immigrants. Often the totally unrelated issues of people smuggling rackets and class actions (see next article) have been run together in such a way as to suggest a link between the two. Responding to these attacks in the Australian Financial Review on 25 June, the President of the Law Institute of Victoria, Michael Gawler, pointed out that the government currently has a Bill before the Senate aimed at removing all access to the Courts for people wanting to challenge decisions of the Minister for Immigration or his Department (see Issue No. 6 of this newsletter). The Bill is opposed by the Democrats and the ALP, but Gawler suggests the motivation behind the government's attacks on lawyer may be to put pressure on Labor by creating a scare campaign, using the traditional bogeyman of boatloads of uninvited Asian immigrants. Presumably we will hear more on this subject when Parliament resumes after the winter recess and further attempts are made to pass the Bill. Anti-discrimination class action failsOn 18 June three Justices of the High Court decided, by two votes to one, not to grant special leave to appeal to the Court from the decision of the Full Bench of the Federal Court in the case of Macabenta v Minister for Immigration. The Macabenta case sought to challenge the pseudo amnesty granted in 1997 to people from certain countries who were in Australia as temporary residents or in some cases illegally. Commonwealth legislation known as the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of, amongst other things, "national origin", and states that any benefit given to people of one national origin must be extended to people of all national origins. The Federal Court found that the government was able to get around the law by not mentioning "national origin" but discriminating instead on the basis of the type of passport people held when they entered Australia. In our view, this leaves a gaping hole in the protection offered by the Racial Discrimination Act which could be exploited by proponents of a return to the days of "Australia for the white man". Perhaps we will soon see fish and chip shops putting up signs barring entry to people holding Asian passports. Hot linksWith each edition of Australian Immigration Law Update we will try to find some new or interesting sites that you might enjoy visiting. This month, you might like to try out some of these:
Contact us:Parish
Patience Immigration Tel: +612
9286 8700 Liability is limited by the Solicitors Scheme under the Professional Standards Act 1994 (NSW) Previous editions:
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Patience Solicitors 1999. All rights reserved.
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