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Parish Patience
Solicitors, Immigration Law Section
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| Issue No 14 | October 1999 | |||
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Amendments taking effect on 1 November 1999Regulations gazetted at the end of September put in place a number of visa changes to take effect on 1 November 1999. Changes affect onshore and offshore business skills and distinguished talent categories and applications by AusAID students. Applications lodged before 1 November will continue to be processed under the existing law. The business skills changes are based on recommendations from the Business Advisory Panel. Briefly, the minimum net assets held by the applicant in his or her business before applying for a visa will be reduced from $300,000 to $200,000 or, in the case of applicants with State or Territory sponsorships, from $200,000 to $100,000. A further significant change is that applicants will not need to have employed a minimum number of people (currently 5 or 3, depending on the category) in order to score points on the Business Skills Points Test. Applicants under the distinguished talent category will need to be nominated by a person or organisation in Australia having a national reputation in the same field as the applicant, or else have the support of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). Details of student visa changes will be given in the next issue of Australian Immigration Law Update. Other minor changes involve the splitting of the Employer Nomination category into two separate subclasses, one for standard ENS and the other for the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS). Media Release on business skills changes - http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media_releases/media99/r99133.htm Minister refuses to release report on forced abortion of asylum seekerOn 14 September the Minister announced the completion of an enquiry into a forced abortion performed on a woman deported from Australia to China. However, the Minister categorically refused to make the report or any of its recommendations public, claiming that he was protecting her "privacy". The Minister did reveal that the report found all actions taken by his Department were "lawful", and that the victim's treatment in Australia was "humane". If that is the highest praise the report can come up with, then presumably the Minister has more reasons for keeping the report secret than just the victim's privacy. It should be recalled that the persecution of Jews was "lawful" under fascism, and that the term "humane" may be used to refer to the killing of livestock. As recently as April 1997, the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations ruled that an action taken by a government is not considered "lawful" just because the government passes a law allowing it. The government in that case was, once again, Australia. While taking great care to protect the victim's privacy, however, the Minister has no qualms about casting doubts on her humanity by announcing that while report found that she had had an abortion while eight and a half months pregnant, it "was unable to reach a conclusion about whether or not that abortion was forced". Ministerial press release - http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media_releases/media99/r99134.htm Apparent difficulties in Kosovar "safe haven" programEvidence is emerging of significant tension between Australian immigration authorities, including the Minister personally, and some members of the groups of displaced persons from Kosovo brought to Australia earlier this year under the new "safe haven" program. In a media release dated 29 September it was reported that the Minister had told Kosovars at the East Hills "haven" that he wanted them to leave East Hills immediately for other "havens" in Victoria and Tasmania, and leave Australia altogether by 30 October. To encourage compliance with the Minister's wishes, the Kosovars were told that living allowances, phone cards, Internet and other facilities available at East Hills would be cut off immediately, while a $3,000 "winter reconstruction allowance would not be available to anyone who was still in Australia after 30 October. A somewhat testy quote from the Minister implies that he seems to think some of the Kosovars have overstayed their welcome in Australia: "I have also made it abundantly clear that it is not a matter of 'if' but 'when' the Kosovars return." The government wants the East Hills camp cleared out as soon as possible for an expected influx of displaced East Timorese. They will be given visas of the same type as those of the Kosovars, prohibiting them from applying for any other sort of status while in Australia and effectively keeping them under Departmental control by the ability to apply the same sort of pressure as is being put on the Kosovars. Around 1 500 East Timorese, including 18 who escaped from the territory by boat in 1995, have been held in legal limbo in Australia for several years by the government trying to insist they are Portuguese citizens despite Australia being one of a handful of countries to recognise the Indonesian annexation of East Timor. Media release - http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media_releases/media99/r99141.htm 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*:
*These sites are not in any way endorsed or connected with Parish Patience. The listing of a commercial site does not imply any recommendation or warranty concerning the products or services offered. 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:
Copyright © Parish
Patience Solicitors 1999. All rights reserved.
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