Trade courses now hold a ticket to Australia as trade occupations like Plumbing, Carpentry or Masonry are quite popular for helping a student take permanent residency (PR) in Oz land. There were times when an MBA or courses in beauty industry from Australian educational institution were more than popular to fetch a dream job and also a PR in Australia. If Sajan John, Director of Melbourne based Ind Aus Business  Links, is to be believed then in the present times a student who completes an MBA also has to struggle to get a PR in Australia. He said, “There is a huge shortage of technically qualified manpower in the fields of painting, carpentry, brick laying (mason), plumbing and electricians. Not only would one get a PR after a two-year course in any of these disciplines but also get a handsome monthly income.”
Mr. John further elaborated that following the huge media publicity on the attacks against Indian students in Australia, the waiting period to get a student’s visa has gone up from one month to two. Prior to a student visa being issued by the Australian Embassy in India, most of the students are called for a personal interview.  John came to India early this month and is conducting a series of seminars across the state and in Chennai for prospective students immigrating to Australia for studies.  He stated, “Nursing is still in demand but my advice to prospective nurses looking to immigrate to Australia is not to be duped by agents. We have seen a good number of cases of nurses, who arrive there to do a course in community welfare, which they are told is an easy way to get a job as a nurse. But at the end of the day they end up nowhere,” said John.
Speaking about the tuition fees and courses charges in Australia John said, “The total tuition fee for a two-year course in either a university or any of the various colleges in any technical areas would be in the range of Australian $18,000-22,000 ($16,700-20,430)”.  According to John, living expenses would range around Australian $1,000 a month and this can be recovered by working 20 hours a week. “After the course those who start working can earn around Australian $40 an hour in these trades. This is huge money but surprisingly from the various seminars I have conducted here the demand from students here is still for MBA and for nursing careers. The minimum eligibility for students aspiring for a higher education in these technical trades is Class XII and a score of 5.5 in International English Language Testing System (IELTS) ,” said John.

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admin Immigration Immigration, Immigration to Australia

Vetassess, the Australian assessment body, just announced that they are going to implement a new policy from 01st January 2010 for the assessment of all people who are applying to immigration to Australia. The changes made by the assessment body would be applicable for General Professional Occupations and not applicable to the Trade Occupations. Vetassess is responsible for many occupation assessments some of which are:

−    Office Manager (ASCO) 3291-11
−    Urban and Regional Planner (ASCO) 2523-11
−    Property Manager (ASCO) 3293-13
−    Construction Project Manager (ASCO) 1191-11
−    Financial Investment Advisor (ASCO) 3213-11

Currently, VETASSES only demand that an applicant have a qualification ‘comparable to the Australian standard’ in order to receive a positive assessment, with no criteria set regarding the qualification content or work experience. However, in order to receive a positive skills assessment through Vetassess from 1 January 2010, applicants will now need to have:

−    A qualification that is in a ‘highly relevant field of study’ to the nominated occupation;
−    Between 1 year and 3 years (depending on occupation) of ‘relevant employment’ to your nominated occupation

This clearly sets the bar higher for Vetassess applicants, demanding that they present far more evidence demonstrating their experience and study as it directly correlates to their nominated occupation. The changes have the potential to affect anyone in a general professional occupation who is looking to be assessed under Vetassess, but especially those who lack the necessary qualification or work experience to be positively assessed in their nominated occupation under the new rulings.  As per the Vetassess statement made after the changes have been announced, “DIAC will continue to accept all VETASSESS Skill Assessments from both the old and new system provided that your nominated occupation remains on the Skilled Occupation List and VETASSESS is the designated assessing authority for that occupation.  However, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship may ask you to have a current VETASSESS assessment if there is a significant gap between the date of assessment and the date of applying for your visa.”

A number of immigration pathways have been tightened due to restrictions implemented by both the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and the various Australian states and territories. As a result, some migrants could find that without the ability to receive a positive skills assessment from VETASSESS in a specific nominated occupation, they will lack any route to Australia. According to VETASSESS if you lodge a complete application before 31 December, you will be assessed under the current rules (with the further recommendation that applicants ensure to send their applications no later than 18 December, in order for VETASSESS to receive the application in time). However, if anything is missing from your application, then it is likely you will be assessed under the new criteria. Even if you feel confident that you will qualify under the new criteria, it would still be preferable to be assessed under the current familiar criteria and be in the best position possible to avoid any potential hurdles to your immigration to Australia

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Legatum Index Lists Australia one of the best places to live

Australia is now listed as one of the luxurious and best places around the globe to live. Living in Australia has now come up towards the top of an index of the world’s most prosperous countries. According to the new Legatum Institute’s Index Australia has been ranked as the sixth most prosperous country of the world. The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index is also the world’s only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing of mankind. The Index finds that the most prosperous nations in the world are not necessarily those that have only a high GDP, but are those that also have happy, healthy, and free citizens. Now in its third year, the Index builds on the previous versions with expanded data and refined analysis and assesses 104 nations covering 90 percent of the world’s population. The measurements for the index were based on various factors.

The index provided by the institute ranks each nation based on wealth and happiness factors and surprisingly Finland came top followed by Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. However excluding the European nations, Australia was ranked as the best place in the world to settle down in terms of happiness and wealth. The index also looked at 104 countries in total which analysed and speculated them against 70 variables including quality of life and material wealth.

The survey results also stated that the rankings given are not necessarily based on the economic wealth of the state but are based on those that have happy, healthy and free citizens. The results also indicate that immigrating to Australia is very popular among many foreign nationals including UK.  Considering the top 10 variables in mind including personal freedom, health, safety and security, education, economic fundamentals and democratic institutions, immigrating to Australia was ranked in the top. People wishing to be wealthy and happy are also advised to move to Canada, as according to the ranking index, Canada is placed right after Australia in seventh place overall. The results are also a good way to offer some light on what constitutes success and prosperity of a country making it a worthy place to live.

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admin Immigration Immigration, Immigration to Australia

The economy of Australia has grown exceptionally when the skilled immigrants flew in bringing with them wealth of knowledge and new skills. The fiscal growth underwent economic boom following a balanced rate of Immigration. Australia not only praises immigration in helping the same but also encourages it. Since the inflow of immigrants has increased since last few years, Ken Henry, Australia’s federal treasury secretary, revealed that the statistics indicate that Australian population would grow to 35 million by 2050.  The population increase of extra 13 million people is expected to be as a result of growth in immigration industry to Australia. Metropolitan cities like Sydney and Melbourne are expected to have a population of about 7 million people by that same year.

Speaking on the same, Prime Minister of Australia Mr. Kevin Rudd mentioned that he is in favour of indirect or direct immigration to Australia out of which major population growth could take place. He said, “I actually believe in a big Australia. I make no apology for that. I actually think its good news that our population is growing. I think it is good for us, it’s good for our national security long-term, and it’s good in terms of what we can sustain as a nation.”

As it is widely known that Australia has minted money and grew as a strong economic nation because of its popularity among people who want to take a skilled immigration abroad. Much of Australia’s financial status is because of those skilled immigrants who come to live and work in Australia and students on student visas each year.  Ken Henry however expressed concern because of the growth of immigrant population and the popularity of skilled immigration to Australia. He said that the country would have to make changes in the immigration policy after weighing each and every aspect to ensure that the clean and balanced environment of Australia could handle the influx of so many people. Like many developing countries go through several twists and turns and adverse effects of a large population, Australia would have to ensure that Australian population growth would “test the limits of sustainability: economic, social and environmental”. The Treasury Secretary further said, “With the right decisions, one can envisage a period of unprecedented prosperity. I expect the country’s economic boom to last with the help of immigration into Australia “for decades”.

Critics however analysed that one of the major problems of a large population growth would the quality of life would deteriorate and people would suffer. What allures the migration population now would be a question of hesitation for them. The bottom line adopted by majority of the Ministers under the immigration panel is to ensure that the people living in Australia would get one of the world’s best life styles and experiences and they should keep checks and balances while thinking of immigration of population.

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There are going to be new provisions for the required health examination reports for a visa application for Australia. Following emendations to the same, on November 9, 2009, The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) will change the requirement for a health examination report. Based on the new provisions, DIAC will suspend the arrangements that allow some of the visa applicants to re-use the old or previous health examination reports.
To obtain a Temporary visa, applicants currently can reuse the previous health reports. But under the new provision, there are going to be upgraded system for permanent health clearance. Currently, the system allows applicants to fill out a Form 26 for medical examination but the new rules would require that the applicants obtain a full permanent health clearance. The changes are going to be made by DIAC as the department received a number of complaints in regard to the “upgrade” process. As many applicants and immigration agents have complained that where “upgrades” have been requested, they have resulted in processing delays, and in some cases clients have been forced to complete new medical examinations anyway. Some of the arrangements however have been reversed by DIAC, and some that appear to be working quite well have been retained are:
    Temporary health examination reports which were locally cleared and remain valid can still be re-use for a further temporary visa application.
    The rules surrounding re-use of health clearances also remain the same (e.g. a 457 visa applicant who completed full permanent medicals “upfront” and received a permanent health clearance can “re-use” this clearance for their permanent visa application if it is still valid).

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A new citizenship test has been unveiled by the Australian Government for applicants wishing to apply for an Australian visa. The new test would be taken by Australian visa holders who wish to apply for citizenship has been launched from today, October 20th. Migrants who want to become Australian citizens will have to be able to correctly identify the country’s prime minister and national flower, according to the new draft citizenship test. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said, “The aim of the test is to get that balance between diversity and integration correct in future”. The prospective citizen will have to give a correct answer to 12 out of 20 questions – drawn from a total of about 200. The new citizenship test is expected to be introduced later this year.

According to Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), the new test is much simpler and fairer than the previous test. Some of the questions have been changed and even removed keeping in mind that all the questions should be given equal weight in terms of marks. The test would challenge the applicant’s knowledge of Australian history and existing norms. It is specially designed to test Australian visa holders and prospective citizens about their knowledge of general Australian civics and the privileges and responsibilities of becoming an Australian citizen. The questions would cover some of the political subjects like government, laws and democratic beliefs. A few example of the multi choice questions published on the DIAC website include:
1. Which of these is a responsibility of Australian citizens aged 18 years or over?
a) To attend local council meetings
b) To vote in elections
c) To have a current Australian passport

2. What is the name of the legal document that sets out the rules for the government of Australia?
a) The Australian Federation
b) The Australian Commonwealth
c) The Australian Constitution

All the test questions are taken from the revised citizenship resource book called the Australian citizenship: Our Common Bond. To apply for a citizenship, applicants can check the revised book to prepare for the test. Speaking about the test Senator Evans said, “The new test is not a general knowledge quiz about Australia. We want people applying for citizenship to understand the values of Australian society, our democratic beliefs, our rights and our system of law and what it means to be an Australian citizen. All prospective citizens should understand those concepts so all of the questions in the new citizenship test focus on the commitments that new citizens make in the pledge.”

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admin Immigration Immigration, Immigration to Australia

There is good news for people who have applied for an Australian visa under skilled immigration category with a pending status. Chris Evans, the Australian Immigration Minister announced plans to speed up the visa applications that have been in queue.  Australian Immigration has also established a new advisory service to help in establishing people’s immigration status as quickly as possible. The following plans of forming up a council of immigration services and status resolution were revealed yesterday by the Australian immigration Minister.

The council is purely set to provide guidance and advice on the rollout of the Community Status Resolution Service. The responsibility of the council is set to take over the duties of Detention Advisory Group and will meet initially on 21st of this month to decide the major immigration issues that will be dealt immediately.

Speaking on the same, Evans stated that the council will help Australian immigration officials to process Australian visa applications quickly. He said, “the council will provide independent advice on policies, services and programmes to achieve timely, fair and effective resolution of immigration status for people seeking asylum or other migration outcomes in Australia.”  He further added that, “the government’s focus is on resolving the immigration status of people quickly and fairly while ensuring they are treated humanely and with dignity and respect.” The provision of a quick decision on applications to live in Australia is essential for Australia since many cases are pending and Australia still requires a lot of skilled immigrants in its work forces.

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admin Immigration Immigration, Immigration to Australia

Although after so much of skilled immigration to South Australia, the positions under skilled immigration programmes are still lying vacant in Adelaide. It has been observed that people who are taking immigration under state sponsorship to Adelaide are first arriving in Adelaide on those visas and then they are relocating to other metropolitan places like Melbourne or Sydney. In order to grow in line with forecasted labour demands, South Australia depends heavily on immigrant workers but Business analysts have raised concerns that not enough are settling in the state after arriving in Australia on their work visas.  Many people are obtaining their work permits or skilled immigration for Australia under regional categories as they are easier to obtain. After acquiring a permit, people are leaving for bigger and better states to look out for more opportunities.

A recent study by PKF Australia and Access Economics, states that 18,500 people were settled in South Australia in 2008, 16,000 of those were from overseas and on an Australian visa. This correlates to roughly 86.5% of the newly settled citizens coming from overseas. Many of these immigrants have moved out of Adelaide to bigger and better cities leaving Adelaide’s population of skilled workers less than sufficient to fill up the vacant positions. The South Australian business leaders or employers are concerned that Australian immigration is seeing a trend of migrants that arrive in Adelaide but after a short period of time, they choose to move to other larger Australian cities, such as Melbourne or Sydney. This trend has left South Australia lacking of the necessary skilled professionals.

Speaking about the same, the National Chairman of Enterprise Advisers, Mr. Chris Allen said, “Skilled migrants are a necessary and important contribution to Australia’s economy and growth. Because highly skilled migrants in Australia earn a relatively high income in relation to the size they represent, in the overall workforce, they spend more of their income, and spending, creates demand for more workers.”  He further quoted that “Put in Lehman’s terms more immigration to Adelaide equals more customers, and also more jobs.”

Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan said SA was an attractive starting point for international migrants but many were unable to get a job and were forced to move interstate for work and to secure permanent residency. Mr Vaughan emphasised the need for employers to take on qualified graduates from overseas. “The future of this state will be based on skilled migrants from other cultures who are going to settle in SA looking for job opportunities, careers, advancement and reward,” he said. “If we don’t provide those things that precious commodity will go elsewhere.”

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admin Immigration Immigration, Immigration to Australia

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Report Rankings, Australia is the second best place to live in the whole world as it offers a quality lifestyle. Norway is ranked as the first best place with excellent quality of life. The ranking for best life by UNDP, Human Development Report, was done keeping basic factors in mind like -life expectancy, education and wealth as these factors affect the basic life experienced by the people of a country.  By the present UNDP report, Australia is the second best country to offer a great quality of life and such ranking would encourage the new aspirants to immigrate to Australia even more. The present ranking is purely based on the country’s strong performance and is hence indexed in top listing.
Based on the data over the past year, the average life expectancy in Australia has increased by three to four months besides the average income of people rose by 4 percent. These figures are set aside keeping in mind the impact of recession on people living in Australia and it illustrates the fact that Australians have survived the economic slump and dealt with it quite nicely. The report suggests that countries that offer a high quality of life attract more migrants, with thousands of people moving to Australia each year on work visas and working holiday visas. It states, ”most migration, internal and international, reap gains in the form of higher incomes, better access to education and health, and improved prospects for their children.” Along with that, Canada was ranked 4th and USA stood as the 13th country which offered best quality of life. The report was based on the data taken from 182 countries overall.  Niger, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone scored worst in terms of human development and the poorest performing region was sub-Saharan Africa, where states are afflicted by war and HIV/AIDS.

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According to the latest ANZ jobs survey, the job advertisements in local newspapers and on internet peaked by 4.4% in September, the fastest rate since November 2007. The job advertisements on internet and on papers were 8.7% higher than July. Compared to all, the rate was over all lower than this year.

The survey figures revealed that the number of job ads in major metropolitan newspapers jumped 3.7%, following a 5.5% rise in August, to a weekly average of 8,929. Meanwhile, internet job ads climbed 4.5% in a second consecutive month of growth to a weekly average of 127,141.

Addressing to the same, ANZ acting chief economist Warren Hogan said in a statement, “These data provide the best evidence we have received to date that the labour market (and the economy more generally) is entering an early recovery phase following this downturn.  Further he added, “Australian economic activity has been remarkably resilient in recent months, particularly in some of our largest employing industries such as retail trade, health services, government and construction.”

The employment requirement data also sheds some insight on the present job scenario in Australia. The data raises speculation as the Reserve Bank of Australia was to raise interest rates at a policy meeting, with Hogan since the figures also give hope for unemployment figures. Speaking on which he said, “Today’s numbers confirm our expectation that the pace of decline in employment will not be as severe as envisaged six months ago”. “We expect the Australian unemployment rate to peak at around 7.25% in mid-2010.”

Meanwhile, the latest Olivier Job Index found the number of jobs advertised in Australia rose 3.58% in August. Full-time work was up 3.4% and part-time work up 5.3% in the last month, the report found. With the new jobs opening up in the market at a higher speed, the Australian govt is encouraged to support skilled immigration. The regional areas of Australia still need to be developed while the metropolitan areas like Melbourne and Sydney witnesses’ higher unemployment ratio. As more and more jobs lie vacant, Australia would need people from around the globe who could fill in the spots.

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