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www.parishpatience.com.au/immigration/
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| Issue No 22 | June 2000 | |||||
| Collapse of democracy in Fiji | ||||||
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| Australia
has no response to Fiji crisis As the people of Fiji watch their country's infant democracy collapse and wonder what life will be like under a dictatorship of racist gunmen, Australian immigration authorities have responded to the crisis by doing absolutely nothing. Access to the visa section of the Australian High Commission in Suva has been severely curtailed, and Fijians in Australia on temporary visas have been told they will not be given any "special consideration" when those visas expire. A similar attitude of inactivity has been shown in response to developments in Zimbabwe, although according to newspaper reports prospective asylum seekers from that country have not had difficulty in getting temporary visas to come and check out prospects for resettlement in this country. Government
statement on Fiji Plans for employer sanctions go ahead Starting on 1 November this year, employers will be required to check that anyone they hire has a legal right to work in Australia. Substantial fines will be imposed on employers on a "strict liability" basis: that is, the prosecution will not have to show the employer actually knew the person they were hiring had no right to work. Fines will range from $1,100 for an "infringement" by an individual up to $66,000 for reckless behaviour by a corporation. These penalties may be multiplied by the number of illegal workers employed. The preferred method of checking a person's right to work will be the Work Rights Declaration Form (WRDF). To keep within the law, any employer hiring new staff from 1 November will need to complete a WRDF and attach copies of appropriate documentation supplied by the worker within 48 hours of taking the worker on. WRDFs will need to be kept by the employer for inspection by Immigration officials at any time up to five years after the worker is hired. An illegal worker is someone who either does not have permission to do any work in Australia or has restricted permission to work but is working outside those restrictions. People who have unrestricted permission to work in Australia are:
People who have restricted permission to work in Australia are:
Information
material Thailand has
joined Australia, Chile, Hong Kong, South Korea, the
Philippines and New Zealand in the APEC Business
Travel Card scheme. APEC cards are valid for
three years and allow holders to travel freely between
the participating countries for business purposes, with
stays of up to three months at a time. Australia
and China have renewed for another two years the safe
third country agreement in place since May 1995.
Under the agreement, Vietnamese nationals who have been
resettled as refugees in China are denied access to usual
asylum application procedures in Australia and summarily
returned to China. The
Department's Business Skills Section has released a
report on Getting into Business in Australia,
based on surveys of business skills migrants over periods
of two and three years. With 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. Parish
Patience Solicitors Tel: +612
9286 8700 Liability is limited by the Solicitors Scheme under the Professional Standards Act 1994 (NSW) Previous editions:
Copyright ©
Parish Patience Solicitors 2000. All rights reserved.
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