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Registered Migration
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Parish Patience
Solicitors, Immigration Law Section
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| Issue No 13 | September 1999 | ||
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Government responds to 1997 report on Working Holiday programA little over two years since it was released, the government has responded to the Report of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration entitled Working Holiday Makers: More than Tourists. The Report recommends streamlining the requirements for obtaining working holiday visas and entering into bilateral agreements with a number of other countries that would give young Australians opportunities to travel and work in those countries on a part-time basis. Currently Australia has such arrangements with Canada, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malta, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. According to the media release announcing the response by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, new arrangements may eventually be in place with Spain, France, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, Greece, Israel, Cyprus and the United States. The Minister estimates that working holiday makers are expected to spend about $500 million annually while in Australia. Working holiday makers are typically young and adventurous and many have occupational skills that are ideally suited to the current skilled migration program. While in Australia many are able to lodge an offshore permanent visa application which can be processed while they continue their holiday. Some are also able to obtain permanent or long-term temporary residence in Australia through sponsorship by employers or Australian spouses or same-sex partners. Joint Standing Committee on Migration - http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committe/mig/index.htm
Figures available on impact of migrants on Commonwealth budgetIn June 1998 the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs asked ACIL Consulting to review the model being used to calculate the impact of migrants on the Commonwealth budget. The results of that review have now been published on the DIMA website. The model was originally developed by ACIL and the Department of Finance. Essentially, the model attempts to calculate the cost to the Commonwealth budget of government services taken up by migrants of different categories during their first five years in Australia, and compare that with the contribution made to the budget by those same migrants through the direct and indirect taxation system. The end result is a table showing the net impact of migrants in the Preferential Family, Concessional Family, Business, Independent and Humanitarian categories, as well as a calculation of the overall impact. The table shows that, by their fourth year in Australia, migrants overall are contributing more to the Commonwealth budget than they are taking out of it. While the model is interesting and certainly shows that immigration makes a positive contribution to the Australian economy, it would be dangerous to use such a limited model as a primary tool for determining the composition of the migrant intake. After all, Australia is a federal country and by no means all services are provided by, or taxes paid to, the Commonwealth government. More importantly, the Australian immigration experience has never been a purely economic exercise, and by concentrating too much on "bottom line" results it is possible to miss seeing the overwhelming social implications of changes to the structure of the immigration intake. The current government's drastic cuts to parent immigration is a good example of over-reliance on purely financial considerations. ACIL report - http://www.immi.gov.au/research/acil.html Federal Court ruling on use of Statutory DeclarationsAs a result of Australia's federal political structure, there is a fairly large amount of duplication between jurisdictions in simple areas of everyday life. Traditionally, inconvenience is avoided by the sensible practice of mutual recognition, which for example allows a person with a driver's licence issued in one State to drive a car in any other State. Unfortunately the limits of good sense were discovered by the Federal Court in a recent decision which has serious consequences for people preparing documentation for use in immigration applications. Provisions of the Migration Regulations relating to claims of domestic violence require evidence to be provided in the form of a "statutory declaration". Statutory declarations have traditionally been used in State jurisdictions as a simple way of giving evidence outside a Court-room setting. And, traditionally, the common sense approach of each jurisdiction recognising the forms of other jurisdictions has prevailed. However, in the case of Morgan v Minister for Immigration, Justice Hill of the Federal Court observed that the Migration Regulations specifically require a statutory declaration to be made under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959, which is the relevant Commonwealth legislation. He ruled that a statutory declaration made under the Oaths Act 1900, which is New South Wales legislation, was not valid for the purpose. Since statutory declarations are commonly made on forms obtained from newsagents, which are usually based on State legislation, the potential implications of the ruling are very wide. The decisions of Justice Hill strictly applies only to statutory declarations made for the purposes of the domestic violence provisions. However, anyone preparing documentation for immigration purposes would be well advised to follow Commonwealth legal formats wherever possible. Morgan v MIMA (html file) - http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/1999/1059.html 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:
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Patience Solicitors 1999. All rights reserved.
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