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VISA SHOCK FOR SOME By Lance Fee,Director Live Downunder UK AFTER the changes that came in for the Skilled Visa categories last September and the sudden changes to on-the-job trade assessments, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) have announced another move that will mean those who were awaiting the final stages of processing, have been told that they will be unable to move to the visa grant stage. This announcement affects all those who lodged under the Skilled-Independent subclass 136 or Skilled-Australian Sponsored subclass 138. Those who applied under these subclasses of visa were able to claim an additional five points for investing an amount of $100k into one of Australia's State or Territory Government Investment bonds for a period of 12 months. It appears that all the State and Territory bodies have now withdrawn from this arrangement, leaving nowhere for funds to be invested. I understand that the reason for the sudden withdrawal by the bodies may have been related to a "scam" recently reported in the Australian press where a former bank employee issued undocumented loans to more than 200 visa applicants to help them gain the five bonus points. But, apart from this, the scheme was proving to be unattractive to many of the State and Territories because of the short-term nature of the investment and the amount of administration involved. As a result of this situation, DIAC have advised that all applications that have not been processed will not be entitled to claim the five points and will not, therefore, meet the pass-mark. The matter has been taken up by the Migration Institute of Australia, who has formally written to the new Minister, the Hon Chris Evans, suggesting that one way to resolve the impasse would be the Gazettal of Commonwealth Bonds for purposes of this visa. The new Minister has had little time to take up his new responsibilities since the election of a Labor Government in Australia this November, but this is just one matter that he will have to deal with in coming months. For those who have an application in this category of visa, the best advice at this time is to sit tight and await further developments. |
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