New Australia work visa plan scrapped as government seeks alternatives
Workpermit.com Plans to allow businesses to recruit specialist foreign workers for up to 12 months, without requiring a 457 visa, have been scrapped by Australia's federal government. The move comes as officials consider other options to overhaul skilled migration ... |
The Turnbull Government has released today a new landmark report by Deloitte Access Economics, The Value of International Education to Australia, which reveals the sector contributes $1 billion more to the economy than previously estimated.
International education is already one of our top two services exports, along with tourism, and is one of five key super-growth sectors that will support our transitioning economy into the next decade.
The growing importance of international education to Australia is evident from the more than 130,000 jobs it creates and the businesses that benefit from it – directly and indirectly across the retail, hospitality, property sectors and more.
This important new report identifies a number of additional revenue streams not routinely captured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which reported the value of international education to be over $19.5 billion in 2015, making it one of our largest export earners.
The additional streams identified in this report total nearly $1 billion more what the ABS currently reports, putting the real value of the industry closer to $21 billion.
These newly-identified revenue streams include nearly $300 million that students’ visiting family and friends contribute to Australia’s tourism industry each year.
Also, for the first time, this report provides an estimate of the national economic contribution made by Australian education providers delivering Australian courses offshore, which was over $400 million in 2014-15.
Education related expenditure by those on non-student visas studying English is estimated to contribute an additional $205 million in export revenue.
The Turnbull Government recognises that Australia’s knowledge and innovation boom has just begun and on Saturday in Launceston, Tasmania we will be releasing our National Strategy on International Education, laying out a framework for the future of the industry.
To view the report click here.
The Advertiser |
Tourism braces for budget blows
The Advertiser Sign of things to come? Raising visa fees will only deter travellers from making the trek down under, the tourism industry warns. Picture: News Corp Australia. The Australian Taxation Office already had Airbnb in its sights, and backpackers look set to ... |
ATEC sets out Australian Budget wish-list
micebtn “We want the government to support our industry by holding visa fees and taxes, continuing to maintain the current Passenger Movement Charge and strengthening Tourism Australia in marketing Australia to the world. “Tourism exports account for 8.2 per ... |
The Advertiser |
Australian business events sector welcomes new visa arrangements for Chinese
Australia Forum According to Andrew Hiebl, chief executive officer of the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux, she cost and complexity of visa applications is a core concern for the business events industry. “Ensuring that Australia's visa processing ... Tourism braces for budget blows |
Australia 'unlikely to accept joint visa'
Newshub Australia is unlikely to agree to a common tourist visa because New Zealand doesn't really know who it's letting in, Winston Peters says. And the head of the Tourism Industry Association admits it won't be easy to persuade Australia to accept our ... |
Hindustan Times |
Australia says no visa refusal due to PSEB qualification: Punjab govt
Hindustan Times A press release issued by the state education department said that the “untiring and persistent” efforts by Punjab education minister Daljit Singh Cheema in taking up the issue of non-issuance of visas on such grounds with the Australian high ... |
Immigration Agents Brisbane – Call 1300 644 788 – SalvoMigration.com.au - http://youtu.be/i-jjMhd6wyw
Migration Lawyer Brisbane – Call 1300 644 788 – SalvoMigration.com.au - http://youtu.be/X5m7IZS00rg
Migration Agent Brisbane – Call 1300 644 788 – SalvoMigration.com.au - http://youtu.be/WQ60QtESa3k
Immigration Lawyer Brisbane – Call 1300 644 788 – SalvoMigration.com.au - http://youtu.be/liRfqeIDSVw
Migration Agent Brisbane – Call 1300 644 788 – SalvoMigration.com.au - http://youtu.be/1S5ELdQWaIg
Stuff.co.nz |
Tourism groups call for single trans-Tasman visa
Stuff.co.nz The trans-Tasman visa would make long-haul flights ot Australia and New Zealand more enticing and allow the two countries to be marketed as a single destination, say the Tourism and Transport Forum Australia and Tourism Industry Association New ... 'Two Countries, One Visa' – Time to Get Moving Calls for transtasman visa for tourists Call for trans-Tasman visa for tourists |
Wall Street Journal |
Rich Chinese Resist Lure of Australian Residency
Wall Street Journal SYDNEY—An Australian program to let foreigners effectively buy permanent residency has stumbled on a problem: Rich Chinese are proving reluctant venture capitalists. Australia last year revamped its millionaire visa program—officially, the ... |
High-achieving individuals from Australia and around the world who wish to undertake an international study, research and professional development experience can now apply for an Endeavour Scholarship or Fellowship for 2017.
The Turnbull Government recognises that education is vital for building a more innovative and globally competitive workforce.
The Endeavour programme strengthens Australia’s reputation for excellence in education and research while opening up both sectors to the world.
The scholarships and fellowships offer high-achieving individuals from overseas and Australia opportunities to increase their productivity and expertise in their chosen field.
They enable Australian postgraduate students to do short-term research in any field while overseas towards an Australian Masters or PhD, while a fellowship supports Australian postdoctoral fellows undertaking short-term research and/or professional development overseas.
Applications are also open for institutions applying for the 2017 round of Endeavour Mobility Grants. These grants support Australian undergraduate, postgraduate and vocational education and training students to experience international study that contributes to their Australian qualification.
The Endeavour Mobility Grants programme supports students undertaking overseas study as part of their qualification, creates opportunities for students to engage globally and strengthens the capacity of higher education institutions to collaborate and partner with overseas education providers, business and other stakeholders.
An important feature of the Endeavour programme is the Government’s long-standing partnership with Cheung Kong, which will again see a continuation of student exchanges between Australia and Asia.
The Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships, the Endeavour Mobility Grants and the New Colombo Plan are highly regarded initiatives.
The Turnbull Government is committed to opening up study and research opportunities for both Australian and international students here and overseas, and this will be reflected in our soon to be released National Strategy for International Education.
The 2017 round of the Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships close on 30 June while the 2017 round of Endeavour Mobility Grants are open until 10 June.
For more information, visit the Department of Education and Training website.
The Northern Territory Migration Occupation List was updated on 14th April 2016. Comparing to the previous list, 63 new occupations were added, and 24 were removed.
Reference: http://ift.tt/1Vb7U82
1) Occupation 323112: Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (Mechanical) appears to be duplicated.
2) The correct ANZSCO code for occupation Metallurgical or Materials Technician is 312912 (not 323214).
Status: Pending
This hasn´t been fixed yet.
On 6th April 2016, ANZSCO 411412: Mothercraft Nurse was removed from the State Occupations List and it was not included either on the Supplementary Skilled List.
"The Supplementary Skilled List reflects all occupations available on the Commonwealth’s Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL) that are not available on South Australia's State Occupation List"
Reference: http://ift.tt/1qzdAfc
Occupation 411412: Mothercraft Nurse is on the CSOL list, therefore we understand that at least this should be on the Supplementary Skilled List.
Before 06/04/2016
After 06/04/2016
Not on the State Occupations List:
Not on the Supplementary Skilled List:
We sent a twitter to @StateDevSA looking for confirmation but unfortunately (and obviosly), we never heard back.
Status: Pending
This hasn´t been fixed yet.
As we all know, inconsistencies, ambiguities, typos and other mistakes are common on the Australia skilled migration program. The truth is that these errors happen more often than it should and they come from official sources and Australian government websites. From an applicant point of view, these errors only add surplus complexity making the visa process very difficult to follow and inconsistent.
The below table contains some of the inconsistencies encountered in official sources. The information provided on these websites may be wrong, contradictory or inaccurate.
This list is work-in-progress being continually reviewed an updated.
| Date | Tittle | Status | Severity | More info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14/04/2016 | Northern Territory Migration Occupation List | Pending | Low | see details |
| 05/04/2016 | SA State Occupations Lists | Pending | Medium | see details |
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When searching on the internet for accommodation, it can be quite a daunting task with many options available, particularly in large towns and cities. So a quick way to get an overview of these many options is to use an online travel website. They can display availability and pricing for many hotels at once, so at a glance you may be able to find something suitable without individually going to each hotel’s website.
There are many online travel websites which feature listings for accommodation in Australia and throughout the world, but most belong to either one of two large groups.
Expedia Inc is the owner of these popular websites:
It is important to realise that searching for accommodation within a specific accommodation group will yield the same results. So, for example, search for somewhere to stay on wotif.com, and you will get exactly the same results as if you had searched on expedia.com. What may be different is the layout of the website, the search mechanism, loyalty reward schemes, and the ways guests can get customer support.
Between the two major groups listed above, there may be price differences between individual accommodation properties. However, in general, they are limited to special offers or campaign sales. For example, we did a search for a one night stay at a specific hotel in the popular Melbourne inner northern suburb of Brunswick on several websites within these two major groups. For most room types, the tariffs were identical. But within the Expedia group, they were promoting a sale at the hotel of our choice on deluxe queen rooms, which resulted in the nightly pricing dropping from the standard $145 down to $108 on all the websites within that group.
Based on that, one could conclude that best way to get the lowest pricing when using online travel websites is to pick one from each of the two major groups and search those.
Another option is to use what is known as a meta search engine website. These gather pricing for accommodation through a large number of booking websites and present the combined results.
A few years ago, using these meta search engines was really the way to go. This was because many of today’s popular online travel booking sites were actually independantly owned and managed, with their own arrangements between suppliers of accommodation. This meant there were many instances of wide variability in pricing and the presence of some hotels across all those sites. But in the last few years, many popular online travel booking sites have been bought out by big groups, including Australia’s Wotif which was acquired by Expedia in late 2014. What exists now is basically a duopoly between the websites that are part of Priceline Group and those that Expedia Inc runs.
Is this the end for hotel meta search engines? Yes and no.
While Priceline and Expedia control many of the world’s most popular accommodation booking sites, there are a few smaller ones out there which are still independant and do offer unique deals, so using a hotel meta search engines can easily sniff these out for you.
Australian-based HotelsCombined is an interesting meta search engine. Like Trivago and Kayak, it searches websites belonging to the major online travel groups and combines the results. However, it also has arrangements in place with some hotel chains, like Best Western for example, such that it can get pricing directly from the hotel, rather than through the major online travel websites that the hotel has listed itself on. While this sounds good in practice, it may not actually mean you get a room cheaper when booking direct, as there is usually a rate parity arrangement in place which prohibits the hotel from advertising a cheaper rate on its own website than through the major online travel groups.
