New immigration minister
Following the recent cabinet shuffle David Coleman MP has been
appointed the new Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and
Multicultural Affairs. Despite the shuffle, we are assured it is
business as usual and discussions are still taking place in
regional areas about how to tackle skills shortages.
Partner visa processing times reduced
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has slashed
the global processing time for partner visa applications to nearly
half with most applications being decided within 14 to 16 months
(down from 21 to 26 months).
Training benchmarks obligation removed
From 12 August 2018 employers no longer need to comply with the
training benchmark obligation. This obligation required Standard
Business Sponsors ensure they spent either 1 per cent or 2 per cent
of their payroll on providing training to Australian workers.
Standard Business Sponsors do need to comply with the training obligation up until 12 August 2018 but only for a full sponsorship year. For example, if the sponsorship was approved on 1 July 2017, an employer would need to comply with the obligation for the period up to 30 June 2018. They would need to satisfy the period from 1 July to 12 August.
Malaysian national removed over foreign worker
exploitation
A Malaysian national has been removed from Australia following his
conviction for exploiting an illegal foreign worker through an
unscrupulous labour hire intermediary business in Perth (01
September 2018).
More...
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