The past one year has witnessed extraordinary change for immigration authorities in Australia and permit candidates in a demanding atmosphere even while the concerned immigration organization’s annual report for 2012-2013 describes a busy year of activity, and this comprises its name change. The work covered offering close-to 4.7 million permanent and temporary permits, supervising 33 million-plus border movements, apart from responding to a staggering 2.5 million calls at its many call centres.
This has been a year of unparalleled change for the department and its workers have been functioning in a tough and fickle operational setting. Among the numerous achievements covered in the yearly report was a second uninterrupted year of development in citizenship submissions, with 120,000-plus persons gaining the prized citizenship status at the many citizenship ceremonies organized in the country. This includes a historic 17,059 individuals becoming citizens on the Australia Day itself.
Allegedly, conformity with the nation’s migration structure also continued to be very impressive, with over 99%, from the 5.1 million provisional entrants, during the year obeying their permit requirements. Even as the department promotes voluntary observance of the permit prerequisites, it’s allegedly vital to study the work of the national compliance authorities, who carried-out over 15,000 locations of illegal non-citizens.
Further, the programme for migration improved by 5,000 places to become 190,000 places during 2012-2013–thanks mainly to the execution of the department’s ground-breaking trained migration selection structure, SkillSelect, which was brought-in during the month of July, in the year gone by. Besides several schemes were also started in the temporary residence scheme, and this covers the beginning of the significant investor visa, to draw overseas investment of not less than $5 million.
Furthermore, the department has been involved in tailoring the future of a affluent, all-encompassing Australia. Immigration is a very decisive pillar of the nation’s past and future. The same is also a foundation of healthy national debate. It’s crucial and wholly fitting that Down Under keeps on being thoroughly engaged in a national conversation involving migration while it moves ahead all the way through the 21st century.
During the year, the Significant Investor visa was launched to draw overseas investment by high net worth persons who ought to make an investment of not less than $5 million in certain investments in the country, even as they may become qualified for a permanent permit, post holding a temporary permit & sustaining their investment in the country for a period of 4 years.
In addition, the Temporary Work (Skilled) subcategory 457 permit scheme grew at a historic rate. Even as a majority of the recruiters/firms are allegedly employing the said permit plan properly, some recruiters/companies are busy sourcing their qualified labour requirements from outside, ignoring the labour available at the local levels.
