Posts Tagged ‘australian immigration’

Australian immigration rules are the subject of this part of our guide to emigrating to Australia…

About one in four of Australia’s approximated resident population of 22 million was born overseas and every 12 months over 120,000 new migrants enter the country under the Migration Act 1958 and its accompanying regulations, which is implemented by the Department of Immigration and Culture (DIAC).

A universal visa system is in place, and this means that all non-citizens (not including citizens of New Zealand) must have a visa to to gain entry to Australia and that all non-citizens in Australia without a valid visa are there unlawfully and are liable for detention and deportation. To acquire a visa, you must lodge an application with the DIAC under one of their visa programs, and submit the subsequent fee (which varies from program to program).

The various visa programs on offer (retirement, skilled, employer sponsored, etc.) all have their individual conditions and criteria that must be met. If you mistakenly apply for the wrong one, or you fail to convince the Australian government that you qualify for it, your application will not be accepted (and you won’t get you application fee returned).

Your nationality, ethnic origin, sex, race and religion are not taken into account when determining eligibility, but factors such as previous visa history, overstay risk, character, criminal records, age and medical history, do. It’s an open process though and you have the right to lodge an appeal with an independent review tribunal should you consider that you’ve been unfairly discriminated against.

Separate humanitarian and migration programs are used, which aim to provide a balance between Australia’s international humanitarian obligations and the Australian Government’s economic, social and environmental objectives. There are annual limits on each of these and once reached no more immigrants will be issued visas until the next year.