Table of Contents
- Long Processing Time for Parent Visas!
- Australia's Population Reaches 27 Million!
- Government Rationale for Student Visa Caps
- Student Caps in Australia Posted on Chinese Social Media
- 150,000 Elderly Parents Await Australian Residency
- Skilled Migration State Allocations for 2024/25
- Surge in Expats Returning Home to Australia
- Australian Student Visa Fees are Doubled
- Slight Drop in Migration Numbers in last Quarter of 2023
- Temporary Skills Migration Threshold Increased!
- New Innovation Visa for Exceptionally Talented
- 63 Per Cent of International Students Choose Australia
- New Visa Requirements Take Effect
- Highest Student Visa Refusal Rate since 2005!
- 188 Business Innovation and Investment Visa is Closed!
- Significant Migration Strategy Reforms Planned for 2024!
- Sydney is Number One Destination for Irish Accountants!
- Faster Pathway to Permanent Residence for 482 Visa Workers
- Australia Increases Permanent Migration Program
- Government to crack down on Education Providers Visa Scams
- Australia resumes Tourist visas for Chinese Groups
- Victoria's State Nomination Program has Re-opened
- Filipinos to Join Australian Work and Holiday Visa Program
- Subclass 408 - Pandemic Visa is being Closed
- Faster Visa Processing Times Now!
17 October 2024
Long Processing Time for Parent Visas!
In order to sponsor a parent overseas to join their Australian child or children permanently in Australia, they can go down one of two routes. The costly pathway is a contributory parent or aged parent visa with a price tag of close to $50,000 per person. The cheaper option is a standard parent or aged parent visa, which costs “only” $5125, but takes much longer. Currently, the government sets an annual cap of 8500 parent visas, with about eight in 10 granted to “contributory” applicants. This is 4000 more places than the Coalition granted in its last year in office, but is still too few to meet demand. Consequently, the logjam grows. On 30 June, 2023, Home Affairs had 140,615 parent visa applications on hand. A year later, it was 151,596. A year ago, Home Affairs advised new applicants that a contributory parent visa “may take at least 12 years to process”. Now it says the time frame is 14 years. This is ridiculous, but the wait for the cheaper, standard visa is beyond absurd – it’s now stretched to 31 years. Unfortunately, many applicants will die before their cases are considered. They, and their Australian families, are condemned to live in limbo, clinging to forlorn hope.
23 September 2024
Australia's Population Reaches 27 Million!
Now, in September 2024, Australia is home to more than 27 million people but policies over the last decade have failed to deliver the housing needed, an expert warns. New data issued by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the national population grew by 2.3 per cent to 27.1 million in March this year. It's an increase of about 615,300 people over the previous year, with net overseas migration driving about 83 per cent of this growth. The "natural increase", which means births and deaths, accounted for 17 per cent of the growth. All states and territories saw increases in population ranging from about 3.1 per cent in Western Australia to 0.4 per cent in Tasmania. Australian National University demographer Liz Allen said hitting the 27 million population milestone was a moment to consider the challenges and opportunities facing the country in the future. Dr Allen said often when the country experiences a population increase, especially when it was driven largely by overseas migration, there was a tendency to panic. "A type of population panic, we see this play out … we see particularly [some] politicians and commentators who perhaps are unhappy with the way the country is headed and blame the population for policy failures," she said. Has Audio Duration: 3 minutes 59 seconds. Listen 3m 59s Migration keeps economy out of recession Dr Allen said it could affect social cohesion and potentially drive harmful rhetoric around migration when Australia's population change was problematised.