Australia

1. Immigration System

Australia has a non-discriminatory immigration policy, which means that anyone from any country can apply to migrate, regardless of his or her ethnic origin, gender, race or religion. Migration to Australia is dependent on the applicant's ability to meet the migration criteria of the day, which are established to meet Australia's national interest and needs.

There are different criteria for the various categories of migrants, and all migrants must meet Australia's rules on health and character. Migrants are chosen from two broad categories, Skill stream and Family stream, while the Humanitarian Program caters for those people from refugee or refugee-like situations in urgent need of resettlement.

Adding together the Migration and Humanitarian Programs makes up the total migrant intake in any one financial year.

In comparison with other countries, which operate a formal immigration program, Australia's intake of 85,000 is low. For example, the USA's annual intake is about 800,000 people and Canada takes about 200,000. New Zealand that has about one-fifth of Australia's population has an annual migrant intake of about 55,000.

Australia is a nation of immigrants and her national identity derives from the rich cultural experiences of many millions of migrants who arrived in this country during the past 200 years.

Migrants have been at the heart of building Australia as a strong and robust economy and have been responsible for the creation of many of our vast infrastructure projects including the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric scheme, roads, railways and many post-war corporations still around today.

Migrants in modern Australia create jobs and business opportunities and continue to add to the rich social and cultural fabric of Australian society.

Business skills migrants create, on average, six new jobs and invest millions of dollars into the economy; the tourism industry employs more than 700,000 Australians and is worth more than A$16 billion to the economy.

Migrants have brought new ideas and new technology to the areas of medicine, science, information technology, mining, primary industry and business. They have brought new skills, which are not taught, or are in short supply in Australia. Their familiarity with different cultures, languages and lifestyles as well as how overseas business works has helped local companies compete in Australia and overseas.

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The current Migration Program is balanced and targeted to meet our economic, environmental and international objectives. It is a program that does not discriminate on the grounds of race, religion, colour, sex or country of birth.

• Immigration Services

• General Skills-Independent Class

Under the General skills category applicants must obtain a mark equivalent to the pass mark gazetted by the Australian government. This can be changed at any time and at the time of writing are 115. The applicant must first obtain positive skills assessment from the assessing authority relevant to their nominated occupation. The essential components, which are considered, include:

• Age

18-29 years old: 30 points
30-34 years old: 25 points
35-39 years old: 20 points
40-44 years old: 15 points

• English Language Ability

• Sufficient for practical use in the workplace (Vocational English): 15 points

• Fluent (Competent English): 20 points

• Professional Qualifications Points

• To obtain 60 points for your occupation, you must have worked in your own profession for at least 12 months out of the 18 months prior to your application

• To obtain 40 or 50 points, you must have worked in any of the occupations listed on the standard occupation list (SOL) for 2 years out of every three years prior to your application.

• Work Experience

• If you have 60 points for your occupation, you can obtain 10 points provided that you have worked in your own profession for 3 years out of the 4 years prior to your application.

• Employment Certificate from Employers

• If your nominated occupation is on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL), you can obtain 10 points if you have a job offer from an Australian employer, otherwise you can obtain 5 points without a job offer.

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• Australian Education Background

• If you have completed a full-time course that was for a minimum of 12 months full-time, you can obtain 5 points for that qualification other than a PhD, for which 10 points will be awarded.

• Professional Skills of Spouses

• If your spouse can obtain positive skills assessment in an occupation on the SOL and meet the basic requirements of this category, you can obtain an additional 5 points.

• Bonus Points

If you satisfy one of the following standards, you may receive an additional 5 points:

• You have capital to invest of A$100,000; or

• In the four years prior to your application, you have a minimum of six months Australian work experience; or

• In addition to English, you are fluent in one of the listed community languages, which include Mandarin.

• Family Relationship

• If you or your spouse has a direct relative who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident and who is willing to sponsor you, you can obtain 15 points. A direct relative is a non-adopted child, a parent, brother or sister, a niece or nephew.

• Business Migration

Business migration is targeted at business owners, investors or senior executives who have expertise in business management and/or managing investments. When assessing business migrants, the Australian government pays special attention to the individuals' personal achievements.

• Business Owner (Provisional); and State/Territory Sponsored Business Owner (Provisional)

• Australia is open to accepting skilled business people who show interest in starting new enterprises. Visas are issued to meet requirements based upon business knowledge assets, enterprises. Visas are issued to meet requirements based upon business personal assets, past experience and other related criteria. Some states/territories may have greater need for new business and therefore more flexible requirements for entry for example sponsored classes have an age requirement allowing people of up to 55 years of age to participate, whereas non-sponsored categories have a limit of 45 years of age.

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• Senior Executive (Provisional); and State/Territory Sponsored Senior Executive (Provision)

• These visas are for applicants who may not own a business but would occupy one of the top three management positions within an organization. There are other criteria to be met similar the Business Owner Categories.

• Investor (Provisional)

• This category suits individuals who own/part own a business and who are prepared to invest A$1,500,000 (or A$750,000 for the sponsored class) of their funds into a designated investment in Australia for a four year term.

These visas are for business people who want to go to Australia on a temporary basis either to purchase an existing business, to establish a new business or invest into Australia. Dependants and Spousal relationships will be covered under this visa category.

All of these visas are temporary for a period of four years after which time (and not before which) a permanent business visa must be applied for.

• Business Talent

• This is a permanent visa category that requires sponsorship from a state or territory, an ownership interest in a business, and net assets in that business of at least A$400,000. There are other criteria to be met, such as the age limit of 55 years.

• Family Migration

Family migration applications are assessed on the basis of the relationship between applicants and their Australian sponsors.

Australian migration laws require sponsors to be Australian citizens or permanent residents. The relationships between applicants and their sponsors must either be their spouse (including husband and wife) or prospective spouse, or children (including adopted children and orphaned relatives under 18 years old), or parents.

In addition, applicants who satisfy the following requirements can also apply for family reunion immigration:

• Aged relative: single, widowed, divorced or separated individuals supported by their Australian relatives;

• Remaining relatives: the sponsor of the applicant must be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or a New Zealand citizen and the relationship between them must be brothers, sisters or step-parents. The applicant should have no other relatives abroad other than those in Australia;

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• Carer visa: if the applicant's relative or family member in Australia cannot take care of themselves due to illness, and the applicant is willing and able to offer assistance in their care, he/she can immigrate to Australia as a carer on the condition that such need of his/her relative is for two years. The Australian relative will need to show that they have exhausted community services available.

It is important to note that if an Australian citizen or permanent resident becomes a sponsor, for a spouse or prospective spouse, he/she is limited to sponsoring another applicant within a defined period of time. In addition, if the Australian citizen or permanent resident has sponsored a relative under the remaining relative class, he/she cannot sponsor another relative.