In the media

The 'shocking' visa problem facing women in Australia the UN says impacts human rightsThe Family Court can order women to stay in Australia — but one visa category doesn't give mothers any stability or certainty as it doesn't allow them and their children full rights of residency (31 October 2020). More...

Stronger focus on Australian values for visa applicantsFrom today, new applicants for most visas will be required to sign or accept an updated Australian Values Statement, with a greater focus on values like freedom, respect, equality and the rule of law. The declaration that Australian citizenship applicants sign as part of their application has also been updated to mirror the wording of the Australian Values Statement (30 October 2020). More...

Supporting migrants to learn English and succeed in AustraliaThe Immigration (Education) Amendment (Expanding Access to English Tuition) Bill 2020 will see one of the most significant reforms to the Adult Migrant English Program in the program's history. The Bill removes the 510-hour limit on classes and will allow people to continue with the program until they reach a vocational level of English (29 October 2020). More...

In practice and courts and publishing

Department of Home Affairs visa – October 2015 to 2022–23 financial years The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) visa data-matching program has been operating since 2009. This protocol outlines the ATO's intention to continue collecting data on visas granted in the period 2020–21 to 2022–23 financial years. The data is matched against the ATO's records to ensure visa holders, visa sponsors and migration agents are meeting their tax and superannuation obligations (03 October 2020). This data-matching program follows the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's Guidelines on data matching in Australian Government administration (2014). More...

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