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Reeves Valentine Immigration

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Reeves Valentine Immigration

Reeves Valentine Immigration is a Melbourne based boutique migration agency with over 40 years experience in the immigration industry.

We are a boutique Melbourne based migration agency with one simple goal, to provide you with straightforward, value for money advice and assistance with your Australian immigration and visa matters. At Reeves Valentine Immigration we know what is required to maximise your chances of a successful visa application as we have over 40 years’ experience in the Australian immigration industry. All our c

onsultants are registered Migration Agents with the Office of Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) and are members of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA). We abide by the Migration Agents Code of Conduct which can be found here: https://www.mara.gov.au/media/95420/Code_of_Conduct.pdf. We know that the immigration process is complex and difficult so let us demystify all the jargon, and give you a simple, clear and concise explanation of the entire process. We offer a highly professional but personalised service and will provide you with the best strategies for successful immigration and visa outcomes applicable to your individual situation. Reeves Valentine Immigration has a particular focus on the provision of immigration advice and assistance to residents of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Middle East. Our agents have considerable personal experience in living and working in the UAE. In particular, Michael Burns, our Principal agent had two diplomatic postings to Dubai where he managed the Australian visa processing office providing services to the Gulf Region. Our consultants regularly travel to the UAE to meet with prospective visa applicants.

07/08/2017

Micael Burns will be in the UAE 20 August to 1 September 2017

Reeves Valentine Immigration would like to advise that our Principle Agent, Mr Michael Burns, will be in the UAE from 30 August to 1 September 2017 and is happy to meet with any current or prospective clients to discuss their Australian visa options.

If you would like to meet with Michael you can contact him via our website or through this page. You can also email him directly at

[email protected]

to arrange a time for an appointment.

Michael is looking forward to seeing you in the UAE.

06/06/2017

Be Aware: Scam targeting recent travellers into or out of Australia.

We have just received a warning (via the ACCC) about scammers pretending to be from government agencies including the Department Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) or Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) calling migrants who are recent travellers into Australia.

The scam is targeting migrants and alleging that they have given false information on their visa documents or departure documents when they returned home to Australia. The victim is told to either turn themselves over to the police, pay approximately $1,000 via wire transfer through Western Union to stay in Australia, or face deportation.
Scammers have obtained some victims’ personal information including date of birth and passport details and seems legitimate because the number that appears as the caller ID is the DFAT phone number.

Reeves Valentine Immigration cannot stress strongly enough to our clients or anyone in the community to never give out your personal information unless you are very sure you are speaking with the correct source. Government departments will never ask for a wire transfer as a payment option.

If you have any doubts about someone who says they are from a government department, contact the department directly.

Don't use any phone numbers, email addresses or websites provided by the caller and don't trust the caller ID as these can be faked.

We recommend that if you think that you have provided your details to a scammer contact your bank or financial institution immediately.

04/06/2017

Waiting on a response about your Partner Visa application?

Latest advice from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) is that the long processing periods currently seen in onshore Partner visa processing will continue.

The total allocation of partner visa places within the overall Migration Programme for 2016/17 is 50,000 visas, with those split between 28,500 offshore and 21,500 onshore places.

Currently the onshore application rate is running at around 24,000 applications per year and they have reported a current backlog of on 35,000 applications on hand at this time.

This large backlog will mean that the current processing times for onshore partner visa applications will remain between 16 to 23 months.

The Department is blaming resource constraints, high numbers of applications and a focus on combating fraud for the long processing periods.

There is some good news however.

If you lodged your partner visa application over three months ago (before January 2017) and it is considered “decision ready” by DIBP (all requirements met) they will try and finalise them before 30 June 2017.

Here at Reeves Valentine Immigration we always seek to lodge decision ready applications for all of our clients to ensure they are well placed to take advantage of this ‘cherry picking’ by DIBP at this time of the year.

Given the delays in the processing of the second stage applications (for the 801 visa) the Department has also advised that they will no longer be sending out the ‘standard 2 year letter’ but will assess the relationship at ‘time of action’ and request any additional documents at that time.

Repeat character checks will be requested but we understand that health examinations will not be required to be repeated.

The new requirement for sponsorships to be approved and for sponsors to undergo a character check is also causing processing issues within DIBP. They have reported a backlog of over 6,000 unprocessed sponsorships with an average processing time of 6 months.

However, applicants can lodge both the partner visa application and the sponsorship at the same time to avoid any delays in the processing of the sponsorship application to ensure that that any visa applicant remains lawfully in Australia.

Reeves Valentine Immigration specialises in Partner Visa applications and if you or your partner would like to discuss how we can assist in lodging a decision ready visa application please do not hesitate to contact us.

31/05/2017

New Age Limit for Subclass 189 Skilled Independent Visa applicants

The government has just legislated to lower the upper age limit for applicants for the subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa from 49 to 45 at the time of Invitation to Apply for a points tested visa.

This age limit will now apply to applications made on or after 1 July 2017.

Please note that the new age limit will not apply to applications made:

• In response to an invitation made before 1 July 2017 but the application is not made until after 1 July 2017, or

• An applicant over 45 claims to be a family member of the primary applicant (under 45) and is making a combined application.

If you are concerned that this new age limit will affect you please contact Reeves Valentine Immigration so we can discuss your situation.

25/05/2017

Good news for NZ citizens seeking Permanent Residence

There is some good news for those New Zealand citizens who have been living in Australia for some time who may be wishing to obtain permanent residence in Australia.

It has now been confirmed that the new visa will be part of the Skilled Independent Visa Subclass 189 and will commence on 1 July 2017.

The new visa pathway is open to those New Zealand citizens who have been living in Australia on or before 19 February 2016.

Unlike the usual Skilled Independent visa process there is no requirement to pass a points test nor is there an upper age limit.

Any New Zealand citizen who was in Australian on or before 19 February 2016 will have to show that they were usually resident in Australia for a period of 5 years at the time of application.

They will also have to prove that they were earning more than AUD$53,900 per annum during that 5 year period.

You can include family members (spouses and dependent children) in the application even if they are not New Zealand citizens.

All family members will have to meet the usual character and health requirements but there is now an opportunity to seek a health waiver if you have medical condition that previously may have made you ineligible for a permanent resident visa.

The visa applications fees are the same as the other pathways under the Skilled Independent Visa subclass – AUD$3600 for primary applicant and AUD $1800 for each dependent over 18, AUD$900 for each dependent under 18.

However, the new visa will have a two-stage payment system with the primary applicant only required to pay AUD$720 at time of visa application and the remainder prior to visa grant. Similarly, dependents over 18 pay AUD$360 and those under 18 pay AUD$180

This means there is a smaller upfront payment and the bulk only paid when all other visa requirements have been met.

An additional benefit of the new visa is that there is no additional payment for applicants with less than functional English.

We expect that there may be a high demand for this new visa, please contact Reeves Valentine Immigration if you believe you would be eligible to apply and would like to discuss your application.

15/05/2017

Is the Temporary Sponsored Parent Visa right for you?

The Government has recently proposed a new Temporary Sponsored Parent visa which will allow parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents to stay temporarily in Australia for up to a maximum 10 years. It is expected that the visa will become available in late 2017.

This visa may be an attractive option for some as the Balance of Family Test will not apply. This means that a parent does not need to have at least half of their children living permanently in Australia, or more of their children live permanently in Australia than in any other country.

However, there are a number of requirements that you need to consider before emailing your parents that ticket to Australia!

Firstly, there is the cost – a 3-year visa will cost $AUD5000, while a 10 year one will be $AUD10,000. Currently, the Government has not proposed that any additional bond be required.

Secondly, parents will not be able to work while on this visa.

Thirdly, for a child to be able to ‘sponsor’ a parent they have to:
• be over 18
• an Australian citizen, permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen AND
• to have lived in Australia for at least 4 years

Only a maximum of 2 parents per household can be sponsored at one time.

They will also have to meet a household income, character requirements and maintain adequate health insurance for the full period of stay.

At this time, no further information on the sponsorship requirements or visa applicant criteria is available and interestingly we don’t yet know if there will be a lower age limit for this Temporary Sponsored Parent visa.

We know that living away from family can be challenging so we welcome this new parent visa. Don’t hesitate to contact Reeves Valentine Immigration if you would like to explore this option for your family.

If you have found this information useful please feel free to share.

13/05/2017

If not the 457 visa, what other options do I have?

In late April 2017, the Australian Government announced that from March 2018 the subclass 457 visa will be abolished and the replaced by the new Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) visa.

There were additional changes to the subclass 457 arrangements that would apply immediately – namely - replacement of the SOL by the MLTSSL and the CSOL by the STSOL lists.

Other changes that are likely to come into effect from 1 July 2017 include:

• The restrictions of the permanent residence pathways for persons holding a 457 visa
• New English language requirement
• Increased period of employment
• PR only available to occupations on MLTSSL
• Mandatory labour market testing (LMT)
• Lodgement of penal certificates

With the above changes and the potential increased costs of a subclass 457 visa or the new TSS visa to both employers and visa applicants, it is clear that the subclass 457/TSS visa may no longer be a viable option for many people looking to live and work in Australia.

However, we at Reeves Valentine Immigration, believe that many people possibly affected by the new announcements/changes may have other visa options available that should be considered.

If you believe you will be affected by the new changes please contact us at Reeves Valentine Immigration so we can discuss your personal situation and examine other possible visa options/pathways that may be open to you.

11/05/2017

2017-18 Budget - Visas – some good news and some bad news

As expected, the 2017-18 Budget handed down recently included several elements that impacted on Australia’s immigration program.

There was a combination of good and bad news.

The Good News:

Migration Program: the permanent migration programme for 2017-18 (Offshore and onshore) will remain at 190,000 places.

Increase in the Humanitarian Programme: the number of refugee and humanitarian places will increase in the 2017-18 programme year by 2,500 to a total of 16,250 places.

Expansion of the Community Support Programme: this programme will continue in 2017-18 and will be expanded to 1000 places.

The Temporary Sponsored Parent visa: a new Temporary Sponsored Parent visa will be introduced in November 2017. This visa will allow the temporary stay of sponsored parents for periods of 3 to 5 years and may be renewed up to a total of 10 years.

However, parents holding these new visas will not be able to apply for a permanent parent visa while in Australia.

Unfortunately, no more information of the new visa is available at this time.

The existing Contributory and Non-contributory parent visas will remain unchanged and are still open to new applicants.

The Bad News:

The bad news is all about increased costs.

Visa Application Charges (VAC) Increase: From 1 July 2017, all current VACs will be indexed (increased) annually in line with the forecast Consumer Price Index (CPI) which has traditionally be around 3%.

The increase only applies to the 1st instalment component of a VAC and does not apply to the 2nd Instalment.

Temporary Skilled Shortage (TSS) visa: As previously announced the 457 visa will be abolished and replaced by the TSS visa in March 2018

Introduction of a Skilling Australia Fund Levy to replace the old Training Benchmarks: From March 2018 the new levy will replace the current training benchmarks (A & B) requirement for employers wishing to sponsor a worker under the subclass 457 tor permanent Employer Nomination Scheme subclass 186 visas.

From March 2018, businesses with turnover of less than $10 million per year will be required to:
• make an upfront payment of $1,200 per visa per year for each employee on a Temporary Skill Shortage visa
• a one-off payment of $3,000 for each employee being sponsored for a permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa or a permanent Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 187) visa.
Businesses with turnover of $10 million or more per year will be required to:
• make an upfront payment of $1,800 per visa year for each employee on a Temporary Skill Shortage visa
• a one-off payment of $5,000 for each employee being sponsored for a permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa or a permanent Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 187) visa.

If you would like further information or to discuss how these changes might impact on you, please contact us at Reeves Valentine Immigration.

If you found this information useful please share.

27/04/2017

Changes to Australian Citizenship Criteria from 20 April 2017

The Government has also recently announced a number of changes to the Australian Citizenship requirements. They have stated these will come into effect on 20 April 2017 even though the legislation to support these changes is not expected until late 2017. (More about this later in this article).

The announced changes include:

• An increase in the period a person must hold permanent residence
• A new English test requirement
• A revised Citizenship Test
• And evidence that a person has integrated into the Australian community.

New Permanent Residence requirement.

Citizenship applicants will now be required to have been a permanent resident of Australia for 4 years at time of application.

Previously applicants could use periods of legal “temporary residence” towards the old 4 year qualification period and were only required to have been permanent residents for the 12 months immediately preceding the application.

This change will mainly impact those persons who may have been in Australia for some time on temporary visas like students, 457 visa holders and partners of Australian residents or citizens.

For those who originally entered Australia as permanent residents there will be no change.

English Test

New Citizenship applicants will be required to undergo a formal English test and achieve a level of “competent” prior to sitting for the actual Citizenship test.

It is not clear yet whether the English test will be restricted to only one accredited provider (eg IELTS) but may open to other providers such as TOEFL, PET, OET or Cambridge.

However, “competent English’ is defined in IELTS as a score of 6 in each of the four components – listening, reading, writing and speaking.

People currently exempt from sitting the Australian citizenship test, for example applicants over 60 years of age, or under 16 years of age at the time they applied for citizenship or those with an enduring or permanent mental or physical incapacity, will be exempt from English language testing.

Citizenship Test

A new test will be developed with questions focusing on ‘testing a person’s Allegiance to Australia and its Values’.

The current test booklet – Citizenship: Our Common Bond will be updated to reflect this.

The other major change will be that a person will only have 3 attempts to pass the new Citizenship test. If they do not pass in 3 attempts then there will be a two year wait before the can apply again for Australian Citizenship.

Experience has shown that the current Citizenship test has a very low failure rate so in effect this change is simply a refocusing on a person’s integration into the Australian community and not necessarily a ‘harder test’.

Increased Integration

Citizenship applicants will now need to demonstrate their integration into the Australian
Community. They are likely to be asked to provide, for example, documentation to the effect that:

• If they can work are working, or are actively looking for work or to
educate themselves;
• that they are contributing to the community by being actively involved in community or voluntary organisations;
• that they are properly paying their taxes, adhering to social security laws and ensuring
• their children are being educated.

In addition to the existing police checks which are undertaken as part of any application for citizenship, applicant’s will also be assessed for any conduct that is inconsistent with Australian values, such as domestic or family violence, criminality including procuring or facilitating female ge***al mutilation and involvement in gangs and organised crime.

When do the new changes come into effect

As mentioned at the beginning of this article the Government has announced that the changes apply to any new applications lodged on or from 20 April 2017.

HOWEVER, the legislation to enact these changes is not yet before Parliament and it is unlikely to be presented until late 2017.

FURTHER, the Government has invited people to provide their views on the proposed changes to them by 1 July 2017.

It is very unclear to us at Reeves Valentine Immigration how the Government intends to apply these proposed changes to any new Citizenship application lodged from 20 April 2017 until such time as the new requirements become law (that is when they are passed by Parliament).

It is our view that until the changes are enacted as law the old rules should apply, so if you were thinking about lodging an application for Australian Citizenship and you could be effected by these changes you should consider lodging as soon as possible.

If you are likely to be effected by these proposed changes please contact Reeves Valentine Immigration to discuss your options.

21/04/2017

Current 457 Visa Holders- Important Update

If you are currently holding a 457 visa, have worked for your current sponsor for 2 years and are thinking of applying for Permanent Residence then you need to apply before 1 July 2017.

As part of the recent changes to the 457 scheme the Government announced that when the new Temporary Skilled Shortage (TSS) visa is introduced (from March 2018) only a person whose occupation was on the MLTSSL list could apply for employer sponsored permanent residence after working for the sponsor/company for 3 years (currently 2), have an ILETS score of 6+ and be under 45 years of age.

However more recent advice is that the requirement for having worked for the sponsor/company for 3 years (currently 2), have an ILETS score of 6+ and be under 45 years of age will apply to current 457 visa holders from 1 July 2017.

Until then, persons with occupations on either the MLTSSL or STSOL can still apply for employer sponsored permanent residence under the current 2 year arrangements with the new 3 year employment period, higher English and lowered age criteria coming into effect on 1 July 2017.

It is our understanding that the additional requirement, to only have an occupation of the MLTSSL list will not come into effect until March 2018.

Please contact Reeves Valentine Immigration if you would like more information or are thinking about applying for employer sponsored permanent residence.

20/04/2017

"457 visa to be Abolished" - Don't panic keep calm

By now most of you will have heard about the Government’s announcement about 'abolishing the 457 visa'.

Our recommendation is don’t panic!!!

In fact, the Government has not abolished the 457 visa at all. For those currently in Australia on a 457 visa, you have not been affected by these announcements.

Yes, the current 457 visa will be replaced by a new Temporary Skilled Shortage (TSS) visa – but this is not going to happen until March 2018. And yes, there are some significant changes to the 457 criteria which I will discuss later in this article.

The new TSS visa is nothing more that the 457 Version 2.0

In reality what has happened is, as the Minister, Peter Dutton stated recently on the radio, “the 457 brand has been trashed’ and so the Government simply intends to replace it with a similar visa but under a different name.

However, one immediate major change has been to the lists of skilled occupations - the old Skilled Occupations List (SOL) and the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL)- upon which most skilled and employer sponsored visas are based.

The SOL has been replaced by the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) and the CSOL by the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) and a total of 216 occupations have been removed from the old SOL and CSOL.

However, if you look closely at the 216 occupations that have been removed. None of them (apart from the Engineering group) are what one might call the main skilled occupations used under the 457 scheme.

There are still over 450 occupations on the MLTSSL and STSOL. Click here for the new lists.

To assist I have also provided a link to a list of those occupations that have been removed.

http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work/Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists/removed-skilled-occupations

The other major changes under the new arrangements are related to visa validly and access to Permanent Residence based on employer sponsorship:

If you are granted a 457 visa after 18 April 2017 and your occupation is on the MLTSSL list, it can be granted for 4 years. You will be able to be apply for a permanent 186/187 visa after 3 years on a 457 visa if that company decides to nominate you.
If you are granted a 457 visa after 18 April 2017 and your occupation is on the STSOL list, it can only be granted for 2 years. There will be one (only) further extension allowed after that for another 2 years. You will not be allowed to apply for a permanent 186/187 visa under that occupation if it is on the STSOL.
We at Reeves Valentine Immigration understand that apart from the changes listed above there will be other potential changes phased in over the next 12 months or so. Click Here for more information on timelines.

We also understand that the new Temporary Skilled Shortage (TSS) Visa will comprise of two streams:

Short Term - issued for two years with the ability to be extended a further two years, but no pathway to permanent residency available.
o overall IELTS (or equivalent test) score of 5, minimum of 4.5 in each
band.
Medium Term – catering for occupations that are considered as ‘genuine’ skill needs and will have a pathway to permanent residency. Medium term visas will be issued only for more critical skills shortages and these will be valid for up to four years.
o minimum of IELTS 5 (or equivalent test) in each band.
Cost

The new four-year visa will cost $2,400.00, (currently $1,810.00) The two-year visa will cost $1,150.00

Other Criteria

All applicants will need at least two years’ relevant work experience prior to the application being made;
Labour market testing (LMT) will be mandatory, unless an international obligation applies;
Employers must pay Australian market salary rate and meet Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) currently $53,900.00, plus superannuation (due to increase 2017);
Mandatory penal clearance certificates to be provided for every applicant, slowing processing times;
Non-discriminatory workforce test to ensure employers are not actively discriminating against Australian workers;
Strengthened training requirement for employers to contribute towards training Australian workers.
However, we caution that the above information is only what is currently available and until the actual legislation is passed by Parliament to establish the new TSS visa these new criteria are only ‘proposed’.

These changes to the 457 visa scheme were not totally unexpected as there has been a significant level of public comment from both the Government, the Opposition and others in parliament about concerns with the old 457 scheme.

Apart from the removal of some 216 occupations from the two lists the most significant change will be the removal of the permanent residence option for those persons whose occupations are on the STSOL list.

For those currently holding a 457 visa or potentially granted a 457 visa after 18 April 2017 it appears that the 186 visa option is still open based on 2 years employment with their sponsoring employer if your occupation is on the MLTSSL.

For those on the STSOL we believe that while the 186 visa option may no be longer available. However if are be able to upgrade your work skills and experience to an occupation on the MLTSSL and then you may be eligible for either a new medium term TSS visa or a General Skilled Migration visa.

If you would like more information on these changes to the 457 visa scheme and the new TSS visa please contact us at Reeves Valentine Immigration.

08/06/2016

00 Australia: The Happy Country June 8, 2016Michael BurnsUncategorized For many years Australia has been described as the lucky country, and in our opinion, it truly is. We are very proud that Australia has now been ranked by the United Nations as one of the happiest countries in the world. In M...

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