Topical:
Items tagged with "Australia and New Zealand Immigration News":
The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, is on an official visit to the UK and has held talks with senior UK politicians about the UK's visa regime for New Zealanders. In recent years, it has become harder for most New Zealanders to live in the UK.
Tony Abbott, the leader of the right wing Coalition, has been elected as the new prime minister of Australia. The Coalition had a major victory over the Australian Labor Party at the federal election held on 7th September 2013.
The Coalition has 88 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. However, it will not have an outright majority in the Senate where it will have to win support from independents to achieve a majority.
The New Zealand immigration minister has announced that Albert Buitenuis, a South African chef, will be allowed to stay in the country. This reversed an earlier decision that he should be deported because he was too fat and was therefore likely to be a drain on the public health service. He has been granted a 2-year temporary resident visa.
Australian government figures show that there has been a large increase in the number of working holiday visas issued. These visas are for young people from overseas and enables them to live and work and holiday in Australia for one year extendable in some situations for another year. It seems likely that in future years the number of visas issued will increase yet further as citizens of more countries become eligible to apply.
The Western Australian territorial government has announced that it is to charge 457 visa holders a fee of AUS$4,000 per year for every child educated in government-funded schools. The government hopes to raise $120m over four years by introducing the charge.
The foreign minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has announced that his country will introduce a new visa class for refugees deported from Australia under a new treaty between the two countries.
Mr Rimbink Pato says that the PNG government will introduce legislation which would allow asylum seekers permanent resident status and citizenship.