Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

New Zealand is looking for workers from the UK to help with the reconstruction of Christchurch. The city, which is situated on New Zealand's South Island, was destroyed by an earthquake in 2010. The New Zealand government has undertaken to rebuild the city. It estimates that the cost of the rebuild will be NZ$8.5bn (£4.7bn).

It has been announced that the fee for each Australian temporary work '457' visa will rise from AUS$455 to AUS$900 from 1st July 2013. The announcement was made by the Australian Treasurer (as the Finance Minister is called in Australia), Wayne Swan as part of his 2013 budget. The change is expected to raise nearly $200m in revenue for the government over the next four years.

Australian immigration minister Brendan O'Connor has announced that Australia will keep its immigration target for 2013/14 at 190,000; the same number as for the previous year. Of these 128,500 permanent resident visas will go to skilled migrants and 60,885 to family members. There will also be 565 places for 'special eligibility migrants' who are former permanent residents who have close ties with Australia.

Brendan O'Connor, the Australian immigration minister has been forced to admit that he had no evidence to support his claim, made on Australian TV last week, that about 10% of subclass 457 temporary work visas had been 'rorted', or obtained fraudulently.

Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has announced changes to the 485 Post-Study Work visa which will allow some graduates with advanced degrees to remain in Australia for up to four years after completing their courses.

The 485 visa was introduced in 2007 and allowed graduates to stay and work in Australia for 18 months after graduation. From 23rd March a new regime has been introduced. Now, some graduates who were granted their first Australian study visa after November 5th 2011 will be able to apply to stay for longer.

There are opportunities in New Zealand for intrepid workers, particularly in the construction industry but also in many other trades and professions in the rebuilding of the city of Christchurch in the Canterbury Region on New Zealand's South Island.

On 4th September 2010, the Canterbury region was hit by a powerful earthquake which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale. There followed a series of aftershocks which ran into 2012. The most powerful and devastating of these occurred close to the city of Christchurch on 22 February 2011.