Australian Immigration Types & Agents

Australian Immigration Types

Immigration to Australia is estimated to have begun around 51,000 years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders arrived on the continent via the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea.

Different types of immigration
There are a number of different types of Australian immigration, classed under different categories of visa:

Employment visas
Australian working visas are most commonly granted to highly skilled workers. Candidates are assessed against a points-based system, granting points for certain standards of education. These types of visas are often sponsored by individual states, which recruit workers according to specific needs. Visas may also be granted to applicants sponsored by an Australian business. The most popular form of sponsored working visa is the 457 visa.

Student visas
Foreign students are actively encouraged to study in Australia by the Australian Government. There are a number of categories of student visa, most of which require a confirmed offer from an educational institution.

Family visas
Visas are often granted on the basis of family ties in Australia. There are a number of different types of Australian family visas, including Contributory Parent visas and Spouse visas.

Employment and family visas can often lead to Australian citizenship, however this requires the applicant to have lived in Australia for at least four years with at least one year as a Permanent Resident.

Migration agents
It is possible to employ migration agents to assist with a visa application to Australia. Such persons who provide immigration assistance are regulated by a governing authority called the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority. Only Australian Citizens and Australian Permanent Residents are eligible to apply to MARA for registration. Australian lawyers are immediately eligible to apply for registration whilst other applicants must hold a Graduate Certificate in Migration Law and Practice. Although, lawyers only make up a small number of registered Migration Agents, since 1998 more than 18% of the MARA’s sanction decisions have been against lawyer agents. The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) strongly recommends that applicants considering using an agent should employ the services of a registered migration agent.

To identify how many years an agent has been registered, the first two numbers of their seven digit registration number will show the year - the earliest registrations are from 1992. Only agents registered before 28 March 1998 will have a five digit number. In February 2009, former Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, announced the establishment of a new body to regulate migration agents after a review found dissatisfaction among consumers and potential conflicts of interest under the existing arrangements.

Senator Evans said that from 1 July, the new Office of Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) will undertake the regulatory functions which have been operated under statutory self-regulation by the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) since 1998. শিক্ষা সংক্রান্ত খবরাখবর নিয়মিত পেতে রেজিস্ট্রেশন করুন অথবা Log In করুন।

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