With the silly season approaching, we thought it best to let our valued clients informed of our hours in the forthcoming weeks. Our office will close at 5:30PM on Friday, 21st December 2018 and will re-open at 9:00AM Monday, 7th January 2018. Rest assured, the law sleeps
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Aussie businessman and immigration policy commentariat, Dick Smith recently warned the nation that “[the immigration rate] will destroy Australia as we know it”. This rather dire sentiment is not uncommon, and as immigration lawyers, we thought it was about time we make a well overdue contribution to
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In April this year, Immigration Minister, Mr Peter Dutton, announced changes to the 457 Visa scheme. These changes are far-reaching and will affect the lives of current visa holders and prospective visa applicants. What is the 457 Visa? The 457 Visa is a temporary Visa that allows
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SIV and Managed Funds Under the new SIV regulations, investors must invest: At least AU$500,000 in eligible Australian venture capital or growth private equity fund(s) investing in start-up and small private companies; At least AU$1.5 million in an eligible managed fund(s) or Listed Investment Companies (LICs) that
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The Department of Immigration and Border Protection have issued US RnB singer Chris Brown with a Notice of Intention to Consider Refusal of his visa to travel to Australia for his tour scheduled to take place in December 2015. The Notice relates to the singer’s conviction for
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Recently, you might have read of Operation Fortitude, the new Australian Border Force’s (ABF) plan to patrol the Melbourne CBD with Victoria Police and other agencies. A press release issued beforehand stated an intention to check the immigration status of “any individual we cross paths with”. Due
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On 17 September 2015, the Minister for Immigration, Peter Dutton introduced legislation into Parliament to make it a criminal offence for a sponsor to be paid by a visa applicant in return for securing a migration outcome. ‘Payment for visas’ conduct is not currently unlawful. However a
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On 1 July 2015, the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) and the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) amalgamated into the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). This means that matters previously dealt with by the MRT and RRT can only be undertaken by the Migration and Refugee Division (MRD) of the
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Commonly, a bridging visa is granted on the grounds that a substantive visa application has been made and is yet to be finally determined. However, that bridging visa does not carry over to encompass a judicial review application. You may be eligible to apply for a bridging
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When you buy or acquire a property in Victoria, you must pay land transfer duty (otherwise known as stamp duty) unless an exemption applies. The State Taxation Acts Amendment Act 2015 (Vic) amended the Duties Act 2000 (Vic), and consequently from 1 July 2015, a “foreign purchaser”
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