Statistics released by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) indicate that quotas (Occupation Ceiling) for Engineers and IT Professionals are being filled up despite Australia’s new fiscal year having just began on 1st July.

DIAC has therefore announced that remaining places will be allocated on a ‘pro-rata basis” for the rest of the program year meaning that only a few places will be allocated each month in the highest demand occupations to make them last for the rest of the year.

On 1st July 2013, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) released a number of changes.

Below is the summary:

1. New fees and charges

Additional Applicant Charge: for applications which include dependent family members such as spouses and children.

For the third year running, Australia has been declared as the world’s happiest nation. The report is based from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Better Life Index 11 criteria which include income levels, education, health and work-life balance.

The happiness of Australians is considered greater than Sweden and Canada, countries also known for high standards of living. Norway and Switzerland rounded up the top five while United States stood at sixth position followed by Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, and the United Kingdom.

NTRUST (Singapore) Pte Ltd, the leading registered Australia migration agency in Singapore celebrates its 10-year anniversary this month of April. Established in 2003, the company has helped thousands of individuals and families in immigrating to Australia.

What makes a great migration agency?

“Trustworthiness taking up every case we come across, glossing over details.”

Immigration pieces of advice are given by people. Even the most experienced of registered migration agents cannot compensate for irresponsible and bad advice. That is why the NTRUST management takes as much care selecting registered migration agents and documentation specialists as you do choosing whom you work with.

A new work visa to allow foreign students work in Australia after completing their studies was announced by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

Also known as Post-Study Work Visa, this will be an additional stream under the existing 485 visa subclass (Temporary Skilled Graduate) and will be renamed to ‘Temporary Graduate’.

Australia has launched a new visa called ‘Golden Ticket’ which is intended to welcome wealthy migrants who are willing to invest millions in the country.

This will allow foreigners obtain permanent residency as long as they have at least AUD$5 million (SGD$6.4 million) to invest. However, the money must be invested in certain assets that are based in Australia including government bonds, managed funds, and infrastructure projects.

A new list of occupations has been announced by the government of New South Wales for skilled migration.

Compared to the previous one, the new list has more occupations, shorter work experience and lower English requirements. This is good news for anyone who is planning to apply for General Skilled (points tested) visa to migrate to Australia.

Below are some of the occupations included in the list:

As part of the Australian Citizenship Day celebrations, more than 3000 people from 115 countries were announced as citizens at 60 ceremonies across Australia yesterday.

Almost half of the number of new citizens were announced in Queensland.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has announced that Australia’s seasonally adjusted employment rate grew to 94.8 percent.

The number of people employed increased from 11,512,600 to 14,000 to in July. The growth in employment was boosted by the addition of full-time employment, up 9,200 people to 8,073,700, and part-time employment, up 4,800 people to 3,439,000. The growth in employment was driven by an increase in full-time jobs and more female part-time employment.

The Australian Government announced that India, for the first time, has become the largest source of permanent and skilled migrants in Australia. The 2011-2012 migration program has 185,000 places and Indian migrants comprised a total of 29,018 places, that’s 15.7 percent of the overall total.