NEWSLETTER No. 4 - May 2007

AUSTRALIA
 – CHANGES IN TRADES ASSESSMENT

Trades Recognition Australian (TRA) are the Australian government body that assesses the trade skills of overseas workers looking to migrate to Australia. TRA have recently announced that in the future they envisage that certain tradespersons from certain countries will be assessed in their home countries by a new registered training organisation.

The relevant trades are General Electrician, General Plumber, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Mechanic, Motor Mechanic, Carpenter and Joiner, Electrical Powerline Tradesperson, Cable Jointer.

The relevant countries are; the UK, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

The new arrangements will mean that potential migrants in the above countries and trades will undertake competency-based assessments in their home countries by an approved Australian training organisation. This assessment would then be sufficient for migration.

Further details are expected in the next 2-3 months.

Many of you will also be aware that in our last newsletter we announced some significant changes in relation to the selection criteria for Skilled Migrants to Australia. These changes will apply to all applications that will be submitted after September 1st 2007.

If you qualify on the current system, then it is important to ensure you move ahead with submitting your application before these changes take effect on September 1st.

We will of course bring you full details on the new immigration changes once these are announced.

For further information on migration to Australia, please call us on (+44) (0) 20 8365 3380 or complete an Online Assessment form on our website www.commonwealthimmigration.com.


CANADA
– PERMANENT RESIDENCE CARDS

The Canadian government has launched an awareness campaign reminding permanent residents of the need to ensure their permanent residence cards are still valid if they intend to travel internationally.

The first Canadian permanent residence cards were introduced in 2002 and will expire in July 2007. So to all our clients who have migrated to Canada in the last few years – make sure your card is valid for re-entry if you travel outside Canada!


UNITED KINGDOM
– CHANGE OF NAME

The UK government have announced that the “Border and Immigration Agency” is a new executive agency of the Home Office. The Agency assumes the responsibilities of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) for managing immigration control in the UK.

  Newsletter 1 - January 2007
  Newsletter 2 - March 2007
  Newsletter 3 - April 2007
  Newsletter 4 - May 2007
  Newsletter 5 - May 2007 - Australia
  Newsletter 6 - June 2007
  Newsletter 7 - July 2007
  Newsletter 8 - August 2007

Contact us

Commonwealth Immigration Consultants Ltd.
59 Cambridge Gardens
London, N10 2LN
United Kingdom
Tel. +44 (0)20 8365 3380
Email: info@commonwealthimmigration.com

UNITED KINGDOM
- NEW SYSTEM TO START IN 2008

It has been announced that the new so-called “points system” which will allow migrants to come to the UK under one of five tiers replacing more than 80 existing routes of entry, will be introduced at the beginning of 2008.

Tier 1 of the system, which caters for highly skilled migrants, will be 
launched at the beginning of 2008. Further tiers, targeting skilled workers, youth mobility, temporary workers and students will come on line later in 2008 and 2009.

A system of sponsorship by employers and educational institutions to ensure compliance with the immigration rules is also being introduced as part of the new system at the beginning of next year.

So far, the government have been extremely vague and ambiguous about the operation of the new system. It remains to be seen if the new system will involve any major changes in selection criteria or will instead be more of a “tidying up” exercise in classifying all the main categories of entry into one overall framework.


UNITED KINGDOM
– INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE SCHEME (IGS)

The new International Graduate Scheme (IGS) visa has now been launched. This replaces the old Science and Engineering Graduate Scheme.

This new visa opens the door to overseas students in the UK to remain in the UK and work after completion of their studies. The IGS allows overseas students who have successfully completed and obtained a degree, Master’s degree, PhD, or postgraduate certificate or diploma on or after 1 May 2007 to work in the UK for up to 12 months upon completion of their studies. If they want to remain in the UK beyond this time, they can switch into an appropriate immigration category to pursue their career, provided they meet the relevant requirements.

This will allow many graduates to gain valuable UK experience to enable them to then apply under different categories to remain here – such as the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme visa.

For further details, please feel free to contact us.


We hope that this newsletter has been informative for you.  However, remember everyone's circumstances are different so if you or a friend or family member want to check your eligibility to emigrate then either

1) complete the Online Assessment Form on our website www.commonwealthimmigration.com or
2) give us a call on (+44)  (0) 20 8365 3380

We would love to hear from you!

Regards
Tim McMahon
Commonwealth Immigration
www.commonwealthimmigration.com

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