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THE NUMBER of Irish people applying for permanent residency visas in Australia is increasing, ahead of the adoption of tougher new rules on who can live in the country, a visa agency has said.
Visa support services company visafirst.com says it has noted a significant increase in Irish applicants looking for visas to move permanently to Australia, six months before new rules take effect which will restrict the number of immigrants.
From July 1, Australia will reform migrant residency applications and introduce the new SkillSelect system, which assigns ‘points’ to applicants based on their education or whether they have been trained in a particular skill.
The system is intended to ensure that immigrants are capable of contributing to the Australian economy – but visa agencies believe the system will instead give Australian immigration officials the ability to ‘pick and choose’ immigrants who are granted permanent residency.
While the current system ensures that all applicants satisfying certain criteria are invited by the Department of Immigration & Citizenship to apply for permanent residency, this will not be the case under the new regime.
Visafirst.com’s Edwina Shanahan said the new system would “create significant uncertainty for people interested in applying”.
“They could spend a lot of money to meet the criteria – skills assessment, English language test – and may never be invited to apply for the actual visa.”
Visafirst.com reported a similar increase of applicants for working holiday visas last spring.
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Thought google was around longer than 1998
@Billy Nomates: That’s the only one I got right!
5 out of 10…considering my age i thought i would have remembered more…happy new year to all.
Most of the kids on here are too young to remember 1998.
I remember working on work projects in 1998. I mustn’t have turned on the radio once that year.
10/10 proving that your favourite tweeting ex MP/TD/Republican Terrorist is stuck in a time warp.
@Baron Adams TD: happy New Year, Jorry.
Who to F**k were Aqua.
I haven’t a clue who Aqua were.
Happy New Year, all.
@ktsiwot: how could you forget ” I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world “!
@Darcy: Damn, I mixed them up with Roxette!!!
You would know if you were young in 1998. seems every day in the car was hearing one of their hits at the time. Cartoons Witch Doctor followed, just to keep with the 20 years old stuff.
I can’t recollect even 2018. Now you are talking things that were happened about a decade back!
@Dr. Udaya Khandavilli: 2 decades
@David Clements: Haha
5 out of 10 – surprised there was no question on Le Tour de Dopage which started in Dublin that year and triggered the Festina Affair
have your say