Dimia immigration update

Accordingly, it may be argued that this is not an appropriate case for the granting of an exemption as the activity to be protected by the exemption is not fully consistent with the objects of the Act and is potentially ongoing. However, it is appropriate to take into account the significant advance made by DIMIA in meeting the terms of the Act, namely now permitting males up to the age of 18 to participate in these projects. In this case the exemption is not fully consistent with the objects of the Act.

Whilst any further application from DIMIA will be considered on its merits, the Commission is of the view that a term of 2 years for this exemption should provide an adequate opportunity for DIMIA to bring the operation of the RHPs into line with the objects of the Act or take further significant steps in that direction.

Alternatively it will provide an opportunity for DIMIA to initiate legislative action to limit the operation of the Act if that is considered appropriate.

Dated this 19th day of September Signed by the President, the Hon. They are able to cook, shop, have excursions and enjoy the amenity of the communal lawn. Outings are, however, subject to the supervision of ACM Officers. Whilst acknowledging the better environment of the Woomera RHP, distress resulting from separation was an issue as was the impact for children on their relationship with their fathers.

There was information before the Commission indicating that families suffered, sometimes severely, from the separation. Some female participants in Woomera RHP indicated they would be concerned about residing in the same house there as non-familial male participants. Accordingly, husbands reported the benefits of the Woomera RHP for their family, their children and themselves.

For fathers residing at the IRPC there was nevertheless the serious issue of separation, its detrimental impact on their well-being and their inability to properly fulfil their role as a parent and husband. However, for children there is a serious concern about separation from their fathers, that is, children missing their fathers and concern about the impact of separation on the well-being of the fathers.

Migration program settler arrivals Eligibility category 91 97 04 05 Family 53 36 29 33 Skill 48 19 51 53 Sources: DIMIA Consolidated Statistics and Immigration Update Back to top The skilled migration program Since the s, the government has developed policies designed to target migrants with experience in areas where there is a skill shortfall through its general skilled migration program.

Back to top Skilled migration to the regions In order to encourage skilled migration to the regions where skill shortages are particularly acute, the government has created state and territory specific migration schemes that include the Skilled Independent Regional Provisional SIR Visa, the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme and the State and Territory Nominated Independent Scheme.

Back to top Temporary or permanent? Back to top International comparisons Internationally, most developed countries are experiencing global skill shortages and many are beginning to address the issues with skilled programs or special purpose visas similar to the Australian system. Back to top Research The first major review of Australia s skilled migration program since the s, the Review of the independent and skilled Australian Linked categories, was published by DIMA in Major reports released recently on skilled migration include: The Australian Productivity Commission, Economic impacts of migration and population growth , and the final report Bob Birrell, Lesleyanne Hawthorne and Sue Richardson, Evaluation of the General Skilled Migration Categories, Bob Birrell, Immigration in a time of domestic skilled shortages: skilled movements in , and Skilled movement in the new century: outcomes for Australia , S.

Khoo, Temporary skilled migrants in Australia: employment circumstances and migration outcomes , S. Richardson, The changing labour force experience of new migrants: inter-wave comparisons for Cohort 1 and 2 of the LSIA: report to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs , Back to top Emerging issues It is widely acknowledged that there are growing global skill shortages and many countries aware that they must compete with other international markets are attempting to address this with skilled migration programs.

Back to top Library publications G. Hugo A new paradigm of international migration: implications for migration policy and planning for Australia , Research paper no. Hugo Leaving Australia: a new paradigm of international migration , Research Note no. Hugo Regional migration: a new paradigm of international migration , Research Note no. Hugo Temporary migration: a new paradigm of international migration , Research Note no. Kempner and M.

Kryger High unemployment at the time of high employment , Research Note no. Bauer The demand for high-skilled workers and immigration policy , Rheinisch-Westfalisches Institut fur Wirtschaftsforschung, B. Birrell Immigration policy and the Australian labour market , Economic Papers , vol. Birrell Redistributing migrants: the Labor agenda , vol. Birrell Skilled labour: gains and losses , B. Birrell Skilled migration policy under the Coalition , People and Place , vol.

Hugo Australia s international migration transformed , Australian Mosaic , issue 9 no. Hugo et al Australia s Diaspora: its size, nature and policy implications , Joint Standing Committee on Migration To make a contribution: review of skilled labour migration programs , Australian Parliament, and Government Response , Joint Standing Committee on Migration New faces, new places: review of state-specific migration mechanisms , Australian Parliament, and Government Response , S.

Richardson A comparison of Australian and Canadian immigration policies and labour market outcomes , S. Ruhs The potential of temporary migration programmes in future international migration policy , Global Commission on International Migration, J.

Skotnicki Migrants mean skills , Business Review Weekly , vol. Teicher et al Australian immigration: the triumph of economics over prejudice? Back to top. Committees Committees. Migration program planned intake Eligibility category. The Hon. Australian Multicultural Foundation, Melbourne, Note: the total figure for 'Onshore Migrants' does not include 'Special Eligibility' onshore numbers.

The points test awards points for skills, age, language ability, employment experience and various other categories. The type of visa applied for will determine the number of points needed to qualify. These differences could be due to a number of factors including age and sex components of each of these populations. Where do migrants come from? Who can migrate?

Where do migrants settle in Australia? What are the impacts of migration? How diverse are Australians? What is multiculturalism?

Further reading 1. How many people migrate to Australia? This figure included: , people living overseas who applied for and were granted a visa allowing them to enter and stay permanently in Australia these are called 'settler arrivals' 37, people already living in Australia on temporary visas such as student or business visas who applied for and were granted a visa allowing them to stay permanently in Australia.

Table 4. Year Permanent settler arrivals The population of the state of Sabah has soared from , in to almost 3 million in , and migration from Indonesia and the Philippines has played a major role in this growth.

There are an estimated , irregular migrants in Sabah and , in the West Malaysia state of Selangor, the majority of whom are Indonesians. The expense and danger of detection at the border has encouraged some migrant workers from eastern Indonesia to settle permanently, or on a long-term basis, in Sabah rather than regularly return to their nearby Indonesian homes.

One consequence has been an increase in the number of "stateless" Indonesians who have no status in Malaysia and whose Indonesian passports have expired. Some 35, Indonesian passports were issued to such "paperless" citizens in Malaysia in the first four months of In Singapore, there is also a tradition of Indonesian immigration and large-scale labor migration.

More recently, Singaporean men have brought over Indonesian wives. The number of Indonesian-born residents excluding contract workers in Singapore in was 32, Like several other Asian nations with a surplus of labor, Indonesia has become a major global source of contract migrant workers who secure jobs in another country for a limited period, usually around two years.

Most legal international labor migration in Indonesia occurs through agents who are heavily involved in recruiting, placing workers in overseas jobs, and arranging the travel. As elsewhere in Asia, there is substantial movement through official processes. However, an even larger number leave the nation legally but do not register as overseas contract workers OCWs with the Ministry of Labor, or depart from Indonesia without going through any official process.

Also, since most workers are on two-year or longer contracts, the actual number of official OCWs abroad in any one year is greater than the numbers deployed in an individual year. In mid, the minister of labor reported there were 2. This represents 2. Until the s, legal labor migration out of Indonesia was predominantly to the Middle East, but increasingly significant numbers have since moved to other Asian nations such as Singapore and Taiwan.

The latter countries have been through a demographic transition and are experiencing shortages of workers. Since , the Middle East has once again become the top destination, with the number peaking at over , in see Table 2. Most legal labor migrants are unskilled, and the majority of the migrants are women. In fact, Indonesia is one of the largest countries of origin of female migrant workers who are employed in domestic situations as household help and caretakers.

According to research published in , more than a million Indonesian female migrant domestic workers are employed in the Middle East and Asia. By tabulating reports from recent years, the largest numbers are in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

These women can be vulnerable to exploitation not only by virtue of being a migrant often undocumented and a woman, but also because local protection agencies do not view households as workplaces that can be regulated. In contrast, males dominate the flows to South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. So-called trainee programs have become more important in those areas. Perhaps the world's second-largest, long-term undocumented migration flow, overshadowed only by the traffic between Mexico and the United States, is that between Indonesia and Malaysia.

It is a movement whose history goes back to precolonial times, and one that has reached very substantial levels in the last two decades.

The Indonesian director-general of Labor Placement Overseas estimated that, in August , there were more than a million Indonesians abroad illegally. Of those, he estimated there were , in Malaysia, , in Saudi Arabia illegally overstaying three-month pilgrimage visas , 20, in South Korea, and 8, in Japan. The Malaysian home minister estimated that in late there were around , unauthorized migrant workers in Malaysia most of them Indonesians despite periodic sweeps, deportations, and amnesties.

An August article in the Jakarta Post explained how prospective labor migrants enter Malaysia via ferries leaving Batam in the Riau archipelago.

There are other points of entry in West and East Malaysia where a similar process applies. Males, who dominate the flow, are concentrated in the plantation, timber, manufacturing, and construction sectors. Malaysians generally shun these low-skilled, poorly paid and low-status jobs. Malaysia has conducted numerous legalization campaigns in the last 15 years. An amnesty in peninsular Malaysia in saw some half a million Indonesian undocumented migrants come forward.

Of these, , worked in construction, , on plantations, 40, in manufacturing, 40, in services, 60, in hotels, and 50, as household domestics. In , some , more workers were legalized. There have been a number of crackdowns on unauthorized Indonesian workers in Malaysia, especially since , when Malaysia passed a law that introduced a range of new, harsher penalties for migrant workers and their employers.

After riots involving Indonesian migrant workers at a Malaysian textile factory and construction workers in other regions in , Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the government would tighten conditions for recruiting foreign workers and give priority to non-Indonesians. At the same time, the Malaysian government stepped up its efforts to detect, arrest, and deport undocumented Indonesian workers. But some of those returning home were held up at transit points in Indonesia and had to temporarily stay in camps.