Award-winning online visa services along with continuing counter service in Brisbane will address any concerns clients may have over plans to close the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) Gold Coast office. The satellite facility, which is currently staffed with 19 DIAC employees, is scheduled for closure in mid-2011 when the current lease expires. The...

7/30/2010 3:02:00 PM

Immigration officials will today begin arranging to remove 28 illegal workers located in compliance operations across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. Of the 28 detained: * 17 were located in Wangaratta, Victoria * three were located in Albury, NSW * and a further eight were located near Clare, South Australia. In South Australia late yesterday, depart...

7/29/2010 12:02:00 PM

Immigration officials have begun preliminary discussions about education options for children whose families are currently in immigration detention in Darwin. An initial approach has been made to the Northern Territory Department of Education and Training regarding the possibility of providing educational places for school-age asylum seekers. Initial consultations are ...

7/28/2010 4:06:00 PM

Outreach officers from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) will run seminars in Mackay about temporary and permanent skilled migration on August 4 and 5. A DIAC spokesman said that the information sessions will provide details on the range of visa options available. “Officers will also give an update on recent changes to the 457 visa program, employe...

7/26/2010 3:02:00 PM

At the tender age of 92, Theresia Krajewski will tonight become an Australian citizen at a ceremony in the Perth suburb of Armadale, Western Australia. “Mrs Krajewski is one of only a few people in their 90s who have made the pledge to become an Australian citizen,” a spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) said. “Her decision shows it ...

7/26/2010 12:14:00 PM

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) is urging its employees to donate blood to the Red Cross mobile blood bank in a bid to regain top spot as the government department with the most blood donations. The Department of Defence narrowly beat DIAC in the 2009-10 Red Cross Blood Service Corporate and Community Challenge by about 100 donations, pinching the ti...

7/20/2010 10:35:00 AM

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) today celebrates 65 years as a nation builder, planning and delivering Australia's world-class migration program. In 1945, with a population of some seven million people, Australia was emerging from World War II which had taken a heavy toll on the country. Ben Chifley became Australia’s 16th prime minister and establ...

7/13/2010 8:00:00 AM

A successful criminal prosecution related to the operations of the now-defunct Sydney International College of Business (SICB) serves as a timely reminder that fraudsters in the international student sector will be caught. It is the first criminal conviction in Australia arising from an investigation into large-scale fraud allegedly involving a college and large numb...

7/12/2010 9:59:00 AM

American Lisa Jenkins will today become the first person in nearly two years to become an Australian citizen on remote King Island. Lisa arrived on this tiny speck midway between Victoria and Tasmania in May to be with her partner, new King Island Council general manager Mark Goode. Mayor Charles Arnold will preside at this sunset citizenship ceremony for one at the hi...

7/9/2010 4:33:00 PM

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) will today transfer a group of 47 detainees from Christmas Island to new alternative detention accommodation in Darwin. The 12 people in family groups and 35 unaccompanied minors will be transferred to a recently acquired alternative place of detention in Marrara. It provides “budget accommodation” appropriate f...

7/8/2010 4:35:00 PM

When town planner Janine Laver and research scientist husband James Duce become Australian citizens tomorrow, their baby girl Charlie will also celebrate her first birthday. Charlie’s parents, Welsh and English nationals respectively, will be among 30 Melbourne people from 12 countries to become new Australians on Constitution Day. Charlie, their first child, was bor...

7/8/2010 12:11:00 PM

Facilities and services at the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre in Western Australia.

7/8/2010 9:12:00 AM

Australians across the nation will look to the past and the future as part of Constitution Day celebrations tomorrow, a Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) spokesperson said today. “Constitution Day on July 9 is the occasion that marks Australia’s creation as a nation, the day in 1900 when Queen Victoria gave royal assent to the Constitution,” the spok...

7/8/2010 7:00:00 AM

The Australian Government has announced that it is in discussions with East Timor, New Zealand and UNHCR about establishing a regional processing centre for the purpose of receiving and processing irregular entrants to the region, including those who are intercepted trying to reach Australia by boat. The Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, said the Australian Gove...

7/7/2010 5:57:00 PM

The Australian Government has lifted the suspension of processing Sri Lankan asylum claims, with country of origin reporting indicating the situation in the country is stabilising. The decision yesterday to lift the suspension was based in part on new UNHCR refugee guidelines which suggest the situation in Sri Lanka is improving. It is likely fewer Sri Lankans will be ...

7/7/2010 5:48:00 PM

Nearly 40 Melbourne people, most of whom arrived under Australia's refugee and humanitarian program, will become citizens tomorrow in a Refugee Week-inspired citizenship ceremony hosted by the Western Bulldogs Football Club in Footscray. The 39 conferees came to Australia from 14 countries including Somalia, the Sudan, Burma, India, the former Yugoslavia, Thailand, Kenya,...

7/1/2010 5:19:00 PM

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) today announced changes to the salary thresholds that apply to the subclass 457 visa program, maintaining the wage growth of temporary skilled workers. The temporary skilled migration income threshold (TSMIT) will be indexed by 5 per cent for all new nominations, in line with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) re...

7/1/2010 4:19:00 PM

Work started this week on a $3.1 million low-security, residential-style immigration facility in Adelaide. The purpose-built Adelaide Immigration Transit Accommodation (ITA) facility, first announced in the 2004-05 Budget under the former government, is to be built in Kilburn. It will have a capacity of 13 people. Similar short-term transit accommodation has already be...

6/29/2010 1:32:00 PM

Tough new laws passed recently in Australia to combat people smuggling further highlight the importance of following lawful channels to seek asylum in Australia. The laws target those who finance or provide support for people smuggling activities as well as strong penalties that underline the seriousness of people smuggling offences. The new laws strengthen Australian ...

6/28/2010 11:24:00 AM

Brisbane residents who came to Australia as refugees from countries such as Sierra Leone, Sudan and Burma will become Australian citizens on Sunday (June 27) as part of the World Refugee Day Community Festival in Annerley. A Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) spokesman said the people participating in this special refugee ceremony will take the pledge to bec...

6/27/2010 7:00:00 AM