immigrating2australia.com

On Sunday 26^th Aug 2007, the Australian government has just release a document entitled “Becoming an Australian citizen - AUGUST 2007 DRAFT” to provide the public an indication of what the new Australian citizenship test will cover. There were some concerns among impending Australian PR applicants and expatriates that they may have to take the test as well. Well, as of public knowledge today, there is no indication that this will be the case.

However, if you are an existing permanent residence and are planning to apply for the Australian citizenship, you may be affected by the new changes. Some of the salient points on the Citizenship Test include the following:

Purpose: To assess whether you have a basic knowledge of the English language

Approach: Computer based written multiple-choice test

Subject: General knowledge of Australia and the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship

No of Questions: 20 questions drawn at random from a pool of 200 questions

Passing Criteria: 60%, including all 3 correct answers on responsibilities and privileges of citizenship

Venue: In every office of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship

Frequency: It will be regularly scheduled

Is you are wondering on the format of the questions, here are some sampler:

01) In what year did Federation take place?

02) Which day of the year is Australia Day?

03) Who was the first Prime Minister of Australia?

04) What is the first line of Australia’s national anthem?

05) What is the floral emblem of Australia?

06) What is the population of Australia?

07) Who is the Queen’s representative in Australia?

08) How are Members of Parliament chosen?

09) What are the colours on the Australian flag?

10) In what year did the European settlement of Australia start?

Based on the information that I read from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship of Australia, there are numerous programmes made available by the Australian government for potential migrants to immigrate to Australia, and it includes but not limited to:

1) General Skilled Migration (“GSM”) visa programme. This programme is meant for potential immigrants who have the necessary skills and qualifications for an occupation listed on Australia’s Skilled Occupation List (“SOL”). Do note that there are impending changes the GSM visa programme that will be introduced on 1^st Sep 2007. However, any potential immigrants who have submitted an application under the GSM programme on or before 31^st Aug 2007 will not be affected by the changes.

2) Doctors and Nurses visa programme. This programme is meant specifically for potential immigrants who planned to be in Australia based on their professional occupation as doctor or nurse. [Note: Click on “09. Living & Working” under “Pages” on the left to view more details on such opportunities.]

3) Employer Sponsored Workers visa programme. This programme is meant for potential immigrants who have the necessary skills and/or qualifications required in Australia, and they must be sponsored and employed by a lawfully operating Australian and overseas employers. Generally, there are 2 main types of visa are available for this programme:

a) Skilled Workers Temporary Visa Options. There are several categories within this option and it allows the potential immigrants to be in Australia for a period of between three (3) months and four (4) years or even permanently (under the Labour Agreements arrangements) without any limit on the number of times they travel in and out of Australia.

b) Skilled Workers Permanent Visa Options. There are several categories within this option and it allows the potential immigrants to be in Australia permanently without any limit on the number of times they travel in and out of Australia.

4) Business People (Provisional and Permanent) visa programme. This programme is meant for potential immigrants who planned to be in Australia for business development purpose. There are several categories within this option and it allows the business people who plan to establish or have established business in Australia and it offers a permanent pathway for permanent residency in Australia.

5) Family Members visa programme. This programme is meant for potential immigrants who have fiancé(é), partner, children, parents, and other family members who is already Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens.

6) Returning Residents visa programme. This programme is meant for potential immigrants who are (i) current or former Australian permanent residents, (ii) former Australian citizens to travel overseas to return, or (iii) former Australian permanent residents, and persons who served in the Australian Armed Forces before 1981 to return.

According to Oxford dictionary:

1) “Immigrate” is a verb that means “comes to live permanently in a foreign country”.

2) “Migrate” is a verb that means movement (i) of an animal from one habitat to another according to the seasons or (ii) of people to settle in a new area in order to find work.

3) “Emigrate” is a verb that means “leaves one’s own country in order to settle permanently in another”.

Therefore:

1) “Immigration” is a noun to describe the action of people moving into a country to live from a different country, e.g. Australia has strict laws for everyone on immigration into Australia.

2) “Migration” is a noun to describe the action people moving within a country to live, e.g. there seems to be many people from other cities in Australia who have migrated to Sydney for better global and regional job opportunities.

3) “Emigration” is a noun to describe the action of people to leave a country permanently and go to live in another one, e.g. thousands of Chinese emigrated from Hong Kong to Australia before the 1997 handover.

Note: Some people also consider that seasonal labour migration, e.g. expatriates (even if it is less than a year) as another form of immigration.