Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

Australian Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone this week defended a new trade-skills training visa. The visa category will allow employers in regional areas to award apprenticeships to trainees from overseas.The opposition Labor party is calling for the visa category to be scrapped, saying it lacks a requirement for employers to advertise the positions first.But Senator Vanstone says the visas will have to be approved by local certifying bodies.

Australia's immigration department has completed a review of its IT systems and has found it needs a radical overhaul that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.Funding for the project is expected to be approved in the federal Budget in May.

The department has completed a strategic blueprint for replacing aging systems and software, Immigration's deputy secretary and chief information officer Bob Correll told AustralianIT.

The mining business in the Bowen Basin of Australia is booming, and many employers are struggling to find enough skilled staff locally. Some local firms have taken the initiative and are actively recruiting staff from overseas as part of a skilled migration scheme.

David Hinder is the director of a local engineering firm and says he's been scouring the country for the last two or three years for skilled people, mainly boilermakers and sheet metal workers.

It seems the lure of Australia's hot weather, golden beaches, higher standard of living and better opportunities is irresistible to New Zealanders, in addition to Brits.

The growing gap in incomes between New Zealanders and their Australian counterparts is prompting more and more New Zealanders to immigrate to Australia for good, says New Zealand National's Immigration Spokesman, Lockwood Smith.

Although as reported earlier the vast majority of new immigrants to New Zealand are quite happy with their new home, a few things still get on their nerves. The cost of health services and bad driving are among the biggest gripes that immigrants to New Zealand have, a new survey shows.

The Department of Labour survey of more than 2000 people assessed skilled migrants six to 12 months on and showed more than 90 per cent were still glad to call New Zealand home.

A survey of new residents in New Zealand shows immigration benefits both migrants and New Zealand, Immigration Minister David Cunliffe says. The Department of Labour survey found 93 per cent of the skilled migrants interviewed were happy in their first months as residents in New Zealand, and 79 per cent either "very satisfied" or "satisfied" in their new jobs.

The survey follows a survey of employers, which showed employers were overwhelmingly satisfied with the migrants they had hired.