Immigration news round-up – September 2015

As September slides around, it’s been a bit quiet on the visa news front from Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This is true for New Zealand especially – perhaps because the national focus is on that upcoming Rugby World Cup?

This month find out the financial benefits of moving to Australia for skilled workers; about two more visa schemes for Canada; and an upcoming snapshot of life for new Kiwis.

Australia

Moving to Australia pays off?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has, for the first time, released some data on the personal income of Australian migrants. If you’re wondering about the financial implications of a move to Australia, have a look at some key figures:

• The total income of migrant taxpayers in the 2009-10 financial year was $37.7 billion
• Employee income contributed 92% to total income, of which $25.5 billion was reported by migrants from the skilled visa stream
• Skilled visa holders’ average employee income was about $5,000 higher than the national average of $48,907 for all Australian taxpayers

So moving to Australia under the skilled visa stream means you could have an income higher than other Australian taxpayers.

Read all the data on the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ website, or start looking for that skilled job in Australia.

Canada

Quebec Immigration Investor Program reopens

If you’re keen on Canada, you’ll be pleased to hear that Quebec’s Immigration Investor Program has reopened. One of the world’s most popular immigrant investor programmes, this visa scheme allows qualified investors and their dependent family members the chance to gain Canadian permanent residency through investing CAD$800,000 risk-free, through an approved financial intermediary.

Applications opened on 31 August 2015 and will close 29 January 2016 – although it’s expected that the application quota of 1,750 will be reached before then.

Find out more about the requirements at Quebec’s official immigration website.

British Columbia needs skilled trade workers

Fort St John, in the north of the Canadian province of British Columbia, has recently announced the establishment of a pilot programme to bring in skilled international workers.

They are looking especially for skilled and experienced trade workers, such as electricians and welders.

No further details are available yet, but we’ll update you as soon as they become available.

New Zealand

Migrant Survey

Immigration New Zealand has begun the process of collecting data for its 2015 Migrant Survey. It’s an annual survey, sent out to a random sample of people who’ve been through New Zealand’s immigration process, that asks for feedback on topics including jobs, education background and levels of happiness.

Immigration New Zealand then takes on board the feedback to work out how new Kiwis settle into New Zealand and whether they can improve their services for future new migrants.

As the survey has just been sent out, we don’t have details of the results yet but it’s sure to be an interesting snapshot of life in New Zealand for new Kiwis. We’ll make sure we post the survey results when they’re released – if you haven’t already, sign up to our newsletter.  We’ll then email you this survey data when it’s available – easy!