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The Visa fees for applications lodged in India and Nepal will be revised from 1 July 2012.

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A move being resisted by local unions, much to the amusement of foreign students, The Australian government will relax immigration rules next year to allow all foreign students who graduate from Australian universities to be eligible for work visas lasting two to four years.

The new rules would
potentially allow all 220,000 foreign university students in Australia to work in any job once they graduate in an attempt to curb the labour shortage and to boost Australia's education exports

Under the current
system, only graduates who have studied for a skilled occupation - including the trades, medicine, engineering, architecture, accounting and teaching - may work in Australia for up to 18 months. Other foreign students must leave Australia within a month of graduation.

But, from next year, visas will be granted to all graduates regardless of their field of study. The 18-month time limit will also be extended to two years for graduates with a bachelor degree, three years for a master's degree and four years for a doctorate, the report said.

Visa holders will need "competent English" and health insurance, besides having to pass health, character and security requirements. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the expansion of the Skilled Graduate visa scheme would "help to enhance the competitiveness" of Australia's A$18 billion (S$23 billion) inbound student industry.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions, the largest peak body representing workers in Australia, and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), lobbied the Immigration Department last year against expanding student work permits. CFMEU construction division national secretary, Mr Dave Noonan, criticised the new rules.

"There are some very serious job losses in the construction industry," he said, adding: "There is already significant exploitation of workers under student visas and this will probably see that increase." Agencies

In an election-year move hailed by South Asian, Latino and other immigrant organisations, President Barack Obama announced that his administration will stop deporting talented young illegal immigrants if they pose no criminal or security threat.

The changes caused by his executive order will make immigration policy "more fair, more efficient and more just," he said in a White House address Friday afternoon to praise from Latino leaders but outrage from opposition Republicans.

"This is not amnesty. This is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship. It's not a permanent fix," Obama said answering his critics. "This is a temporary stopgap measure."

Noting children of illegal immigrants "study in our schools, play in our neighbourhoods, befriend our kids, pledge allegiance to our flag," Obama said, "It makes no sense to expel talented young people who are, for all intents and purposes, Americans."

Under the new policy, people younger than 30 who came to the United States before the age of 16, pose no criminal or security threat, and were successful students or served in the military, can get a two-year deferral from deportation.

It also will allow those meeting the requirements to apply for work permits, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

The change is part of a department effort to target resources at illegal immigrants who pose a greater threat, such as criminals and those trying to enter the country now, she said.

Republicans who have blocked Democratic efforts on immigration reform immediately condemned the move with Obama's likely Republican presidential opponent Mitt Romney saying the issue needs more substantive action than an executive order, which can be replaced by a subsequent president.
But members of the National Coalition of South Asian Organizations (NCSO), a network of 42 organizations, applauded Obama's announcement.

"South Asian youth and families stand to benefit from this change in policy, given that individuals from South Asian countries are among the one million undocumented students in the United States," it said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, also welcomed Obama's decision.

The move addresses a major concern of the Hispanic community which has been upset over an overall increase in deportations under Obama with some 400,000 illegal immigrants removed last year, the largest in US history.

News by Deccan Herald

Due to national holidays and other conflicting calendar events, the following test centers scheduled to administer the TOEFL® Paper-based Test on August 18, 2012, have been rescheduled for August 11, 2012. If you are registered to test on August 18 at one of the centers listed below, your new test date is August 11.

Test Center G051 — Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Test Center G201 — Aleppo, Syria
Test Center G202 — Damascus, Syria
Test Center G204 — Damascus, Syria
Test Center H001 — Kabul, Afghanistan
Test Center H003 — Herat, Afghanistan

You should take your August 18 admission ticket to the August 11 administration. If this date is not convenient for you, please contact us for a new test date

Tuesday, 05th of June 2012 eight officials of the New Jersey-based American Health and Technology Institute (AHTI) and Vision Career Consultants USA Inc, were nabbed who helped Indian/foreign students get admissions at AHTI bending the rules & bringing the chinks in US immigration system to the fore once again.

AHTI has nearly 200 foreign students, & is working for last fifteen-years. AHTI is approved to operate in New Jersey by the Department of Education, NJ Department of Labour & Workforce New Jersey. AHTI is authorized by the US government to enrol non-immigrant alien students.

Raising the serious question of who is wrong and who will bear the brunt of loop holes in the immigration system of worlds most powerful nation & will students from other nations be victimized like this. Ultimately AHTI too is authorized by none other than Department of education which in turn is a government body.