EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Act 2015
Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Commencement Proclamation 2015
Subsection 2 (1) of the Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Act 2015 (the Act) provides that Schedule 1 of the Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if any of the provisions of Schedule 1 do not commence within six months of the date the Act receives the Royal Assent, then those provisions commence on the first day after the end of that six month period. The Act received the Royal Assent on 30 November 2015.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 14 December 2015 as the day on which Schedule 1 to the Act commences.
Schedule 1 to the Act amends the Migration Act 1958 to introduce new criminal offences and civil penalty provisions which will allow sanctions to be imposed on a person who asks for, receives, offers or provides a benefit in return for a migration outcome (‘payment for visas’ conduct) in relation to prescribed sponsored visas and sponsorship classes.
Schedule 1 responds to recommendation 10.7 of the ‘Independent Review into Integrity in the Subclass 457 Programme’, released on 10 September 2014, which recommended that it be made unlawful for a sponsor to be paid by a visa applicant for a migration outcome and that this be reinforced by a robust conviction and penalty framework.
The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.