Applicants from Chennai or near by areas can submit and collect their visa application of Schengen Visa to The Netherlands in this center. VFS global will be responsible to collecting and delivery of Visa Applications. All Visa applications will be assessed by only Consulate General of The Netherlands in Mumbai.

The timing of Chennai office will be – 08:00 Hrs to 16:30 Hrs.
Accepting of Visa Applications Timing will be 08:00 Hrs to 12:00 hrs and 13:00 Hrs to 15:00 Hrs.
Delivery of Visa Applications Timing will be 15:30 Hrs to 16:30 Hrs.

Service fee for Normal Visa Application will be INR 530
Optional services Charges will be extra like SMS or Courier Charges.

Address of Joint Visa Application Center (JVAC)
New No. 3, Old No. 2,
Sadasivam Street, Gopalapuram,
Chennai – 600086
Help line – +91 22-67866007

Website: – www.vfs-nl-in.com

Tourism Minister Mr. Ferguson said that India was a growing market for Australian tourism industry. “Almost more than 1.5 lakh Indian has visited Australia last year, an increase of seven percent on 2010 and already in the first two months of this year Australia have had over 25,000 Indian visitors, a 6.7 percent increase compared to 2011.

“India is currently our 11th largest inbound market for arrivals and contributed $842 million to the economy last year, making it the 9th largest source market in terms of expenditure.”

“Indian tourist really enjoy the combination of our nature, people and food and shopping experiences, and through Tourism Australia’s activities we are getting the message to potential travelers on why Australia is great place to visit,” Minister Ferguson said.

Australia again looking for professionals from other countries to fill the skilled labour shortage in country. Industry People are looking this as an important issue and trying hard to attract skilled labour either by recruiting people from other states or from overseas.

As per new investments over the last one year lot of project has been started in Western Australia and Queensland. With an estimated capital cost of almost $225 billion has been considered in the stage of development in 302 different projects in Australia. Minister Martin Ferguson said the reports clearly show that the three commodities petroleum, iron ore and coal has dominated the major expenditure on advanced projects.

“Final investment decisions on a range of major projects including Wheatstone, APLNG and Prelude, have seen $58 billion added to the value ofAustralia’s major resources projects in the past six months alone.

Western Australian State Migration has also coming with these industry people to find out the best solution to recruit or attract more skilled professionals from international market. Immigration has preparing a system to overcome this problem in near future.

To keep pace in economy growth Australian Immigration department has to recruit the persons from International market.

Hunan and Hubei

From April 16, 2012 applicants of Hunan and Hubei has to Lodge New Zealand Visa Application either in person or by mail at:

New Zealand Visa Application Centre
2/F, Guangdong Development Bank Tower
No. 555 Xujiahui Road
Huangpu District
Shanghai

Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Japan

From April 16, 2012 applicants of Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Japan have to Lodge New Zealand Visa Application for all resident visa (except resident visas under the Business categories) either in person or by mail at:

Immigration New Zealand
2503, Henderson Building
300 Nanjing East Road,
Shanghai, PRC.

The Philippines – applications for resident visas under the Family Category

From April 16, 2012 applicants of Philippines have to Lodge New Zealand Visa Application for all resident visa under the Family Category either in person or by mail at:

Immigration New Zealand,
2503, Henderson Building
300 Nanjing East Road,
Shanghai, PRC.

Major Changes:

• From 24 March 2012, Australia is implementing streamlined visa processing arrangement for students going for Bachelors, Masters or Doctoral degrees at participating universities. These applications will be assessed under lower migration risk (Assessment Level 1), regardless of their country of origin.
• From 24 March 2012, the maximum period of English language study increased to 50 weeks for school sectors visa holders (Subclass 571) under Assessment level 3.
• From 26 March 2012, student will get advantage of more flexible work conditions. Now student will get 40 hours per fortnight during any fortnight at the place of earlier work condition of 20 hours per week.

New changes implemented is the introduction of a new ‘genuine temporary entrant’ requirement for all student visa applicants. This enable the  Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) to better assess student visa applications to ensure the student’s aim to stay temporary in Australia.

Applicants have to forward their complete application forms with certified copies of the documents which are listed on application form, along with application fee.

Payment of the application fee should be made by credit card or contact your nearest immigration office outside Australia to find out alternate forms of payment. Applicant should not send cash through the post.

Application which has lodged before April 1, 2012 will be processed by that office where applicant has lodged there file.

After April 1, 2012 application should be directly forward on the address mentioned below.

Postal address:

Overseas Citizenship the Unit(OCU), DIAC Melbounre, GPO Box 241, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia

Courier access:

Converga Technology Centre, 170 Clarenden Street, South Melbourne VIC 3001, AUSTRALIA

1. All overseas domestic workers (ODW) can only work for the employer with whom they entered the UK, or whom they came to join.
2. All migrants under the ODW will not able to  apply for settlement.
3. Now Applicant has to provide evidence of an existing employer relationship, and introducing a requirement for agreed, written terms and conditions of employment to be produced, as part of the application for entry clearance.
4. ODWs who have applied for leave to enter or remain on or before 5 April 2012, to continue to be treated under Immigration Rules in place on that date.
5. ODWs in private households to work for an employer who is a visitor to theUK. Permission to stay in the UK will be limited to a maximum of 6 months or the period of the employer’s stay whichever is shorter. Removing the current provision for ODWs to be accompanied by dependants.
6. ODWs in diplomatic households can apply to extend their stay for 12 months at a time up to a maximum of 5 years, or the length of the diplomat’s posting, whichever is shorter.

The fee for most non-immigrant visa applications and Border Crossing Cards will increase, while all immigrant visa application fee will be decrease.

Student has to pay $160 at the place of $140 from April 13, 2012.

For more detail: https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/index.html

From Now onwards applicant has to pay extra fee for VFS services.

After closing PSW route UK has started Graduate Entrepreneur route for all tier 4 Migrants. From April 6, 2012, Graduates who wish to stay inUKcan apply for Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) Category. Under this UK immigration category, foreign graduates can stay in the UK for a maximum duration of two years after successful completion of their graduation study for working in a business established by them. The UK immigration department also allows them to work for an additional duration of 20 hours in any other work or employment.

Major requirements in order to obtain a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa:

(1)   Endorsed by a HEI ( Higher Education Institute)

Applicant must show that he have been endorsed by a UK Higher Education Institution which:
(a)    has Highly Trusted Sponsor status under Tier 4 of the Points-Based System,
(b)    is an A-rated Sponsor under Tier 2 of the Points-Based System if a Tier 2 licence is held;
(c)    is an A-rated Sponsor under Tier 5 of the Points-Based System is a Tier 5 licence is held; and
(d)    has established processes and competence for identifying, nurturing and developing entrepreneurs among its undergraduate and postgraduate population.

(2)    Requirement of Endorsement

(a)   Applicant must have completed Bachelor degree, Master Degree or PhD recognized by UK.

OR

If applicant previous grant of leave was as a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) Migrant, the endorsement is from the same institution which provided the endorsement for that previous grant of leave.

(b)    The endorsement must confirm that the institution has assessed applicant and considers that:

(i)    Applicant have a genuine, credible and innovative business idea; and
(ii)    Applicant will spend the majority of your working time on developing business ventures; and
(iii)    If applicant’s previous grant of leave was as a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur), he have made satisfactory progress in developing his business since that leave was granted and will, on a balance of probabilities, qualify for leave to remain as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Migrant within the next 12 months.

(3)    English Requirement

If applicant  are not a national of a majority English-speaking country, then he must:

•    Pass an approved English language test at CEFR level C1 (equivalent to 6.5-8.0 IELTS) in all four components (reading, writing, speaking and listening; OR

•    Hold a degree that was taught in English and is equivalent to aUnited Kingdom bachelor’s degree or above.

(4)    Maintenance Funds

Applicant must have at least £900 in personal savings which has been held for a consecutive 3 month period before the date of application