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Meeting with the Federal Immigration Minister

20/4/2011

Meeting with the Federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship the Hon. Chris Bowen MP in regards to immigration from Greece.

Federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Mr. Chris Bowen will meet with representatives of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne & Victoria (GOCMV) on the issue of Greek citizens migrating to Australia as a result of the economic and financial crisis that Greece is currently facing. In correspondence sent to the GOCMV by the Minister's office, it was noted that the Minister will gladly meet to discuss the matter at length.

At the meeting other matters will be raised and in particular with respect to Australian citizens of Greek background who currently reside in Greece and are facing numerous problems in their endeavours to return to Australia permanently.

In both cases the aforementioned individuals face numerous bureaucratic obstacles. For example those applying for working visas must do so through the Australian Embassy in Berlin, Germany whereas those applying for spousal visas must apply through the Australian Embassy in London, England; hence facing a laborious and time consuming process.

We note that the GOCMV has also established a Cultural Committee consisting of experts in the field migration and cultural matters and in the following two weeks a meeting will be convened of representatives of Greek community organisations and other interested parties to formulate a series of recommendations to the government. This will provide a broad appeal to the GOCMV's campaign. The Cultural Committee has already made a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration and one of the matters raised was that of Greek citizens seeking to migrate to Australia.

The office of the GOCMV is currently collating information relating to skilled and professional persons who wish to immigrate to Australia. Furthermore the office has come into contact with senior associates of human resource agencies who have verified that the demand for certain skilled migrants will continue to increase in the future.

Finally, the GOCMV would like to thank the Greek media for its support in this matter.

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Information: 9662 2722

 
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