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Latest 10 news items tagged Australia
22 May at 6 PM 2013
French government expat votes promise delayed for a year
A promise to give migrants from outside the UK a chance to vote in French regional and local elections made during President Hollande’s presidential campaign has been relegated to late in 2014. The reform was to be pushed through if François Hollande won the parliamentary election, and would have brought France in line with the majority of other EU member states. Today it was announced that the proposal will not be brought before the French parliament until after 2014’s municipal elections. According to the president’s...
21 May at 6 PM 2013
New study reinforces European racial stereotypes
Would-be expats considering which European country is the most suitable for their retirement or holiday homes may find a recent survey very revealing. The study was carried out by Pew Research Centre in Washington, and revealed that many traditional racial stereotypes still hold true in the 21st century. For example, the German people are seen as trustworthy, especially by the Spanish and the French. The results of the survey, carried out across Europe, may seem a little confusing, as many nationals in the countries surveyed agreed...
20 May at 6 PM 2013
Oz ban on gay marriage impacts skilled worker immigration
The Australian ban on the recognition of gay marriage or legal partnerships may be affecting skilled worker immigration at a time when the country is begging for migrants with specific qualifications and experience. Australia’s long-standing discrimination against homosexual couples is traditional but, with an increasing number of countries including its near neighbour New Zealand now recognising same-sex expat couples, the ban seems to be having a negative effect on much-needed skilled immigration. Same-sex couples are choosing...
16 May at 6 PM 2013
UK Fraud Squad warns expats abroad over money laundering scam
Britain’s scam-buster agency is publicly warning expats living abroad to watch out for a money-transfer scam by organised crime gangs. Action Fraud, an arm of the National Fraud Authority and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, warns that many expats are being approached via phone calls, emails or letter to participate in an innocent-seeming, straightforward money-making scheme. Advertisements in expat newspapers and online are also being used to trap the unwary. The process is deceptively simple, with the expat receiving...
16 May at 6 PM 2013
World survey shows map of least and most racially tolerant countries
The World Value Survey’s map of every world country’s level of racial tolerance was used by Swedish researchers to determine the relationship between racism and economic freedom. The report by Swedish economists was prompted by one of many questions asked in the original survey of respondents in 80 world countries. The question was simple, with people asked to identify the types of people they’d dislike as neighbours. One check-listed answer was people of another race’, which led the economists to reason that countries in...
7 May at 6 PM 2013
Homeless Kiwi families in Australia cause resentment amongst locals
The 2001 changes in Australia’s immigration policies has resulted in many New Zealand expat families becoming homeless due to their having no access to state benefits. A homeless Kiwi community is now established in central Sydney, with the area christened Kiwi Park by disgruntled residents and workers. Few Kiwi migrants seem to have been aware of the changes in the law before they arrived in Australia, with families the hardest hit. According to expat New Zealander Christine Adams, a worker with Sydney’s homeless families, 6...
6 May at 6 PM 2013
Battle to demand death of frozen expat pensions hots up
The fight to agree a workable solution which unfreezes UK expat pensions is hotting up, with the International Consortium of British Pensioners demanding an industry and government debate. The ICBP now represents half a million pensioners living in countries where pensions are frozen, and is demanding that the debate takes place before the introduction of the Single Tiered State Pension Bill later this year. Campaigns to have the ‘frozen pension’ Clause 20 removed from the bill are scaling up, and a round-table event is scheduled...
29 Apr at 6 PM 2013
Expat investors hit hard as Harlequin Properties calls in receivers
After several months of uncertainty and a class action or two, beleaguered Harlequin Properties has thrown in the towel and gone into receivership. After failing to keep up with regular contracted payments to their investors and an ongoing investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office and Essex Police, the action by the Essex-based overseas property sales company has now put its investors in an even worse position. An interim moratorium is now in place freezing all legal action against it at the present time. Hundreds of...
29 Apr at 6 PM 2013
Saudi Arabia drags feet on expat wives work permits
A popular suggestion that English-speaking expat wives should be granted work permits to teach in Saudi schools may have fallen on deaf ears within the kingdom’s government. The proposed decision by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Labour, welcomed by a majority of the kingdom’s teachers, involved permission of wives and daughters of expats to teach in Saudi schools. However, a source from within the ministry is now stating that approval has not been granted as yet. The unnamed source told the Arab news that no meetings to discuss...
26 Apr at 6 PM 2013
