French citizens applying for work (not holiday) visas

Steve Peters made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Home Affairs

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was refused by Department of Home Affairs.

Dear Department of Immigration and Citizenship,

I work extensively with French tourists, many of whom are visiting their adult children who are currently on Working-holiday visas within Australia.

Many of the French people I meet ask me how hard it is to get a work visa; they add that they have heard that many French people start out on working holidays in Australia and are then permitted to stay on under 457 or professional work visas.

Until now I have repeated the same information as per the Department website. But I would like to know:

1) How many French citizens have applied for the various working visas (not counting working holiday visas), during the perion 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013?

2) Is it true that a visitor on a working holiday may extend their stay by converting their visa to a 457 or professional or other working visa - without leaving Australia to reapply?

3) How many people have been able to stay on in the way mentioned above?

Yours faithfully,
Steve Peters

UNCLASSIFIED
 
Our references: FA 13/08/27813 ; ADF2013/27813
 
Good Afternoon Mr Peters
 
I refer to your request for access to information, received on 25 August
2013, for:
 
“1) How many French citizens have applied for the various working visas
(not counting working holiday visas), during the perion 1 July 2012 to 30
June 2013?
 
2) Is it true that a visitor on a working holiday may extend their stay by
converting their visa to a 457 or professional or other working visa -
without leaving Australia to reapply?
 
3) How many people have been able to stay on in the way mentioned above?”
 
This email is to advise that DIAC has registered your request but closed
it as invalid under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).  This
is because your request is for 'information' and not for a document in
DIAC's possession at the time of your request.  I will outline more fully
the reasons for this below.
 
Access to Documents
The right to request documents under the FOI Act is outlined in the
Guidelines published by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC):
Section 11(1) of the FOI Act gives every person a legally enforceable
right to obtain access to a document of an agency or an official document
of a minister, unless the document is exempt. [para 2.1]
The right of access enshrined in the FOI Act applies to ‘documents’. This
term is defined in s 4(1) to include maps, photographs, and any article
from which sounds, images or writing are capable of being reproduced (for
example, emails). There is no general obligation on agencies to reduce
information to written documentary form in order to facilitate an FOI
request, except in relation to information that is stored on a computer
tape or disk (s 17). [para 1.26]
The right of access is to existing documents, rather than to information.
The FOI Act does not require an agency or minister to create a new
document in response to a request for access, except in limited
circumstances where the applicant seeks access in a different format (see
Part 8 of these Guidelines) or where the information is stored in an
agency computer system rather than in discrete form.
The right of access applies to documents that exist at the time the FOI
request was made. [para 3.8]
 
Therefore, any general request for 'information' or 'data' that does not
already exist on DIAC documents will be an invalid request.
 
The full Guidelines can be accessed on the OAIC's website at:
[1]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
 
Further advice
 
You may not be aware, but the Department publishes a range of statistical
information on its website at:
[2]http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publication... . The information you are
seeking may be available in one of these publications.
 
In closing, I note that this request is similar to another request you
lodged on 25 August for the same statistical information contained on
existing Departmental documents. I will write to you shortly regarding the
second request.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Angela O'Neil
Assistant Director
FOI & Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Telephone: (02) 6264 1382
Email: [3][email address]

show quoted sections

UNCLASSIFIED
 
Our references: FA 13/08/01151 ; ADF2013/27813
 
Dear Mr Peters
 
Please note that the correct reference numbers for your statistical
request are above. Please accept my apologies for the error.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Angela O'Neil
Assistant Director
FOI & Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Telephone: (02) 6264 1382
Email: [1][email address]
 
UNCLASSIFIED
_____________________________________________
From: Angela O'NEIL On Behalf Of FOI
Sent: Wednesday, 28 August 2013 1:36 PM
To: Steve Peters
Cc: Linda ROSSITER
Subject: Re your request for statistical information - French citizens
applying for work (not holiday) visas [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
 
 
UNCLASSIFIED
 
Our references: FA 13/08/27813 ; ADF2013/27813
 
Good Afternoon Mr Peters
 
I refer to your request for access to information, received on 25 August
2013, for:
 
“1) How many French citizens have applied for the various working visas
(not counting working holiday visas), during the perion 1 July 2012 to 30
June 2013?
 
2) Is it true that a visitor on a working holiday may extend their stay by
converting their visa to a 457 or professional or other working visa -
without leaving Australia to reapply?
 
3) How many people have been able to stay on in the way mentioned above?”
 
This email is to advise that DIAC has registered your request but closed
it as invalid under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).  This
is because your request is for 'information' and not for a document in
DIAC's possession at the time of your request.  I will outline more fully
the reasons for this below.
 
Access to Documents
The right to request documents under the FOI Act is outlined in the
Guidelines published by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC):
Section 11(1) of the FOI Act gives every person a legally enforceable
right to obtain access to a document of an agency or an official document
of a minister, unless the document is exempt. [para 2.1]
The right of access enshrined in the FOI Act applies to ‘documents’. This
term is defined in s 4(1) to include maps, photographs, and any article
from which sounds, images or writing are capable of being reproduced (for
example, emails). There is no general obligation on agencies to reduce
information to written documentary form in order to facilitate an FOI
request, except in relation to information that is stored on a computer
tape or disk (s 17). [para 1.26]
The right of access is to existing documents, rather than to information.
The FOI Act does not require an agency or minister to create a new
document in response to a request for access, except in limited
circumstances where the applicant seeks access in a different format (see
Part 8 of these Guidelines) or where the information is stored in an
agency computer system rather than in discrete form.
The right of access applies to documents that exist at the time the FOI
request was made. [para 3.8]
 
Therefore, any general request for 'information' or 'data' that does not
already exist on DIAC documents will be an invalid request.
 
The full Guidelines can be accessed on the OAIC's website at:
[2]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
 
Further advice
 
You may not be aware, but the Department publishes a range of statistical
information on its website at:
[3]http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publication... . The information you are
seeking may be available in one of these publications.
 
In closing, I note that this request is similar to another request you
lodged on 25 August for the same statistical information contained on
existing Departmental documents. I will write to you shortly regarding the
second request.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Angela O'Neil
Assistant Director
FOI & Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Telephone: (02) 6264 1382
Email: [4][email address]

show quoted sections