jwb@csse.monash.edu.au wrote:
> Declan Murphy <declan_murphy@hotmail.com> dixit:
> >Yes. Quite spectacular episodes of bureaucratic bloodymindedness and
> >incompetence. Almost enought to make the Oz Defence Department look
> >brilliant. I was thinking more of the problems I've encountered
> >recently. It took 14 months to get a visa for the Japanese spouse of a
> >(white) Australian citizen, married (in Japan) for 4+ years, with 2
> >Australian passport holding sprogs. Mr brother-in-law's parents were
> >denied a visa to attend the wedding in Sydney, despite all procedures
> >being completed a year in advance, and guarantors provided etc. And 5
> >other situations. Common denominator wasn't mental illness, but the
> >distinctly non-caucasian-ness of the applicants.
>
> And a Polish-emigre now-citizen friend of mine insists the Immigration
> Department has apro-Asian bias.

For the skilled migrant visa categories I can understand why that might
be perceived to be the case, the vast majority of applicants these days
being from Asian countries. All of the examples I've encountered though
have been straight forward family reunion (foreign spouse of Oz born Oz
citizen), and temporary visitor.

> Considering that about 20% of the population of Melbourne and
> Sydney is non-Caucasian, you really have to wonder.

Increasingly I'm starting to suspect that it is the opinions of the
distinctly non-Caucasian populations of those marginal electorates that
aren't in Melbourne or Sydney that decide how policy is interpreted.