Dear Editor,

1 would like to thank you for sending me copies of World Sikh News, it certainly helps keep me up to date, I have also noted that as with the rest of the world the chances of Sikh applicants being granted Asylum are getting tougher. Our Government has also made immigration laws harsher and has stopped people from making second applications in other categories. We are thus seeing many Sikh people who are desperate not to return to India seeking to fight in our courts which are expensive and with no help from legal aid With a tight economy they are thus using money which could help them settle back (unfortunately) into Indian life, As in USA there are many in our community who prey on the desperate and offer hope when the laws have been written to stop people gaining permanent residency.

However there was one gain for the Sikh Community in Australia in the last few years, Government had to solve the problem of the Chinese students who were given temporary residence following the Tien Minh Square incident in 1989. I have noticed that this incident on a pro rata basis cannot compare with the events in the Punjab, but Australia’s sympathy reflects the ability of the Chinese lobby and I think there is much the Sikh Community in Australia could learn from both the Chinese and Jewish ethnic groups.

However, the Government could not disseminate between Asylum sackers and all were invited along with the Chinese to apply for permanent residency and for some the test was work skills or academic qualifications or both. I would think about 200 applicants from India will finally get through, of these 200 about 100 would be Sikhs so this is about five times the number of Sikhs who gained PR on the basis of Asylum claims over the last five years. Of special note is that a group of my clients combined for a test case as haying skills as farmers and to date five have PR with about another five still fighting.

 

We are still assessing this decision as to overseas applications. I also feel Lam having more enquiries from Canada and the USA as families realize they are going to be permanently separated due to tough immigration laws and they want to be reunited in one country. I can’t help thinking that the Sikh Community worldwide needs to get together to see how the members of their community in India can work within the laws of the various host countries to ensure people target where they have most hope of being successful with migration applications.

Again thanks for your paper, and whilst not a Sikh I see from your paper there are many like me who welcome the hard working Sikhs with their strong Sense of family.

Harold Jones, Management Accountant FEPA & Management Consultant Immigration Consultant South Yarra, Vic.

Article extracted from this publication >>  July 10, 1996