Anne O'Donoghue

Immigration Solutions Lawyers

Sydney https://immigrationsolutionslawyers. com.au

anne@immigrationsolutions.com.au Tel: +61 2 9264 6432

Biography

Anne O’Donoghue is an accredited immigration law specialist with over 29 years of experience. She is the director and principal lawyer of Immigration Solutions Lawyers. Anne has developed her international affiliations through the International Bar Association (IBA) for over 20 years. Anne was recognised as a Thought Leader, Global Leader, and National Leader by the WWL from 2020-2022. In August 2021 Anne was appointed as a member of the Ministerial Advisory Council on skilled migration and served in this position until August 2022. Anne was a finalist in the Lawyer’s Weekly Women in Law Awards 2022: in the category Pro Bono/Community Legal Centre lawyer of the Year.

Looking back over your career, what has been your proudest achievement?

In my 29 years of practice as a legal practitioner, there has been an array of moments which have changed me as a person and a legal practitioner for the better. I, and the team at Immigration Solutions Lawyers, took the initiative to apply to the immigration minister for temporary (subclass 449 visas) for 20 of the Afghan women judges, prosecutor's, activists and their families to be able to settle in Australia away from their persecutors. The group consisted of 20 main applicants, a total of 90 applicants altogether, including family members. By application to the minister, they were able to obtain a visa grant for all 90 applicants, which was a remarkable and unique outcome.

This was truly an achievement and the outcome really transformed the livelihood of our clients.

You were recently appointed vice chair for diversity and inclusion at the Global Employment Institute. What are your goals when in this role and how can these be achieved?

As former chair of the Immigration and Nationality Committee, current member of the Advisory Board of the Professional Ethics Committee and in the process of being involved in the Indigenous Peoples Committee, what I hope to contribute and to gain from this role, is to firstly develop more interest in international law and modern slavery on an international level and how the two interchange and affect foreign workers and visa holders globally.

What qualities make for a good successful corporate immigration lawyer?

An immigration lawyer’s responsibilities and duties are exhaustive. Strategising visa products and strategies for potential and current clients, on the basis of current legislation, policies, regulations, and the portfolio of your client, and finding appeal avenues for visa refusals are only a few of practices often experienced in an immigration lawyers day-to-day business. However, what enables a corporate immigration lawyer to succeed is their ability to constantly update their knowledge on the ever-changing immigration legislation to ensure they are providing accurate strategies and pathways to their clients and to further be apart of the policy conversations with government and independent institutions, which take into consideration the knowledge and experience of corporate immigration lawyers when reforms are sought to cater for businesses and skilled workers alike.

What makes Immigration Solutions Lawyers stand out from its competitors in the market?

Immigration Solutions Lawyers prides itself on their extracurricular involvement in sectors which indirectly and directly affect the immigration space both domestically and internationally. Principal and director Anne O’Donoghue has extended her expertise in organisations such as the Ministerial Advisory Council, the International Bar Association, to name a few, as well as having heavy involvement on issues affecting modern slavery and the exploitation of foreign workers. These involvements have strengthened the practices knowledge and ability to take on a variety of clients, which present complex visa issues, which with Immigration Solutions Lawyers expertise and experience, have found suitable solutions with strategies which competitors may not have the knowledge to advise on.

How do you expect the recent increase in Australia’s permanent migration programme cap to 195,000 people per year to impact the market?

The recent increase is in response to Australia’s dire need for foreign workers to fill positions in critical sectors, and the increase in permanent migration incentivises skilled workers in critical industries such as healthcare, infrastructure and technology and will allow permanent pathways to workers willing to fill immediate gaps. The positive impact Australian businesses, the Australian economy and foreign workers are striving for is the visa backlog of skilled visas to progress efficiently and the ability for foreign workers to return to the workforce. Given the urgency for an increase in workers in these critical sectors, it is hopeful the temporary increase will mean thousands more skilled workers may settle in Australia.

As with many jurisdictions, there are considerable delays in applying for Australian work visas at the moment. How can lawyers best advise and support clients in what is a very stressful situation for them?

Handling processing delays, which is ultimately out of a practitioner’s hands, is difficult, although there are ways in expediting visa applications, on the basis of financial hardship for businesses. However, lawyers must ensure that there are no unnecessary delays in the processing of visa applications, which are at the fault of the visa applicant, for example, not providing accurate or required documentation, at the time of lodgement or failing to provide sufficient documentation and/or information for the department to make an assessment.

Ensuring the application process and the attachments required are complete in full, is the best way a lawyer can advise and support their clients.

If you could implement one reform in Australian immigration law, what would it be and why?

One reform in Australian immigration law which I would recommend, would be to substantially phase out or remove labour market testing for critical sectors. Labour market testing is a requirement made upon businesses when applying for a sponsored visa to advertise the position for a minimum of 28 days on three advertisement platforms (including a governmental advertising platform, Work Force) to see if the position may be filled by a local worker.

Given the fact labour market testing (LMT) has been described as an artificial process, by certain sectors, and business communities, I believe that businesses who are in critical sectors, in need of workers, should be exempted.

How do you anticipate the Australian legal market changing in the next five years? How might this affect your practice?

Emma Elsworthy writes, ‘Australian businesses are languishing through the second-most severe labour shortage in the developed world, as nearly 3% of all jobs in Australia remained empty in the March quarter’ (Aussie businesses suffering second-worst skills crisis in developed world (smartcompany.com.au) (9 June 2022)). If the post-covid world has taught us anything, it is the importance of skilled migrants and just how much Australia relies on them to keep the economy going. I hope Australia continues to be intuitive to the labour market and economy in the wake of our covid-19 recovery, and I would like to continue assisting in employer sponsored visas to assist in enriching Australia’s work force and address labour shortages in critical sectors.

Peers and clients say: “Anne is thorough, knowledgeable, prompt and efficient” “She is passionate about her work and has an intimate knowledge of immigration and government relations” “She is always confident, calm and very practical about the processes”