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| Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Lankan promotes immigration opportunities Down Under by Elmo Leonard A Sri Lankan domiciled in Australia, Don Susantha Katugampala promotes immigration opportunities for Sri Lankans in Australia and says that his work is of mutual benefit economically and socially, to his adopted land and motherland. A lawyer by profession: "I practise solely in immigration law," Katugampala said where he is exploiting the Australian July 1,'05 to July 30' 06 non-humanitarian migration program of up to 140,000 places. This is significant for Sri Lankans because the migrant Australian citizens and the permanent residents wish to bring their families and friends to Australia, Katugampala said. For the first time Down Under, the Prime Minister, Treasurer and Minister of Immigration had come out in the Australian media in support of an increase of skilled migrants to the country. The policy had also been welcomed by the Reserve Bank of Australia, Business Council of Australia and some trade industry associations, according to Australian newspapers. The Australians are short of around 200 types of skilled hands such as carpenters, brick layers, motor mechanics, accountants, hairdressers, chefs and cooks. In 2004, Katugampala, a partner of Fairfields Lawyers, won the award as the Immigration Lawyer of the Year for the Sri Lankan community. He discourages illegal immigration. Sri Lankan passport holders bear a very poor reputation, he said. After 1994 the Australian authorities have little or no sympathy for refugee seekers and just one percent who try, succeed. Agents now try to get Sri Lankans to Australia on boats, in other illegal ways and some on three months visitors' visas. With Sri Lankan passport holders being high risk, it is good to explore legal migration opportunities, he said at the Jaic Hilton, from where he operates. Unless legal immigration opportunities are exploited many Sri Lankans will end losing the money they got from selling their properties, mortgaging their land and money obtained on high interest. In past decades Sri Lankans migrating overseas were seen as a factor of the brain drain. But today inter-migration around the world is the norm and even Australians are known to migrate to the United States, Katugampala said. Many nations are looking for some sort of support from their people living outside their country. If the Sri Lankan community living outside their motherland are loyal to their country of origin they could change the international opinion towards Sri Lanka. |
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