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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has formally announced that Australia's international borders will be reopening on 01 December 2021 to fully vaccinated visa holders - yes, it's finally happening! As of December, you will be able to travel back to Australia without needing a travel exemption. All you need is an eligible visa and a vaccination.
In a media release yesterday, NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced a plan to return international students to Australia in 2021. The plan will be funded entirely by local universities and will be in addition to the number of other passengers allowed to arrive per week (such as permanent residents and Australian citizens). 250 students from 14 NSW and ACT universities will be permitted to arrive in Sydney per fortnight. Once on Aussie shores, the students will be directed to private quarantine facilities for an isolation period before they are able to move freely in the community. The plan is expected to commence in the second half of the year.
Since Australia closed its border in 2020 due to Covid, international students have been locked out of the country where they are enrolled to study. This crisis is escalating as thousands of people’s lives are thrown into turmoil, and the Australian economy suffers from the loss of this lucrative industry. As months turn into years, the growing frustration and resentment can be heard echoing through the internet as students, universities, and Australian businesses cry out for a return strategy.
In a speech given to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Federal Minister Alan Tudge said the country would not see a return of international students until 2022 but are students willing to wait until then?
The Australian immigration department has recently offered COVID-19 concessions to international students for Subclass 485 Temporary Graduate. During COVID-19 pandemic, many visa applicants and international students have been adversely affected by circumstances beyond their control, including Border closures, stand-downs and disruptions to courses.
Essential workers are very important to keeping Australia running during the Coronavirus pandemic and to helping people and the economy to recover from the impact of the pandemic. There is a lot of uncertainty about who is and who is not an essential worker.
There is also substantial (though not complete) overlap between the critical sectors and occupations which have been mainstays of the Australian migration program. Existing gaps in the Australian labour market have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The world is changing quickly and to keep up with it, we have some updates for you on the Global Talent Independent visa.
If you think you are eligible to apply for a GTI, take only 5 minutes to complete our free online GTI assessment form.
Our lawyers and registered migration agents will assess your eligibility and get back to you.
The Global Talent Independent program has been held up as the fastest way to get a permanent visa in Australia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing the Expression of Interest processing times slowing down for some applicants. This seems to be especially the case for applicants who are applying from outside of Australia.
This may be due to the Department prioritising Global Talents who are already inside Australia.
There are a number of factors which might be contributing to current processing times.
The Department's priorities for global talent visa processing are set out in Direction No. 85.
This specifies that for distinguished talent applications, they are to be considered in the following order:
The Department has indicated in its information that "likely to attract" can be shown in a number of ways, including through high grades (80% or higher) in a recent higher level qualification (Honours, Masters, PhD).
In its announcements to support Hong Kong SAR passport-holders, the Department has included references to the Global Talent Independent visa. It seems that the Department of Home Affairs will be prioritising GTI visa applications (even more so than the normal priority given to GTI) for Hong Kong SAR passport-holders.
We are still waiting on further information from the ACS regarding their nomination process.
We have recently been updated that ACS will nominate those who have been invited through the Expression of Interest process.
If you are looking to be nominated by ACS under one of their target sectors, read more about the process by clicking here.
We look forward to having further updates on this soon.
Work Visa Lawyers can help you with all steps in the Global Talent Independent visa application process, including with applications for nomination from the ACS.
Our team of experienced Immigration Lawyers and Migration Agents look forward to assisting you with your Australian visa or appeal.
Contact us on (08) 8351 9956 or +61 8 8351 9956 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Book an appointment with one of our experienced Immigration Lawyers and Registered Migration Agents here.
Sources
International students are important to Australia as they have made a major contribution in Australia’s economy and Australian society. To limit the impact of Covid 19 pandemic on international students, the Federal Government have announced five major changes which will impact the students currently in Australia and those who are overseas and are unable to travel to Australia due to Covid 19.
Early in June 2020, the Government announced a new program to stimulate the building industry. HomeBuilder is a time-limited, tax-free grant program to help the residential construction market to get through the Coronavirus pandemic.
HomeBuilder provides eligible owner-occupiers (including first home buyers) with a grant of $25,000 to build a new home or substantially renovate an existing home. HomeBuilder will assist the residential construction market by encouraging the commencement of new home builds and renovations. Contract for construction or renovations must be executed between 4 June 2020 and 31 December 2020.
The program applies to:
Construction must commence within three months of signing the building contract.
To be eligible, you must:
Unfortunately, Australian temporary residents and Australian permanent residents are not eligible to take part in the program.
A number of groups have expressed frustration with this and highlighted that such residents would still assist in contributing to the building industry as much as Australian citizens.
Many temporary and permanent residents are first home buyers and were especially interested in the HomeBuilder grant to build their first homes or to renovate rundown properties to live in. In particular, many people are questioning the exclusion of permanent residents for this stimulus package when they are eligible for other government benefits such as Medicare, JobKeeper and JobSeeker.
The HomeBuilder is only open to Australian citizens. Eligible owner-occupier(s) must be listed on the property’s certificate of title, and they must meet the eligibility criteria of the program. Permanent residents are not eligible for the HomeBuilder.
The program will only run from 4 June 2020 to 31 December 2020.
To be included, your contract must be signed between those dates and construction/rennovation work must commence no more than 3 months after that.
If you are considering taking advantage of the HomeBuilder program, it is a good idea to check the latest available information and discuss your circumstances with a financial professional as relevant.
The above information is provided for general information only and is not tailored to your circumstances.
At Work Visa Lawyers we are experienced in assisting applicants in all matters relating to Australian visa applications. Our areas of expertise include Partner Visas, Skilled Migration visas, Business Skills Migration visas, Employer Sponsored Work Visas and other Family Migration visas as well as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) Review, Judicial Review and Ministerial Intervention.
If you require further information regarding your Australia visa options you can contact us through:
(08) 8351 9956 or +61 8 8351 9956 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sources
https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus/homebuilder
https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-06/Fact_sheet_HomeBuilder.pdf
https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-06/HomeBuilder_Frequently_asked_questions.pdf
To help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian government has used the powers under the Biosecurity Act 2015 to prevent most travel out of Australia.
The Government has banned Australian citizens and permanent residents from leaving Australia.
This is to prevent Australians from participating in the global spread of COVID-19 and to prevent them from
becoming infected overseas and returning to Australia with the virus (as Australian citizens and permanent residents are not affected by the incoming travel restrictions).
This is an important measure to help facilitate Australia’s plan to reduce the number of cases of COVID-19.
In many cases, this is a second layer of restriction, as many countries have restricted their incoming travel in a similar way to Australia.Australians looking to travel abroad at the moment may find it difficult to enter other countries, even where an outgoing travel exemption has been approved (see below).
All of these will need to be determined on a case-by-case basis and it is not necessarily clear who will fall within this and who will not.
If you plan to travel overseas in the next 3 months, travel exemption requests can be made here.
The mantra of it being better to “ask for forgiveness than permission” doesn’t apply here.
There are also heavy restrictions on travel into Australia.
The circumstances for which you can be exempted from these inbound restrictions are similarly restrictive to those above for outbound travel. In many circumstances, you will need to apply for an exemption to enter Australia or risk having your visa cancelled at the Australian border.
The circumstances for requesting an exemption include:
If you meet the circumstances to request for a travel exemption, contact us for assistance. We have successfully obtained travel exemptions for our clients.
Contact us on +61 8 8351 9956 or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
There are no shortages of negative news during the COVID-19 pandemic. At Work Visa Lawyers, we aim to take a positive approach. Below are six visa options that you may be eligible to apply for during these uncertain times.
The Coronavirus pandemic has impacted the situation for those who have applied for or who are looking to apply for a state sponsored, skilled visa.
Many states have made changes to reduce the availability of state nomination for offshore applicants, as offshore applicants will not be able to travel
to Australia until the border and travel restrictions are lifted.
In this article we will look at the changes to state nomination state by state and the impact of coronavirus on skilled migration.
A lot of businesses are currently being negatively impacted by the coronavirus and many others are staring down the wave about to crash over them.
In the sea of information currently spreading on coronavirus matters, it can be difficult to understand where you and your 457/482 visa holding employees stand.
A lot of businesses are finding it necessary to:
There are strict regulations which apply to Standard Business Sponsors and their relationship with sponsored staff.
This post was last updated on April 14, 2020
We write this post with a very heavy heart for all the employers who have to make the most difficult decision of all, whether to continue to employ people or let them go and place them in unemployment.
As we are now in the second month of what is unprecedented dual health and economic impacts sweeping across the globe the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has immediately affected the very way businesses and people interact with each other.
The recent Australian Government emergency announcements touch on every part of society. From an Australian Migration perspective, across the board, there are difficulties faced by employer sponsors and employees that are sponsored; there are difficulties faced by families that are separated by distance or face uncertainty regarding their visa status as borders lockdown and flight schedules continue to be cancelled; and there are a whole host of temporary visa holders who do not have the protections from the Australian Government that ordinary Australian Citizens and Permanent Residents have access to.
In an announcement from the office of The Hon Alan Tudge MP Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs on April 4, 2020 The Federal Goverment answered our question:
"While citizens, permanent residents and many New Zealanders have access to unconditional work rights and government payments
(including the new JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments), temporary visa holders do not. " Source: https://minister.homeaffairs.
The Australian Government has introduced a new stream for people whose visas have expired or are about to expire.
The temporary visa subclass 408 is no eligible to Visa Applicant’s whose visa was held in the last 28 days and are unable to apply for the same visa or do not meet any eligibility criteria for another visa.
The purpose of the new visa stream provide a pathway for certain former and current holders of temporary visas to lawfully remain in Australia and who would otherwise be required to depart Australia who, but for the COVID-19 pandemic, are unable to leave Australia.
We have put together two videos discussing this topic and will continue to bring you updates as we all move the Coronvirus situation.
This Article was last updated on Monday April 6, 2020.
As we write this update, we have a very many people worried for the future and concerns for loved ones abroad and in Australia due to the disruption the Coronavirus crisis is causing as the number of confirmed cases rise globally by the hour.
At this point in time, many plans for the future have been disrupted as a result of the lockdown or shutdown of airports and countries to foreigners.
Our thoughts are with anyone who finds themselves in this position. As specialist in the area of partner and family migration we have been considering how the Coronavirus crisis may be affecting you and created
the following Questions and Answers below:
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