Immigration Lawyers and Migration Agents

Your Australian Visa Our Focus

Stay informed about the February immigration News by watching this video and have a privilege information about States Nomination in ACT, SA and WA for 190 - 491 visas and NZ path to PR. The article will bring highly important topics related to processing times and new actions from the Australia Government.

General Skilled Migration

The federal government has given out 35,000 189 invitations in December.

This is the biggest round on record for Australian immigration.
This is causing many ripple effects across the migration system.
The skills assessment bodies are now getting clogged up with new applications as everyone rushes to put in a skills assessment to try take advantage of these new opportunities.

Another example is that many of the states are trying to come up with more attractive criteria because of all the 189 visas that are providing competition.

Queensland State Nomination

Queensland has adjusted its policies and is now prioritizing skilled workers living and working in Queensland.
Those who meet the requirement should get ready for an application.
More details are in the article below.

South Australian State Nomination

The final allocations for South Australia are for GSM subclass for 190 and 491 8,000 Places, for Business Innovation and Investment Program 70 Places.

There is no more business visa allocations to the states and territories as of the announcement in December.
It's clear that the new government is focusing on skilled migration and that business visas are on the backburner as each state nomination.

ACT State Nomination

The ACT has received 4050 nomination places equally distributed across the 491 and 190. Only ten places have been given to the Business and Investor Program.
This is a significant uplift in nomination places compared to the previous years for the 190 and 491.

WA State Nomination

Western Australia is one of the high-performing states at the moment.
There were over 5000 invitations in December for skilled migrants from Western Australia.
The state has seen a successful year so far with easier requirements and more generous invitations.

Today, a total of 16,085 invitations have been sent out for migrants both onshore and offshore for western Australia.
One of the reasons for the increased numbers is that the foreign on one visa does not now require a job offer or a job contract.

The Western Australian Government will have an invitation round every month.
The invitation round will occur in the first week of every month.
This allows adequate time for the processing of the large number of applications.
I feel like every time I meet with a client and they want to know about their best state nomination options, I end up talking about Western Australia.

This is because the Western Australian criteria are often lower than the other states

We will be making a separate video to discuss the WA state nomination requirements in detail.

Working Holiday Visa

Working holiday visas from the 19th of January 2022 to the 30th of June 2023, working holidaymakers in any sector anywhere in Australia may continue to work for the same employer or organization for longer than six months without requesting permission.

Backlog Status Update.

The new government was left with almost 1 million visas in the department in June 2020, so Andrew Giles has posted on his Twitter account saying that there have been over 4 million visas processed since June 2020 to the backlog is now down to 600,000, with a promise to improve this by the middle of 2023.

Migration is expected to rebound to the pre-pandemic levels, according to a recent report.

General News

In other general news, recently, universities in Australia have backed a reset in migration policies.
It states that the current migration system is not delivering the required talent to meet the needs of the economy.
This comes as the country faces a skills crisis leading to calls for a refresh of the migration system.
The Government is now aiming for a more targeted approach to migration that aligns with the country's economy and needs.

New Zealander’s path to PR.

Good news for New Zealanders. The process of obtaining permanent residency in Australia has become easier with the elimination of the income and health checks for those who have already lodged a 189 New Zealand stream. This helps make the process a lot quicker. The change is aimed to improve the relationship between New Zealand and Australia.

International Students are Back in Fashion.

International students are seen as a key to the migration program. International students are not only a source of revenue for universities, but also a potential source of future migrants.
The fact is that many international students end up staying and becoming permanent residents.
Now the government is recognizing that these students bring a wealth of knowledge, skills and cultural diversity to Australia.

We hope that international students may be given more pathways when the reviews to the migration program are announced later this year.

Pacific Workers and Their Families.

Labor is being urged to boost regional migration.
The Pacific Worker families are expected to join their mine applicants in 2023-2024 under a new scheme.
There are calls for an increase in skilled migration cap and for early learning pathways to be added to universities for free.
A former official has stated that Australia is on track for a migration boom in 2023, with arrivals exceeding Treasury forecast.

Please if you have any questions you can Contact us or book your appointment.

If you're an engineer, getting a nominator just got easier! In positive news for engineers with who fit the Global Talent visa criteria, Engineers Australia has been accepted as a certified nominating organisation for the Global Talent visa program. This means engineers who could not find a suitable nominator for the Global Talent visa can now apply to EA for a nominator.

The Australian Government has announced its budget for 2021-22 and the news for migrants and international students is seriously disappointing.  With borders predicted to remain closed until mid-2022, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has structured a budget with very few opportunities for immigration, and an annual Net Overseas Migration (NOM) figure of -72,000.  It’s been 16 months since the WHO declared Covid a pandemic.  China built a hospital in Wuhan in 10 days, so why can’t Australia build quarantine facilities in a year?

Late last year, we published the states’ allocations but we have just discovered a new increase of 650 nominations for South Australia and 350 for Tasmania!  These allocations were increased without an announcement from the government and at this stage, are not widely known of.  That's 1,000 new places for Skilled Nominated visas and Skilled Work Regional visas!

Today, 10 September 2020, the interim nomination allocations for 190 visa, 491 visa, 132 visa and 188 visa for 2020 for the different state nomination programs have been released.

The Global Talent Independent Visa is a hot new initiative by the Australian government to encourage highly skilled workers to migrate to Australia.
We are seeing great interest in this visa from skilled professionals in Australia and around the world.

Click here to learn the criteria for the Global Talent Visa

The Global Talent Independent Visa is great for many reasons, including:

• Very fast processing
  
  
• Straight to Australian permanent residency visa holder status
  
  
• No expensive Skilling Australians Fund levy
  
  
• No need for a job offer in Australia
  
  
• Access to Medicare

Global Talent Independent Visa Processing Time

Australian permanent visa processing times can often be more than 12 months, sometimes up to almost 2 years. The GTI visa has one of the fastest processing times of all Australian permanent visas. 

At the Law Council's Immigration Law Conference on 20 March 2020, respresentatives from the Department of Home Affairs stated that applications under the GTI program are being given priority processing. Processing times vary from 2 day to 2 months with many being decided in one to two weeks!

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman has also signed Ministerial Direction no 85 in November 2019. Direction no. 85 enables the Department of Home Affairs to give priority processing for the Distinguished Talent cohort (subclasses 124 and 858) to “support the responsive processing of applicants that are identified as highly desirable by Government.”

The GTI program uses the Distinguished Talent subclass 858 and subclass 124 visas, but provides a new pathway to these by invitation.

Global Talent Post-Coronavirus

The recent Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has shown how important Australian permanent residency visa status can be for receiving support in difficult times
and the right to enter Australia. The GTI program allows for the grant of a permanent visa in what is likely to be the fastest time of any program.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge has hinted at the potential development of the GTI program as an integral part of the Australian migration program for the 2020-21 migration year, post-pandemic. 

The Australian Government is keen to ensure its 5,000 spots are filled in the 2019/20 migration program year, which ends on 30 June 2020, so it is important that you get into the program while you can. 

If you are interested in coming to live in Australia and meet the high income threshold, the Global Talent Independent Visa Program is a great opportunity for
highly skilled individuals to migrate to Australia. It’s easy to see why the program is so hot right now!

Read more about the Global Talent Independent Visa on our website

Do you need help?

Our team of experienced Immigration Lawyers and Migration Agents look forward to assisting you with your Australian visa or appeal.

Based in Adelaide South Australia, we provide Australian Immigration advice to people and businesses from all over the world.

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://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/davidcoleman/Pages/global-talent-program-business.aspx

https://www.workvisalawyers.com.au/news/all/the-global-talent-visa-program.html

https://www.workvisalawyers.com.au/news/all/immigration-focus-on-the-global-talent-visa-post-coronavirus.html

There has been a significant drop in Australia’s migrant intake this financial year so far, and the total numbers are expected to fall short of planned figures. The declining trend is continuing on from the last financial year, where overall visa approvals were down from the planned 190,000 to 183,000.

The migration program has been at a constant level (at 190,000) since 2012-13. Taking into account the actual permanent visas granted to 30 April 2018 of 138,086, it is estimated that the number of visas granted in total this 2017-18 financial year will likely be closer to 165,000. This is a significant drop from previous years and is the lowest in seven years.

The decrease is represented in most of the visa categories, however the drop is greatest in skilled independent and employer sponsored work visas. 

The Australian Government had previously announced that it would be making changes to some of the requirements for parent visas. The most significant changes relate to the minimum income requirement for assurers (mostly the children) of visa applicants. The visas that would have been affected by these changes are both the temporary and permanent versions of the contributory parent visa (143 and 173), the contributory aged parent visa (864 and 884) and the non-contributory parent visa (103 and 804), as well as the ‘remaining relative’ (835) visa. 

Under the changes, a single person wanting to sponsor their two parents would have needed an annual income of $86,607, up from $35,793, while a couple sponsoring two parents would need a combined income of $115,476.

A new visa to attract highly skilled workers from around the globe is set to increase Australian visa options.

The Australian Government has announced that the new Global Talent Visa will come into effect from 1^st July 2018 and will be trialled for one year.

It is believed that the new visa will attract people with exceptional technical skills and talent, which can be transferred to the Australian work-force and in turn encourage business growth.

“Industry figures say globally mobile, highly skilled and experienced staff can act as ‘job multipliers’ in Australian businesses, helping them to hire more local staff and fill critical areas of need.”

 - Minister for Jobs and Innovation, Michaelia Cash

This is an older article. Click here to learn the current criteria for the Global Talent Visa

Highlights of the new Global Talent Visa Scheme

A key feature of the Global Talent Scheme is that it will be split into two streams:

• Established business stream
• Start-up stream

Successful applicants under both streams will have access to a 4-year visa within the Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) Visa Programme which came into effect on 18 March 2018, providing visa holders a pathway to permanent residency after three years and certain age cap concessions.

Applications will be simpler and have faster processing times.

The new visa scheme in its current form is not limited to a specific list of occupations.

The features of the two streams:

Established business stream

• Business must be publicly listed or have an annual turnover of at least A$4 million for each of the past 2 years
• Access up to 20 positions per year
• Available to accredited sponsors and other businesses
• If the position ends, the visa holder has 60 days to find a new sponsor and a new visa or depart Australia
• Business must show a good history i.e. no breaches of workplace or immigration law
• Business must demonstrate a track record of giving first preference to Australian workers
• Labour market testing for the specific position
• Applicants must meet health, character and security requirements
• They must have no family relationship with directors/shareholders
• Qualifications must be compatible with the highly skilled role
• Applicant must have at least 3 years work experience directly relevant to position
• Capacity to pass on skills and help develop Australians workers
• Position must have minimum annual earnings of A$180,000

 Start-up stream

• Business operates in STEM-related (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) field
• A ‘start-up authority’ must endorse the business
• Access up to 5 positions per year
• Business must show a good history i.e. no breaches of workplace or immigration law
• Business must demonstrate a track record of giving first preference to Australian workers
• If the position ends (eg the start-up ceases trading) the visa holder has 60 days to find a new sponsor and a new visa or depart Australia
• Labour market testing for the specific position
• Applicants must meet health, character and security requirements
• They must have no family relationship with directors/shareholders
• Qualifications must be compatible with the highly skilled role
• At least 3 years work experience directly relevant to position
• Capacity to pass on skills and develop Australian workers
• Minimum annual earnings at the market salary rate (this can include equity, but must have a cash component that is no less than the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (currently A$53,900)).

More developments in the Entrepreneur/Start-up space

There is increasing interest in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship. The South Australian State Government has also recently announced that, with the cooperation of the Federal Government, South Australia will be trialling a new visa to attract budding entrepreneurs.

The newly announced South Australian Entrepreneurs visa is consistent with the South Australian Government’s aim to make Adelaide the start-up capital of Australia. We will provide more details as they become available.

In Conclusion

The Government recognises that there is increasing competition internationally for people with high-tech skills and experience, and believes that the new Global Talent Visa will allow Australian businesses to access the best talent across the world, leading to business growth, innovation, skills transfer and job creation.

From now until the visa is introduced on 1^st July 2018, the initial settings will be refined, with an industry advisory group to provide ongoing guidance.

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Do you need help with an Australian visa application?

At Work Visa Lawyers we are experienced in assisting applicants in all matters relating to Australian visa applications. Our areas of expertise include Skilled Migration visas, Business Skills Migration visas, Employer Sponsored Work Visas, Partner 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.

Key terms: Migration Policy Changes – 17 January 2018 Changes – Subclass 189 Skilled Independent – Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated visa – Subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored visa – MLTSSL – STSOL – Occupation Lists – Subclass 187 Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme -

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has released updates to the following skilled occupation lists:

- Medium and Long Term Skills Shortage List (MLTSSL) and Short Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) for Skilled Independent and Skilled Nominated visas (subclass 189, 190, 489)

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L00046

- Medium and Long Term Skills Shortage List (MLTSSL) and Short Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) for Temporary Work (Skilled) visas (subclass 457)

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L00044

- Medium and Long Term Skills Shortage List (MLTSSL) and Short Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) for Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) – Direct Entry Stream

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L00045

- Medium and Long Term Skills Shortage List (MLTSSL) for Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) – Graduate Work

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L00046

- Medium and Long Term Skills Shortage List (MLTSSL) and Short Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) for Training visa (subclass 407)

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L00047

Friday, 12 January 2018

457, RSMS and ENS visa News | Partner Visa News | Australia Immigration Department News | State Sponsorship News | Citizenship | English Requirements News

Welcome to 2018! The year of 2017 had the most changes and announcements on Immigration Policy that I can remember. Here is our recap of the significant changes to the migration programme for Australia in 2017 and some of the discussions and ongoing developments for 2018.

The Immigration News in 2017 has been dominated by the announcements in April 2017 regarding the 457 and skilled occupation list changes and the proposed changes to Australian Citizenship application requirements.

The planning levels for permanent visas continue to be significant, at 190,000 permanent visas to be granted. The planning levels control the numbers of Australian permanent visas that are granted each year. If application numbers exceed planning levels, expect a longer processing time for your visa application.

I am going to make comments below about news in relation to a wide range of visas including business, skilled, visitor and family visas.

Key terms: Medium and Long Term Skilled Shortage List – MLTSSL – Short Term Skilled Occupation List – STSOL – Skilled Occupation Lists – 1 July Changes

Welcome to world of confusing skilled occupation lists. As we all know the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) and Consolidated Skilled Occupation List (CSOL) were replaced by the new Medium and Long Term Skills Shortage List (MLTSSL) and the Short Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) on 19 April 2017. Until 30^th June 2017 the change was essentially a change in name (and removal of 216 occupations). As of 1^st July 2017 we now have additional changes to the applications of the MLTSSL and the STSOL.

There are now different MLTSSL and STSOL for different visa programmes

Key terms: Migration Policy Changes – 1 July Changes – Subclass 189 Skilled Independent – Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated visa – Subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored visa – MLTSSL – STSOL – Occupation Lists - Subclass 186 Employer Nominated Scheme - Subclass 457 Temporary Work (Skilled) - Occupation caveats

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has released updates to the following skilled occupation lists:

- Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL)

- Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL)

- Employer Nominated Scheme (subclass 186) – Direct Entry Stream Occupation List

- Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) Occupation List

- Training visa (subclass 407) Occupation List for Nomination eligibility type 2

In summary 12 occupations were removed from the occupation lists, namely:

Key terms: Migration Policy Changes – 1 July Changes – Subclass 189 Skilled Independent – Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated visa – Subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored visa – Age requirements – English exemptions – MLTSSL – STSOL – Occupation Lists -

There are plenty of changes happening to the Australia migration programme on 1 July 2017. Here is a summary of the major changes affecting the most common visa subclasses.

Age requirements lowered for a number of visas!

The age limits of the following visas have been reduced to below 45 years of age:

At the time of application

- Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme Direct Entry stream

- Subclass 187 Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme Direct Entry stream

At the time of invitation to apply

- Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated

- Subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored

- Subclass 189 Skilled Independent

Previously it was announced that the lower age requirement was only applicable to the subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa application. The age limit does not apply to applicants for the NZ stream for the subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa.

Key terms: Migration Policy Changes – Partner Visas – Subclass 820/801 – Subclass 309/100 – Sponsor Requirements – Family migration

2018 Update & Related Articles: 

Partner Visa Sponsorship & Policy Update 2018: Changes Affecting Processing Times & Force Offshore Partner Visa Applications

Planning to lodge a partner visa application? You will soon need to apply for sponsor approval first!

Amendments introduced in the Migration Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2016 describes that a separate sponsorship application is necessary before one can submit a partner visa application. Originally planned for implementation on 1 July 2017, we now know that the change will only be implemented in 2018 because the Bill has not been enacted.

At the time of writing there are still no details released by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) in relation to the process of applying for the sponsor approval.

*This is a developing story. More details to follow.*

The Prime Minister of Australia has announced the removal of the 457 visa programme. It is expected to be replaced by two new temporary work visas.

When is the 457 visa programme going to be removed?

The plan for complete removal is by March 2018. The definite date has not been announced.

I am currently on a 457 visa! What will happen to my status?

At this time we understand that all existing 457 visa holders wil maintain their visa status. No further 457 visas will be issued.

I have an ongoing 457 visa application! What will happen to it now?

At this time there has not been any information with regards to applications being processed. We will provide details on this matter as soon as it is available.

Key terms: Partner visa – Processing times – Partner visa subclass 801 – Partner visa subclass 820

2018 Update & Related Articles: 

Partner Visa Sponsorship & Policy Update 2018: Changes Affecting Processing Times & Force Offshore Partner Visa Applications

Australia partner visa applications allow an Australian citizen or permanent resident to sponsor a partner from overseas or a partner on a temporary visa in Australia. Partner visas can be lodged offshore (the applicant is not in Australia at the time of application) or onshore (applicant is in Australia at the time of application).

The Director for the Onshore Partner Migration management team has issued a letter announcing new processing arrangements for onshore partner visa application (subclass 820 / 801 /100). The letter states:

This year the Department is facing a particularly difficult resourcing environment with pressure to decrease staff numbers in line with the Government’s wider plans to reduce public sector expenditure. In the Partner Migration programme this is occurring in an environment of continued high application rates, growing pipelines onshore, and significant fraudulent activity.

Updated numbers for occupation ceilings under the SkillSelect Programme!

Every year the Australian migration programme sets an occupation ceiling for each skilled occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL). The occupation ceiling limits the number of invitations (Invitation to Apply) which can be issued to a particular occupation under the SkillSelect programme.

As of 31 March 2017 two groups of occupations have met their respective occupation ceilings and will no longer receive further invitations for this programme year. The two groups of occupations are:

·         Other Engineering Professionals (ANZSCO Group 2339)

·         Computer Network Professional (ANZSCO Group 2631)

If your nominated occupation is from the ANZSCO Group above, you will not receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) until the invitation rounds from 1 July 2017 onwards.

The occupation ceilings apply to the subclass 189 Skilled Independent Visa and subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa (Relative) categories. State or Territory Nominated visas (subclass 190 and 489), Employer Sponsored (subclass 457, ENS 186 and RSMS 187) or Business Innovation and Investment visa subclasses are not subject to the occupation ceilings.