Australian Immigration Daily News

Migration Alliance has received the following email from the Office of the MARA:

Dear all 

The Migration Agent Activity Report January to June 2020 has been published on the OMARA website: https://www.mara.gov.au/news-and-publications/publications/migration-agent-activity-report/

The instrument operates to specify, in section 7, the COVID-19 pandemic as declared by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020 (the COVID-19 pandemic), as an event for paragraph 408.229(b) of Schedule 2 to the Regulations. The instrument also operates to specify, in sections 8 and 9, the classes of persons for the purposes of paragraph 408.229(c) of Schedule 2 and subparagraph 1237(2)(a)(i) of Schedule 1 to the Regulations. Accordingly, the instrument operates so that a person who is in a specified class of persons is eligible to apply for a Subclass 408 visa in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and with a nil visa application charge.

The purpose of the instrument is to adjust and expand the measure introduced by LIN 20/122 to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has evolved since the measure was initially implemented.

Source: LIN20229.pdf and LIN20229-Explanatory-Statement.pdf

Building a strong migration advice profession is a tactical process, not a goal. As migration advisers, building on an already robust profession is the systematic process of consolidating the various groups within our migration profession around a specific goal. The specific goal of our profession is to protect, advance, promote, and preserve the Australian migration advice industry.

Part of the profession-building process for the migration advice profession is the guiding and propulsion of all groups into a place of closeness, mutual understanding, and trust, despite our differences. In essence, building the migration advice profession is like setting the “table” for a healthy marriage.

Forging respectful relationships and mutual respect of our professional associations, whether they be Registered Migration Agent (RMA) associations, Law Societies or a mix of lawyers and RMAs requires each of us to engage in the behaviours mentioned above. This will minimise the interpersonal obstacles and personal biases that can hinder overall productivity and growth as a migration advice profession.

As businesses continue to navigate through COVID19 pandemic, the drop the in the overall revenue has resulted in being unable to meet Caveat requirements in certain instances.

For example, nominated occupation of Accountant General requires the business for the purpose of 186 and 482 visa to demonstrate annual turnover of at least $1M.

In certain instances, it is possible for an associated entity to provide a letter of support to the main business.  The same does not apply to Caveats.  Below is a response from the Policy Section:

Recent FOI released by the Department of Home Affairs shows the number of on-shore vs offshore GSM visa grants.

For the month ended 30/06/2020, the Department of Home Affairs granted 1024 Subclass 189 visas.  Note, this data also includes grant of visas to secondary applicants.

By contrast, for the same period there were 32 off-shore subclass 189 grants.  The data includes primary and secondary visa grants.