Australian Immigration Daily News

NSW runs the skilled nominated migration (190) program in order to attract highly skilled people in a range of occupations to contribute to NSW skills needs. NSW's position as an appealing destination for skilled migrants is confirmed beyond doubt by the significant demand shown for NSW nomination for the 190 Visa.

The purpose of the NSW skilled visa program is to help drive economic growth, competitiveness and productivity in NSW. Through the 190 program we aim to nominate highly skilled migrants whose occupational skills are needed in NSW.

NSW selects and invites candidates to apply for NSW nomination. Candidates are selected from the Department of Home Affairs SkillSelect database. NSW Department of Industry selects and invites the highest ranking candidates who meet the NSW nomination criteria in eligible occupations on an ongoing basis. Invitations are not guaranteed.

What exactly is Business Innovation and Provisional Investment Visa?  What makes this visa  unique?  Why would an applicant decide to apply for this visa by comparison to Employer Nomination Scheme or Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme or General Skilled Migration?

The answers are not straight forward and certain situations arise where Migration Agents as well as potential applicants shy away from Subclass 188 visas due to lack of knowledge surrounding rules and regulations.

Firstly, this visa is provisional, meaning that unless certain conditions are met, a holder of subclass 188 visa will not be able to transition to 888 Permanent Visa.

Sponsorship applications for Subclass 870 visa opened on 17 April 2019 and the first round of sponsorships have been approved. Visa applications Subclass 870 visas will commence as scheduled on 1 July 2019.

In anticipation of the new programme due to commence within a matter of weeks, below is some vital information which Migration Agents as well as potential applicants may find useful.

The introduction of the temporary sponsored parent visa finally passed the Senate and as a result introduced Migration Amendment (Family Violence and other Measures) Bill 2016 (the Bill) through Parliament.  Applications to sponsor a parent for a Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa are open from 17 April 2019. 

Employers who wish to nominate a foreign employee for ENS Subclass 186 visa (permanent residence) will be required to evidence that there is a genuine need for an employee to occupy certain position on a permanent and ongoing basis.

This criterion is applicable to Temporary Residence Transition Stream as well as Direct Entry Stream respectively. The appears to be a level of misunderstanding regarding this requirement, particularly, that such evidence needs to come in a form of Labour Market Testing (similar to the process of sponsoring a TSS employee).  The purpose of this article is to clarify this requirement and provide suggestions in terms of evidence could be provided by an employer for the Department to consider.

Temporary Residence Transition Stream (TRTS):

1.      MORLA

Home Affairs announced important changes to Minister of Religion Labour Agreement (MORLA).  The purpose of the changes is to facilitate sponsorship of additional occupation Religious Assistant (ANZSCO 451816). The new initiative broadens MORLA to sponsorship options outside tthe only occupation available under the agreement - Minister of Religion.

All questions in the MORLA request form should be answered as they currently are for applicants requesting a MORLA.