Australian Immigration Daily News

On Friday, the Government released new Legislative Instrument revising the age requirement for Points Tested Subclass 189 visa.  The same instrument also clarifies GSM Pathway for NZ Citizens on the basis of residing in Australia for a period of five years.  The paradoxical nature of this announcement is unfortunate. On one hand, this is unwelcome news for applicants who are 45 or over as they will no longer be able to meet the associated age requirement.  On the other, NZ citizens may apply for GSM with lesser restrictions.

Applicants who are 45 and over

The Instrument confirms that applicants for a 189 visa assessed from 1 July 2017 must be under 45 years of age at the time of receiving an invitation to apply.  No doubt, this is placing further restrictions on permanent visa options (or lack of) which are currently available to skilled migrants wanting to migrate to Australia.  Subclass 189 applicants who have lodged an Expression of Interest and are/will be 45 or over at the time of Invitation, will no longer be able to meet the age requirement for this visa.  Applicants who are impacted may be eligible for another visa including State Nominated permanent residence or permanent residence via the Employer Nomination Scheme.

There is no doubt that the removal and addition of occupations to the List is somewhat of a mystery.  Unfortunately, the short answer is that there is no way to predict whether a particular occupation will remain on the List for the following financial year.  However, it is important to understand how decision is made to keep or to remove a particular occupation.  The understanding of the review process is now more important than before given the Government’s recent overhaul of the Temporary Visa Framework.

The Consolidated Skilled Occupations List (SCOL)

This List has been significantly condensed from 651 to 435 occupations, with 216 occupations removed. The Consolidated Sponsored Occupation List (CSOL) has been renamed to the new Short-term Skilled Occupations List (STSOL) and will be updated every six months based on advice from the Department of Employment.

Last night the Coalition Government delivered the Budget.  This has provided some interesting insight in relation to Australia’s immigration programme for the year ahead.  Below is key point summary of the Budget:

Job Cuts at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection:

Evident restructure within Government departments was seen across all sectors. Around 245 positions will go from Immigration and Border Protection, explained through "net movements in measures and operational pressures".  This could mean further delay in visa application processing times.  Current 457 visas take around 59 days to be processed with approximately 90% of cases processed in 6 months.

Some welcome news at a State level for subclass 457 visa holders impacted by recent legislative changes! South Australian Government is accepting nominations for 457 visa holders currently working in South Australia for a 190 or 489 General Skilled Migration visa allowing these individuals to remain in South Australia. The added bonus the fact that these visa pathways place no requirements on the employer.  Where a subclass 457 visa holder has worked in South Australia for 12 months or more, they will have access to more than 400 occupations.  This is welcomed news by those visa holders who are no longer eligible for another 457 visa or subclass 186 as a result of the changes last month.  The changes are summarised here:  http://migrationalliance.com.au/immigration-daily-news/entry/2017-04-key-dates-introduction-of-temporary-skill-shortage-visa-tss-and-phasing-out-of-temporary-work-skilled-subclass-457-visa-457-visa.html

In addition to having more occupations available to choose from, South Australia is offering further concessions on English language requirements. Applicants securing a state nomination can get up to 10 extra points for DIBP’s points test. Five will be awarded for state nomination relating to subclass 190 visa and ten relating to a state nomination for subclass 489 visa.

Securing a subclass 489 or 190 visa will also allow visa holders access to local school fees.

Operation "Sovereign Borders" has been a primary focus of the government to deal with 'people smuggling'.

On April 23, days after announcing changes to Subclass 457 Visa and Citizenship, Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton released the following statistics for comparison.

Under Labor, Australia saw: