Australian Immigration Daily News

As announced earlier, standard business sponsors able to reduce working hours without breaching Condition 8107/8607 or the business being in breach of their employer obligations.

However, those who have been laid off and are currently unemployed will need to find another employer within 60 days or make arrangements to leave Australia, where this is possible.

Holders of temporary work visas currently employed in COVID-19 critical sectors including but not limited to health care, aged and disability care, childcare, or agriculture and food processing may be eligible for a  Temporary Activity Visa (subclass 408) Australian Government Endorsed Agreement Event  stream (COVID-19 Pandemic event visa).  The criteria for this visa has broadened as a result of recent announcements regarding what are currently considered to be critical skills sectors.

Australian Borderforce updated the critical skills list on the basis of which a travel exemption may be granted into Australia.

The Commissioner of the Australian Border Force may grant an individual exemption if an applicant is a non-citizen:

• travelling at the invitation of the Australian Government or a state or territory government authority for the purpose of assisting in the COVID-19 response
• providing critical or specialist medical services, including air ambulance, medical evacuations and delivering critical medical supplies
• with critical skills required to maintain the supply of essential goods and services (such as in medical technology, critical infrastructure, telecommunications, engineering and mining, supply chain logistics, agricultural technology, food production, and the maritime industry)
• delivering services in sectors critical to Australia’s economic recovery (such as financial technology, large scale manufacturing, film and television production and emerging technology), where no Australian worker is available
• whose entry would otherwise be in Australia's national interest, supported by the Australian Government or a state or territory government authority.

An individual can submit a request for a travel exemption under this category or a business can submit a request on their behalf. The applications of multiple travellers within the same group/business can be linked, so that the requests are considered together.

Due to the current COVID-19 situation, Victorian Medical Centres will be closing. No new bookings are being accepted in Victoria. New bookings will become available once restrictions are eased by the Victorian Government.

For visa applicants with existing bookings in Victorian Centres, you will be notified shortly that your appointment has been cancelled and will need to be rescheduled once restrictions are eased and services recommence. No action is required from those who have already made an appointment.

The Department of Home Affairs will be able to issue extensions to complete medical examinations as appropriate.

Earlier this year Skill Select launched EOI Dashboard which was quickly removed due to a number of concerns including exposing sensitive data.

The Department has undertaken a review of the SkillSelect Dashboard to ensure that there is no reasonable chance of an individual being re-identified from the EOI statistics.

The dashboard is now available again and can be accessed via the Department’s SkillSelect web page and comprises a comprehensive library of historic and current statistics in relation to Expressions of Interest (EOIs).  The dashboard is a one-stop shop for SkillSelect EOI statistics and is freely available on demand, without any need to formally request the statistics and wait for such a request to be processed. Bypassing the FOI process will significantly reduce delays in obtaining the same information as has previously been provided in response to FOI requests.

As mentioned in our earlier articles, temporary visa holders do not need an exemption to depart Australia. They can leave at any time, as long as border restrictions in their home country allow them to return.

Commercial flights are available in several major airports across Australia. These airlines are currently operating flights departing Australia:

Airlines flying include: