Australian Immigration Daily News

Australian Immigration landscape continues to change now more than ever.  As such, it is appropriate to think about what the future of Australian immigration holds in wake of the new financial year.

Immigration Intake is likely to be reduced

Whilst there has been no formal announcement made by the Government, some States and Territories have closed their migration programs (business and skilled) and there is no definite date in terms of when the migration intake will re-open. 

The following has been received from Immigration South Australia.

South Australian state nomination applications for the 2019/2020 program year will close on Sunday 28 June 2020 at 9pm ACST.

Skilled migrants seeking state nomination will need to submit and pay for their application to Immigration SA by this time to be considered against the current state nomination requirements.

Any incomplete application remaining in the system past 9pm ACST on the Sunday 28 June 2020 will be deleted. This includes applications that have been “saved but not submitted” and applications that have been “submitted but are still awaiting payment.

Applications for 190/491 skilled migration for the 2020/2021 program year will be open at a date to be advised.

The Minister for Trade, Tourist and Investment has announced a launch of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between Australia and the United Kingdom. An FTA between the two nations, will aim to support the economic recovery from COVID-19.

In responding to the impact of COVID-19, the Australia-UK FTA is seen as a top priority and will be an important part of the Government post-COVID strategies, making it easier for businesses to export, and access goods, services and capital to fuel economic recovery.

Minister Birmingham said:

Northern Territory has updated their government website to advise that changes to the nomination requirement are expected to come into force from 1 July 2020.   At present, Northern Territory is not processing any offshore nominations lodged on or after 24 March 2020 until further notice.

Eligibility Summary Criteria

At the time of nomination, the applicant must be:

With significant slowdown of the processing times relating to TSS visas as well as increased scrutiny of ENS visa applications, migrants are encouraged to investigate other options that may be available to them in order to secure residency in Australia. 

Some of these options include Business Stream visas (which are also limited as they are largely governed by the States) and State Nomination Visas.

What appears to be an underutilised visa framework is the Global Talent (Independent) as well as Global Talent (Employer Sponsored) visas.