Australian Immigration Daily News

Decades old ICT systems underpinning Australia’s migration system need “urgent modernisation” after years of “systemic underinvestment” and failed “big bang” upgrades after review

The failure of previous large scale reform attempts — most recently the abandoned ‘permissions capability’ platform — have dampened morale of ministers, delivery officers, and service providers, while perpetuating a message that “Government ICT is not worth investing in”, according to the review released Thursday.

It recommended “an integrated program of ongoing investment over several years” and outlined four reform directions. These include establishing a holistic strategy and creating a modular tech ecosystem, while also sustaining and improving existing systems.

The Albanese Government will increase the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) from $53,900 to $70,000 from July 1.

Frozen since 2013, around 90% of all full-time jobs in Australia are now paid more than the current TSMIT, undermining Australia’s skilled migration system.

The new $70,000 income threshold is approximately where the TSMIT should have been if it had been properly indexed over the previous 10 years.

This is the Government’s first action in response to the independent Review of the Migration System led by Dr Martin Parkinson, which found that Australia’s migration system is broken.

The Albanese Government is also announcing that by the end of 2023, Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) short stream visa holders will have a pathway to permanent residency within our existing capped permanent program.

This will provide employers and migrants with more certainty, and will help increase the skill level in our permanent skilled program.

Source: TSMIT-AUD70000-from-1-July-2023.pdf and 

The-Hon-Clare-ONeil-MP-National-Press-Club-Address.pdf and

On 22 April 2023, the Australian Government announced a direct pathway to Australian citizenship for New Zealand citizens living in Australia.

From 1 July 2023, New Zealand citizens who have been living in Australia for four years or more will be eligible to apply directly for Australian citizenship. They will no longer need to first apply for and be granted a permanent visa. These changes apply to New Zealand citizens holding a Special Category (subclass 444) visa (SCV) who arrived in Australia after 26 February 2001. Protected SCV holders will continue to be eligible to apply directly for Australian citizenship.

For New Zealand citizens who are long-term residents in Australia, this will be achieved by backdating their period of permanent residence for citizenship purposes. This will allow them to meet the 12-month permanent residence period under the general residence requirement.

 Source: Direct-pathway-to-Australian-citizenship-for-NZ-citizens-from-1-July-2023.pdf

Supposedly, thousands of visa decisions have been brought into question by a High Court ruling that found the government is responsible for, and cannot defer the making of, intervention decisions for denied visa applicants the request of the minister for immigration to review their decisions.

On Wednesday, 12 April, a majority of the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of two appellants in the appeal of Davis v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs & Ors; DCM20 v Secretary of Department of Home Affairs & Anor.

The Migration Amendment (Subclass 309 Applicant Review Rights) Regulations 2023 (the Regulations) amends the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) to provide that the prescribed person eligible to seek merits review of a decision to refuse a Subclass 309 Partner (Provisional) visa application where the visa could be granted in Australia is the applicant rather than the sponsor.

The partner visa program permits Australian citizens, permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens to sponsor their partners to live in Australia. Applicants for a Subclass 309 (Partner (Provisional) visa must usually be outside Australia to apply for and be granted the visa. If the application is refused, the applicant’s sponsor has standing to seek merits review of the refusal decision by the Administrative Review Tribunal (AAT). Where persons are already in Australia on another visa and become the spouse or de-facto partner of an Australian partner sponsor, they may apply for and be granted a Subclass 820 Partner (Temporary) visa in Australia. Where Subclass 820 visa applications are refused, the applicants, themselves, have standing to seek merits review.

Under the Migration Amendment (2021 Measures No.1) Regulations 2021, COVID-19 concession provisions were inserted into the Migration Regulations to allow for the grant of a Subclass 309 visa in Australia, if the applicant was in Australia during the COVID-19 concession period to address that the visa applicant could not depart Australia during the travel restrictions. These regulations retained the position that standing to seek merits review of a refusal decision is held by the applicant’s sponsor, to align with the merits review rights of Subclass 309 applicants who were unaffected by COVID-19 concession provisions.

Source: Migration-Amendment-sc309-Review-Rights-Regulations-2023.pdf and Migration-Amendment-sc309-Review-Rights-Regulations-2023-explanatory-statement.pdf