Australian Immigration Daily News

Important news regarding sanctions for Zimbabwe! The Australian Government is making changes through the Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons—Zimbabwe) Amendment (No. 1) Instrument 2023.

Background: Autonomous sanctions are non-military measures imposed by a government in response to global concerns. In this case, it's about situations in Zimbabwe affecting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

What's Changing: The Australian Government has regulations, and this change focuses on proscribing people or entities for financial sanctions or travel bans related to Zimbabwe. The Minister for Foreign Affairs can designate or declare someone if they've seriously undermined democracy, human rights, or the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

On 25 November 2023 changes were made to Partner (subclass 309) and Partner (subclass 820) visas. Partner (subclass 309) visa can be granted to applicants in or outside Australia.

For more information see Subclass 309 Partner (Provisional) visa Partner (subclass 820) visa can be granted to applicants in or outside Australia. For more information see Subclass 820 Partner visa (temporary).

See below:

A new Ministerial Direction for prioritising skilled visa applications to support outcomes from the Migration Strategy came into effect on 15 December 2023. 

Ministerial Direction No. 105 recognises the need to support regional Australia by streamlining visa processing for business located in regional Australia who are sponsoring skilled workers. The new Ministerial Direction elevates applications for employer sponsored visas in relation to occupations to be carried out in regional Australia to the highest priority. 

This priority is for occupations to be carried out in a regional area under the Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482), Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494) visas as they fill an identified shortage and are guaranteed to be in regional Australia. 

This document is about how many skilled graduate visas can be given in Australia for a specific year. The Australian government decides on the maximum number of visas it will grant to skilled graduates each year. For the 2023-2024 year, they've set the maximum number at 3,735 visas.

When that many visas are given out, the government won't consider any more applications. This decision affects a specific type of visa called the Subclass 476 (Skilled – Recognised Graduate) visa. If you applied for this visa and it's not granted because the limit is reached, you'll get your application fee back.

This type of visa was originally made to support the mining and minerals sector by attracting engineering graduates. However, there are other ways for internationally trained engineers to work in Australia, so they're thinking of changing this visa program. They're starting by limiting how many visas can be granted in a year, and they plan to review and maybe stop this visa program in the future.

The Migration Act 1958 is a set of rules about who can come to, stay in, or leave Australia, especially non-citizens. It says the government can create more detailed rules (regulations) to follow the Act properly.

Now, the Migration Amendment (Resolution of Status Visa Additional Cohort) Regulations 2023 changes some of these detailed rules. It helps people affected by a court case called Love v Commonwealth; Thoms v Commonwealth. These changes allow certain non-citizens who are recognized differently under the law because they're Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander to get a permanent visa (Subclass 851 - Resolution of Status). This visa also helps them access government support.

The court said that some people who aren't citizens or regular non-citizens can't be detained or removed from Australia under these rules. So, the new regulations create a way for these people to apply for a special visa if they've been offered permanent stay in Australia and meet certain conditions.