Australian Immigration Daily News

The following information has just been received from the South Australian government:

To complete system updates for the new program year Immigration SA will be closing the state nomination 190/489 application system from 9am on Monday 25 June and will re-open in the first week of July (the date and time will be confirmed at the start of July).

If you have commenced a 190/489 application, you will need to submit & pay for the application prior to the system being closed.

From 9am on 25 June, incomplete applications will be deleted, this includes applications that have been “saved but not submitted” and applications that have been “submitted but are still awaiting payment”.  

Processing times for submitted applications are provided here.

On average, persons born in India are the largest group applying for Australian citizenship based on the information contained in the House of Reps transcript dated Monday 18 June, 2018.

Read the document below to see the steady rise of India as the number one source country, with the United Kingdom dropping into second place overall as a source nation for Australia's citizens.

Source: Citizenship-of-Australia-application-numbers.pdf

The purpose of the instrument is to remove a lodgement option that was present in the previous instrument, the in-person lodgement option for Parent visa applications and specify lodgement of those applications by post or courier to the specified addresses.

The instrument varies the requirements for making a valid application for the specified Parent visas, in line with amendments made to the Regulations, specified in the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2018 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2018. This allows the required application form and address for lodgement of a visa application to be specified in the instrument rather than directly in Schedule 1 to the Regulations.Providing for these matters to be specified in an instrument will allow more flexible and responsive legislative changes to the required forms and address for lodgement of specified visas to be made.

 Sources:

The newly created IMMI 18/103 is set to vary the requirements for making a valid application for the specified Partner visas, to address amendments made to the Regulations, specified in the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2018 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2018. The changes to the Regulations allow for the specification of the required application form and address for lodgement of a visa application to be specified in the instrument rather than directly in Schedule 1 to the Regulations. This decision is somewhat of significant shift in eligibility assessment of the below mentioned applications given that both practitioners and well as visa applicants have historically relied on Schedule 1 requirements to source this information.  

Relevant Points of Interest Include:

Schedule III of Immi 18/103 The instrument IMMI 18/103 operates to specify the approved form, place and manner for making an application for the following visas:

APRIL KEY POINTS

SHORT-TERM VISITOR ARRIVALS TO AUSTRALIA
- Trend estimates: Short-term visitor arrivals during April 2018 (759,900 movements) increased 0.1% when compared with March 2018 (759,000 movements). This followed monthly increases of 0.3% for both February and March 2018. The current trend estimate for arrivals is 4.0% higher than in April 2017.
- Seasonally adjusted estimates: During April 2018, short-term visitor arrivals (756,300 movements) decreased 1.9% when compared with March 2018 (770,800 movements). This followed a monthly decrease of 1.5% in February 2018 and an increase of 2.7% in March 2018.
- Original estimates: There were 679,700 short-term visitor arrivals to Australia in April 2018.

SHORT-TERM RESIDENT RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA
- Trend estimates: Short-term resident returns during April 2018 (910,500 movements) increased 0.8% when compared with March 2018 (903,500 movements). This followed monthly increases of 0.7% for both February and March 2018. The current trend estimate for returns is 3.3% higher than in April 2017.
- Seasonally adjusted estimates: During April 2018, short-term resident returns (923,400 movements) increased 1.3% when compared with March 2018 (911,200 movements).
- This followed a monthly decrease of 2.4% in February 2018 and a monthly increase of 4.2% in March 2018.
- Original estimates: There were 929,000 short-term resident returns to Australia in April 2018.

Source: ABS-Overseas-Visitors-1.pdf