Australian Immigration Daily News

Overview 

The Migration Amendment (New Skilled Regional Visas) Regulations 2019 created the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (Subclass 491) and the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) (Subclass 494) visas which commenced on 16 November 2019.

These two visas provide a period of stay in designated regional areas of Australia of up to five years. The Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) (Subclass 191) visa was also created at this time. The Subclass 191 visa has two streams - the Regional Provisional stream and the Hong Kong stream.

The Regional Provisional stream of the Subclass 191 visa commences on 16 November 2022 and is the permanent pathway for Skilled Regional Provisional (Subclass 491 and 494) visa holders.

Migration Queensland (MQ) business program suspended as of today 8 November 2022

Migration Queensland’s business nomination program (BIIP) will be temporarily suspended from 8 November 2022, as MQ has fulfilled our interim allocation for business nominations. 

Currently, we are only internally processing nomination applications that have been submitted. 

MQ is now waiting for further clarification from Home Affairs regarding the Queensland BIIP allocation. 

Further updates on any additional allocation will be posted on the Migration Queensland website. 

Please note: the Migration Queensland skilled program remains open.

MQ also has new business accounts for both LinkedIn and Facebook. If you could please ask members to join for the most up-to-date information regarding the MQ business and skilled program, events, investment and settlement information, that would be fantastic.

Migration Alliance has chosen not to write and publish a story on Jack Ta at this time.  We have received phone calls asking us to cover the story in our own words, and "spill dirt". We are not going to do that.  Please kindly stop calling our phone lines asking us to write something.  

Jack Ta is mentioned on these third party websites if you want to read about him:

https://www.tiktok.com/@sydneymorningherald/video/7162836855061269762?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7162836855061269762

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said taking action to improve compliance in the agriculture sector and protect vulnerable workers were top priorities for the FWO.

“This sector engages many vulnerable workers, such as visa holders, who may be unaware of their rights or unwilling to speak up. Employers who fail to deliver all their employees’ entitlements – including due to unlawful deductions – will be found out and risk facing penalties,” Ms Parker said.

“Any employees with concerns about their pay or entitlements should contact the Fair Work Ombudsman for free advice and assistance.”

 Source: Qld-Labour-hire-company-faces-court-for-alleged-underpayment-of-87-visa-holders.pdf

Below is a fact sheet on the Ministerial Direction to update the priority processing arrangements for skilled visas.

The new Ministerial Direction simplifies the visa process and will deliver more efficient visa processing for the benefit of skilled applicants and their sponsors across industries, allowing the Department of Home Affairs to process more skilled applications faster and respond quickly to labour market needs.

This change will also help small businesses seeking to recruit overseas workers. It speeds up processing for all occupations and makes the process less complicated.