Australian Immigration Daily News

Migration Alliance has received the following email from the Department of Home Affairs, Immigration Policy Framework Branch this morning:

The Government has made announcements relating to temporary visa holders in Australia, as well as additional measures to support the Agriculture sector.  

Details of the announcements are available at the following websites: 

The NFF and its members have been working collaboratively with the Government on the issue of farm workforce stability and safety for some time.

The decision to extend the visas of foreign workers already working in Australia pursuant to the Pacific Labour Scheme, Seasonal Worker Programmes, and Working Holiday Programmes, gives certainty to farmers when planning for upcoming plantings and harvest.

Importantly, it will permit a continuity of business in the production of fresh produce, that is so important to the health and wellbeing of Australians, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Certainty-for-farm-workforce-continuity-and-safety.pdf

Alan Tudge MP, Acting Immigration Minister, spoke on 4 April 2020 and stated as follows:

Now having outlined those principles, let me go through some of the major visa classes and the specific measures which are applied to those.

I'll start with visitor visa holders. These are our international tourists. Now there's 203,000 international visitors in Australia, and they're typically on visas which last anywhere up to three months. International tourists should return home to their home country as quickly as possible is our message. Particularly for those who don't have family support in Australia. This message was stated yesterday very clearly by the Prime Minister, I'll reiterate that point today. That international tourists should return home, particularly if they don't have family support in Australia. Now thousands I know are already doing this, I see that in the data and others should be following their lead.

The Morrison Government has created a new visa extending the stay of critical seasonal workers to ensure the agricultural sector has the labour force it needs.

Seasonal Worker Programme and Pacific Labour Scheme workers will have visa conditions relaxed and be given an option to extend their stay for up to one year.

As members would be aware Migration Alliance made a submission to government with a raft of policy suggestions for international students, working holiday makers, 444 visa holders and other temporary-sponsored visa holders.  The roll out shows that our suggestions have been adopted in part or in whole:

Migration Alliance member, and RMA, Dan Engles has done a neat summary of the changes:

The Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs has issued a statement today addressing the concerns surrounding temporary visa holders.