Australian Immigration Daily News

Changes to the structure and delivery of the Migration Agents Capstone Assessment (Capstone) will commence from October 2023. The changes include:

• consolidating the current two written assessments into one written assessment
• extending the oral assessment
• reducing the cost of the Capstone from $2690 to $2156
• reducing the number of intakes from four (4) to three (3) each year

Further information about the changes is available on the OMARA website (Further Capstone information (mara.gov.au)) and on the Legal Training Australia website (Migration Agents Capstone Assessment - Legal Training Australia - Legal Training Australia) 

Quotes attributable to Federal Minister for Education Jason Clare:

“International student numbers are almost back to where they were before the pandemic. That’s a good thing. International education is an extraordinarily valuable national asset.

“But there are also challenges in international education. As students have come back, so have some dodgy and unscrupulous players who are trying to take advantage of them.

“This change will work to stop predatory ‘second’ providers from enrolling students before they have studied for the required six months at their first provider.

“This will help ensure the integrity of one of our biggest exports while cracking down on dodgy operators.”

Source: Action-to-end-rorts-in-international-education.pdf

Subregulation 2.07(5) of the Migration Regulations provides that if an item of Schedule 1 to the Migration Regulations prescribes a criteria or requirements by reference to a legislative instrument made under subregulation 2.07(5), the Minister may, by legislative instrument, specify the following:

• an approved form for making an application for a visa of a specified class;
• the way in which an application for a visa of a specified class must be made;
• the place at which an application for a visa of a specified class must be made; and
• any other matter

Source: LIN23049.pdf and LIN23049-Explanatory-Statement.pdf

Overview of the legislative instrument

The Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Home Affairs Measures No. 5) Regulations 2023 amend Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations to establish legislative authority for government spending on the Community Language Schools Grants Program (the program) which will be administered by the Department of Home Affairs.

The program is intended to strengthen the cohesion and prosperity of Australia’s multicultural society by supporting community language schools (CLS) to support more children in Australia to acquire a second language, specifically to:

• connect them to the languages of their parents, grandparents and broader communities; and
• enable their participation in a broader range of jobs in an economy closely integrated into a global market of diverse trading partners.

Eligible not-for-profit CLS across Australia will receive a one-off grant to expand the delivery of languages to more school-aged children from Kindergarten to year 12, and a supplementary payment for pre-schoolers. Grant money may only be used for school administration and operational costs, educational equipment and resources, appropriate venue hire, and teacher professional development.

Funding of $18.2 million over four years from 2022-23 will be available to the program.

Source: Financial-Framework-Supplementary-Powers-Amendment-Home-Affairs-Measures-No-5.pdf

The purpose of the instrument is to specify chemicals of security concern under subclauses 8551(2) and 8560(2) of Schedule 8 to the Migration Regulations, for the purposes of visa conditions 8551 and 8560.

These visa conditions require that visa holders who hold a Subclass 050 Bridging (General) visa or a Subclass 070 Bridging (Removal Pending) visa must obtain the Minister's approval before:

• taking up employment in an occupation that involves the use of, or access to, chemicals of security concern; or 
• acquiring chemicals of security concern

Source: LIN23053.pdf and LIN23053-Explanatory-Statement.pdf