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October 2014 Edition

Welcome to the Victorian Government's Agent Alert for migration agents and representatives.

This edition has information on:

• Reforms to Significant Investor and 457 visa programs
• Temporary pause in application processing
• Pause in skilled applications for ICT occupations
• Victoria’s flexible visa nomination requirements
• Overseas Skills Registry expanded to include more international student graduates.

Reforms to Significant Investor and 457 visa programs

The Commonwealth Government has announced reforms to the Significant Investor and 457 visa programs.

Changes announced to the Significant Investor visa include the introduction of a new Premium Investor visa (PIV) and the re-introduction of ‘role swapping’ between primary and secondary applicants within all streams of the Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP).
 

Read the Media release

Temporary pause in application processing

The Live in Victoria website is in the process of undertaking a major technology upgrade. This will result in a more efficient and reliable service.

This upgrade will require us to take offline the systems for submitting and processing applications for state visa nomination for up to one week.

The applications system will be disabled from 9am Monday 27 October and will be back up and running by Monday 3 November.

Please note that applicants and agents will be unable to submit applications for state visa nomination during this time.

The processing of applications recently lodged and already in the system will also be temporarily paused during this time as our representatives will be unable to access the system while the upgrade is being undertaken.

The Skilled and Business Migration Program will also be unable to answer queries about the progress of applications while the system is down.

The Significant Investor Services Directory and the Overseas Skills Registry application forms will also be unavailable.

We apologise to applicants and agents for any inconvenience caused while we make these important system improvements.

Pause in skilled applications for ICT occupations

Due to the large volume of applications received, applications for State nomination for ICT occupations will not be accepted from 1 October 2014 to 5 January 2015.

The temporary closure will allow for the processing of all outstanding applications, with the assistance of industry assessment panels, and will reduce delays for future applicants.   

The occupations affected by this pause are:

• 135112 ICT Project Manager
• 261111 ICT Business Analyst
• 261112 Systems Analyst 
• 261311 Analyst Programmer
• 261312 Developer Programmer
• 261313 Software Engineer
• 261314 Software Tester 
• 261399 Software and Applications Programmers nec
• 262111 Database Administrator
• 262112 ICT Security Specialist
• 263111 Computer Network and Systems Engineer.

It is anticipated this closure will be for three months, however further updates will be provided if required.

Applicants applying under the streamlined pathways (e.g. PhD) are not affected by the closure and may continue to apply under these ICT occupations during the temporary closure.

Applications for all other occupations eligible for Victorian Government sponsorship remain open.

View more information about occupations eligible for Victorian visa nomination at liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/skillsindemand

Victoria’s flexible visa nomination requirements

The Victorian Government is committed to offering the highest level of investment choice and flexibility for Significant Investors seeking visa nomination.

The Victorian Government assesses Significant Investor visa nomination applications individually, taking into consideration the applicant’s business goals and investment intentions and a diverse range of economic contributions. 

These include contributions demonstrated through complying investment(s), or through the applicant's broader business, economic or investment activities unrelated to the complying investment.

For more information about Victorian visa nomination and investing in Victoria, contact our Significant Investment Managers or visit liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/siv

Overseas Skills Registry expanded to include more international student graduates

The Victorian Government’s Overseas Skills Registry connects Victorian employers with overseas qualified skilled workers and international students who have skills in demand.

The eligibility criteria for international student graduates on the Overseas Skills Registry is expanding to include international graduates who have completed a recognised professional year.

International students will now be required to:

• Hold a Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485)
• Have a skilled occupation that is in demand in Victoria
• Have a degree qualification, or higher, that is related to their profiled occupation and from an onshore Australian university
• Live in Victoria
• Have a minimum of two years professional work experience in their profiled occupation or have completed a recognised professional year.

For more information visit liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/overseasskillsregistry