Australian Immigration Daily News

Eligibility for the Australian Government Endorsed Events (AGEEs) activity type is based on the Minister listing major Australian events in a legislative instrument which was released in April 2020 this year. The instrument also includes the classes of persons eligible under this activity type. They must be invited by the event organiser.

This allows the Department to manage most, if not all, visa applications associated with an AGEE through a single visa pathway. The visa criteria are streamlined to take into account that the event and the activities associated with the event have already been assessed and approved by the Department. Visa applicants continue to be subject to genuine temporary entry requirements and other standard Subclass 480 criteria.  The GTE criterion has also been eased to include evidence that you will abide by your visa conditions and evidence that you do not intend to use this visa for longer than expected to prolong your stay in Australia.

The maximum stay for this visa is 12 months, however, there has been a number of setbacks with this visa including:

• Either have evidence from your employer that you have ongoing work in a critical sector and that an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident cannot fill the position, or demonstrate you can’t meet the requirements of any other visa
• Maintain adequate health insurance during your stay in Australia.
• The critical sectors list has been updated recently to include film and video production which opened up more avenues to potential 408 applicants

It is also accepted that evidence of inability to depart Australia due to flight restrictions.  As we have reported previously, the flights to each major capital cities have been drastically reduced.  The same applies for outbound flights.

If you require assistance with a COVID19 408 visa please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.