Australian Immigration Daily News

Overview of the Disallowable Legislative Instrument

The purpose of the Migration Amendment (Visa Application Charges) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) is to amend the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) to make changes to visa application charges (VACs) for certain visas as a consequence of the 2017-18 Budget Measure Indexation of visa application charges, and 2020-21 Budget Measure Migration Program – changes to the Business Innovation and Investment Program.

In particular, the Regulations amend the Migration Regulations to increase VACs for a number of visas by the forecast consumer price index (CPI), consistent with the 2017-18 Budget Measure Indexation of visa application charges. From 2017-18, annual indexation of the VAC has been in accordance with the forecast CPI published annually in the Budget papers.

In effect, this means that the affected VACs are increased from their 2020-21 baseline amounts by the 2021-22 forecast CPI as published in the 2021-22 Budget Paper No.1, rounded to the nearest $5. It is intended that these indexation amendments will continue to be made on an annual basis.

In addition, consistent with the 2020-21 Budget Measure Migration Program – changes to Business Innovation and Investment Program, visa application charges for most Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) visas are also increased by 11.345 percent (cumulatively with VAC indexation). This coincides with the closure of three streams of visas with effect from 1 July 2021: the Subclass 132 (Business Talent) permanent visa (with two streams) is being repealed, and the Premium Investor stream of the Subclass 188 (Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional)) visa is being closed to new applications from 1 July 2021.

Source: Migration-Amendment-Visa-Application-Charges-Regulations-2021.pdf and 

Migration-Amendment-Visa-Application-Charges-2021-Explanatory-Statement.pdf