Australian Immigration Daily News

Overview of the Disallowable Legislative Instrument

The Immigration (Education) Act 1971 provides for publicly-funded tuition in approved English courses to eligible migrants who do not have vocational English. This is delivered through the Australian Government’s Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). The AMEP helps new migrants learn English skills that will assist them to successfully and confidently participate socially and economically in Australian society. The AMEP is available to all eligible permanent visa holders, and current citizens who previously held a permanent visa, aged 18 years or over who do not have a vocational level of English language proficiency. Some visa holders aged 15 to 17 may also be eligible in some locations where intensive English classes in high schools are not available. Access is also extended to some temporary visa holders as specified in the legislative instrument for this purpose.

The purpose of this Disallowable Legislative Instrument is to amend the Immigration (Education) (Specification of temporary visas) Instrument (LIN 21/013) 2021 (LIN 21/013) to add the Temporary Safe Haven (Class UJ), Subclass 449 (Humanitarian Stay (Temporary)) visa to the specified classes of temporary visas that a person must hold, or have applied for, to be eligible for the provision of English language tuition under the AMEP.

The Subclass 449 (Humanitarian Stay (Temporary)) visa is being added to support the Government’s efforts to provide urgent settlement assistance to those entering Australia from Afghanistan, many of whom have been or are expected to be granted this visa, by providing them with access to English language tuition under the AMEP.

Source: LIN21070.pdf and LIN21070-Explanatory-Statement.pdf