Australian Immigration Daily News

Overview of the Disallowable Legislative Instrument

The purpose of the Migration Amendment (Visa Application Charges) Regulations 2022 (the Regulations) is to amend the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) to make changes to VACs for certain visas to implement the Government’s policy of indexing VACs.

The Regulations amend the Migration Regulations to increase VACs for a number of visas by the forecast consumer price index (CPI). From 2017-18, annual indexation of the VACs 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 2021-22 baseline amounts by the 2022-23 forecast CPI of 3.00 per cent, which is published in the 2022-23 Budget Paper No.1. The indexed amount of VAC is also rounded to the nearest $5. It is intended that these indexation amendments will continue to be made on an annual basis.

Source: Migration-Amendment-Visa-Application-Charges-Regulations-2022.pdf and

Migration-Amendment-Visa-Application-Charges-Regulations-2022-EXPLANATORY-STATEMENT.pdf