Australian Immigration Daily News

The Australian Government has introduced a new rule, known as the Migration (COVID-19 Pandemic event for Temporary Activity (Subclass 408) Visa) Repeal Instrument (LIN 24/003), which will take effect on February 1, 2024. This rule repeals the previous regulation, LIN 22/046, which had classified the COVID-19 pandemic as an 'Australian Government endorsed event' (AGEE). This classification was important because it allowed certain individuals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to be eligible for a Subclass 408 (Temporary Activity) Visa.

Under the old rule, to qualify for this visa, applicants needed to be involved in work related to the AGEE. The repeal means that, from February 2024, the COVID-19 pandemic will no longer be recognized as an AGEE for visa purposes.

The decision to repeal this regulation comes after the government's announcement on August 31, 2023, stating that the Pandemic event visa would be closed to all applicants from February 2024. This move is part of an effort to better regulate Australia’s visa system now that the conditions that necessitated the Pandemic event visa have changed.

In preparation for this change, the Department of Home Affairs has consulted with external stakeholders and other Commonwealth departments to inform them of the closure of the Pandemic event visa. Additionally, the Office of Impact Analysis reviewed the changes and concluded that they are unlikely to have significant regulatory impacts, thus not requiring further impact analysis.

Source: Migration-COVID19-pandemic-event-for-sc408-visa-repeal-instrument-24003-2024.pdf

and

LIN24003-Explanatory-statement.pdf