Australian Immigration Daily News

The Migration Amendment (Bridging Visa Conditions) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) amend the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) to allow the Minister to specify that certain bridging visas are subject to specified visa conditions.

In particular, the Regulations allow the Minister to impose a number of existing visa conditions, relating to the safety and security of the Australian community, on Subclass 050 (Bridging (General)) visas and Subclass 070 (Bridging (Removal Pending)) visas.

The conditions may be imposed if the visa is granted by the Minister exercising his or her personal power under section 195A of the Migration Act to grant a visa to a detainee.

Christopher Levingston, Secretary of Migration Alliance, and Accredited Specialist Immigration Lawyer is offering free mentoring to Registered Migration Agents and Migration Lawyers.

This free services is only available to Registered Migration Agents and Migration Lawyers and is not available to members of the public.

If you have a tricky immigration question, or need assistance formulating a strategy for a client then you can contact Christopher by email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Outline

The Migration Amendment (Clarifying International Obligations for Removal) Bill 2021 (the Bill) amends the Migration Act 1958 (the Migration Act) to:

- modify the effect of section 197C to ensure it does not require or authorise the removal of an unlawful non-citizen (UNC) who has been found to engage protection obligations through the protection visa process unless:

- the decision finding that the non-citizen engages protection obligations has been set aside;

- the Minister is satisfied that the non-citizen no longer engages protection obligations; or

- the non-citizen requests voluntary removal; and

- ensure that, in assessing a protection visa application, protection obligations are always assessed, including in circumstances where the applicant is ineligible for visa grant due to criminal conduct or risks to security.

Section 197C of the Migration Act provides that, for the purposes of section 198 (removal from Australia of unlawful non-citizens), it is irrelevant whether Australia has nonrefoulement obligations in respect of a UNC, and that person must be removed as soon as reasonably practicable.

Section 197C was introduced to deter the making of unmeritorious protection claims as a means to delay an applicant¡¦s departure from Australia. In these cases, the Minister or delegate had already found the person did not engage non-refoulement obligations. Section 197C was therefore not intended to operate to require the removal of a person who had been found to engage non-refoulement obligations.

 Source: Migration-Amendment---Clarifying-Bill-2021.pdf and 

Migration-Amendment---Clarifying-Bill-2021-explanatory-memo.pdf

Purpose

The purpose of the instrument is to update the specified assessing authorities in relation to the following occupations: chief executive or managing director, corporate general manager, engineering manager, childcare centre manager and podiatrist.

The instrument specifies matters relating to applications for a Subclass 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme) visa in the Direct Entry Stream (a Subclass 186 visa). Under subclause 186.234(1) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations, at the time of application for a Subclass 186 visa, an applicant must:

- have been assessed by a specified assessing authority, that assessment must not be for a Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa and must not be more than 3 years old at the time of application, and the applicant has been employed in the occupation for at least 3 years (see subclause 186.234(2) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations), or

- have been assessed by an assessing authority as having skills suitable for their occupation, with the assessing authority for each occupation specified by legislative instrument (with additional requirements also listed in subclause 186.234(2) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations), or

- be in a class of persons specified by the Minister in a legislative instrument (see subclause 186.234(3)).

The purpose of the instrument is to update the specified assessing authorities for the occupations included in LIN 19/049, for paragraph 186.234(2)(a) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations. The instrument updates the names of assessing authorities that have changed, and implements changes to assessing authorities for particular occupations.

 Source: LIN21009.pdf and LIN21009-Explanatory-Statement.pdf