Australian Immigration Daily News

LIN 23/061

The purpose of the instrument is to amend LIN 22/046 to gradually close the COVID-19 pandemic event 408 visa to new applications from 2 September 2023. This is designed to encourage individuals to apply for a more appropriate visa to meet their individual circumstances.

The COVID-19 pandemic event 408 visa (Pandemic event visa) was introduced in April 2020 to enable temporary migrants to lawfully remain in Australia while the border was closed. It also addressed labour shortages in critical sectors in the local economy. Now that Australia’s borders are open and temporary visa holder numbers in Australia have returned to pre-COVID-19 levels, the Pandemic event visa is no longer required.

Closure of the Pandemic event visa will contribute to a well-managed migration system that better regulates visa pathways and normalises the flow of temporary migrants in and out of Australia. It will help to ensure that people are applying for the right visa that matches the reason for their travel and stay in Australia.

Closure of the Pandemic event visa also bolsters the integrity of Australia’s visa system. Along with employers who seek to utilise the visa to avoid sponsorship obligations, an increasing number of potential migrants have been coming to Australia with the intent of applying for the Pandemic event visa as soon as possible. This is most prevalent in the English language education sector, where international students were withdrawing from courses upon arrival.

Source: LIN23061.pdf and LIN23061-Explanatory-Statement.pdf

The report comprises two chapters as follows:

- Chapter 1 outlines the administrative details of the inquiry, background to the inquiry, and the key provisions of the bill.

- Chapter 2 discusses the key issues raised by submitters and witnesses. It also sets out the committee's views and recommendations in relation to the bill.

Source: Migration-Amendment-Strengthening-Employer-Compliance-Bill-2023.pdf

The Australian Government has announced it is closing the Temporary Activity visa (subclass 408) Australian Government endorsed events (COVID-19 Pandemic event) – referred to as the Pandemic Event visa. See Closure of the Pandemic Event visa (homeaffairs.gov.au) 

From 2 September 2023, the Pandemic Event visa will only be open to applications from existing Pandemic Event visa holders. Pandemic Event visa holders will be able to apply for a subsequent visa after 2 September 2023 until the visa is fully closed by February 2024. 

All other visa holders will be ineligible for the Pandemic Event visa from 2 September 2023. 

Changes to the structure and delivery of the Migration Agents Capstone Assessment (Capstone) will commence from October 2023. The changes include:

• consolidating the current two written assessments into one written assessment
• extending the oral assessment
• reducing the cost of the Capstone from $2690 to $2156
• reducing the number of intakes from four (4) to three (3) each year

Further information about the changes is available on the OMARA website (Further Capstone information (mara.gov.au)) and on the Legal Training Australia website (Migration Agents Capstone Assessment - Legal Training Australia - Legal Training Australia) 

Quotes attributable to Federal Minister for Education Jason Clare:

“International student numbers are almost back to where they were before the pandemic. That’s a good thing. International education is an extraordinarily valuable national asset.

“But there are also challenges in international education. As students have come back, so have some dodgy and unscrupulous players who are trying to take advantage of them.

“This change will work to stop predatory ‘second’ providers from enrolling students before they have studied for the required six months at their first provider.

“This will help ensure the integrity of one of our biggest exports while cracking down on dodgy operators.”

Source: Action-to-end-rorts-in-international-education.pdf