Australian Immigration Daily News

1. TSS Update

The Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) advises that TSS applications will be processed in the following order:

1. applications lodged by accredited sponsors
2. applications lodged for positions that are located in a regional Australia
3. applications lodged under the Labour Agreement stream
4. all other applications

Processing time for TSS applications depends on a number of factors including the Stream under which an application is made as well as whether the nominee is an existing 457/482 visa holder.  On average, the processing time for a TSS application (as per updated Global Processing Time) is between 32 to 50 days in 75% of all cases.

Home Affairs also confirmed that it will no longer accept priority processing service requests as of 5 September.  This means that any TSS applications lodged on or after 6 September with accompanying priority processing request will result in the request no longer being acknowledged and the TSS application will be processed under the abovementioned arrangements.

Bring in the Clowns!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wvALBkt_Ws

The battle against child exploitation and abuse will be substantially boosted with the opening of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) in Brisbane today.  Abuse of children is a global epidemic that is becoming more prevalent, more organised and more extreme.

The Minister for Home Affairs, Hon Peter Dutton MP says the following:

"The ACCCE will be at the centre of a collaborative national approach to combatting organised crime led by the AFP with oversight from the Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime (TSOC) Coordinator Deputy Commissioner Karl Kent.

Many migration applicants consider applying for certification by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI), as successful completion of a suitable course can provide 5 points towards independent skilled migration.

NAATI now accepts TOEFL scores to meet their requirements for their programs.  The required scores can be found here: https://www.naati.com.au/certification/certification-prerequisites/english-proficiency/

TOEFL iBT scores are recognised for skills assessments for almost all professional bodies in Australia.  View a list of organisations accepting TOEFL scores in the Score Reports for Professional Bodies section of this page: www.ets.org/toefl/australia.

The purpose of the instrument is as follows:

(a) to provide an additional manner for lodging a paper application form for the Refugee and Humanitarian (Class XB) visas that was not specified in the previous instrument IMMI 17/051; 

(b) to remove the Onshore Protection Victoria and the Special Humanitarian Processing Centre in Melbourne as approved places for lodging a Protection (Class XA) visa application or a Refugee and Humanitarian (Class XB) visa application that was available in the previous instrument IMMI 17/051.