Australian Immigration Daily News

The Department of Home Affairs updated their website in relation regarding travellers transiting through Australia.  As readers will be well aware, Australia is currently under international lockdown.

It has been confirmed that individuals who are transiting through Australia do not need to apply for a travel exemption in order to board their ongoing flight. An exemption to this rule applies if you are planning to leave the airport. https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/transiting-australia

Individuals who are not listed in the table below will need to apply for a transit visa subclass 771 in order to board their connecting flight:

Business Skilled Migration Queensland (BSMQ) in partnership with Legal Training Australia hosted a webinar for immigration professionals to discuss the outlook of business as well as skilled migration for the new financial year.

Migration Alliance brings you the following exclusive summary of the seminar for those who were unable to attend:

• Allocations for the 190 State Nominated permanent visas are exhausted for the current financial year
• Provisional subclass 491 visa remains upon
• BSMQ may open skilled migration in the new year however the quota is yet to be confirmed as the final numbers have not yet been given the approval
• It is likely that the FYI 20/21 program will commence in October 2020.  There are a number of factors causing this delay, the main one being the COVID19 which has directly impact State Migration across most states
• Both occupation lists (190 and 491) are being reviewed, no further comments can be provided at this point in time

Particular points to note on the 491 Visa

The following email has just been received from the Victoria State Government:

Victoria's skilled visa nomination program is now closed as we have filled the places provided to us by the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs for the 2019-20 program year.

This includes both the Skilled Nominated (Permanent) visa (subclass 190) and the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491).

Today the State of Victoria provided an update on Skilled, Regional as well as Business Skilled Migration in partnership with Legal Training Australia.

For those that were unable to attend, below is a summary of the updates on the current immigration climate in Victoria as well as well as what we can expect in the new financial year.

Subclass 190 Visa

The purpose of this instrument is to amend a drafting error in the repealed instrument LIN 19/186 that added Form 1008 (Internet) as an approved form for a Bridging A (Class WA) visa and removed Form 1008 (Internet) as an approved form for an application for a Bridging E (Class WE) visa.

LIN 20/068 ensures Form 1008 (Internet) is an approved form for a Bridging E (Class WE) visa where an applicant does not have another pending application for a Bridging E (Class WE) visa. This enables a valid Bridging E (Class WE) visa application to be made.

The instrument replicates all other arrangements from LIN 19/186.