LMT requirements for new nomination application
•    The period during which LMT must be undertaken has changed from 12 months to:
o    (a) for a nomination application lodged on or after 18 March 2018 and before 18 June 2018 – the 12 month period immediately before the nomination application form is lodged.
o    (b) for a nomination application lodged on or after 18 June 2018 – the 6 month period immediately before the nomination application form is lodged.

Specification of Occupations and Assessing Authorities
•    The list of occupations is identical for the TRT and DE streams;
•    There is only one list of occupations: 186 MLTSSL;
•    Occupations removed: horse breeder and all occupations on the repealed instrument’s 186 STSOL;
•    The new instrument applies in relation to:
o    A nomination application lodged on or after 18 March 2018; and
o    An application for a Subclass 186 visa in the DE stream made on or after 18 March 2018 if the related application for approval of a nomination is made on or after that date;
•    Despite the repeal of the old instrument, it continues to apply in relation to nomination applications made before 18 March 2018 and applications for a Subclass 186 visa made on or after 17 January 2018 if the related application for approval of a nomination was made on or after that day but before 18 March 2018;

Occupations Exempt from Direct Employment 
•    The occupation list including medical and selected other occupations is essentially unchanged from previous instrument 13/067. Will apply to new TSS/ENS/RSMS applications made starting 18 March 2018

Changes, critical aspects and key aspects of the legislative instrument for Subclass 482

Compliance with Training Benchmarks after SBS grant

•    The definition of ‘Australian employee’ has changed from ‘an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident’ to ‘an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident who is an employee for the purposes of the Fair Work Act 2009’;
•    ‘Employee’, which was not defined, now ‘has the definition provided by section 15 of the Fair Work Act 2009’.

Specification of occupations exempt from Labour Market Testing
•    The new instrument defines occupations exempt from LMT with reference to the current ANZSCO ABS publication in effect as of 18 March 2018

The Government has released the long-awaited regulations to implement the changes to Australia's temporary skilled visa programme that were first announced in April 2017.

The Regulations wee made by Governor General Peter Cosgrove and were made yesterday, 15 March.

The Regulations will come into force on 18 March 2018, and are known as the Migration Legislation Amendment (Temporary Skill Shortage Visa and Complementary Reforms) regulations 2018. The full text of the Regulations can be accessed through this link.

Migration Alliance will be sourcing news and information that we believe is important for the profession regarding TSS/186/187 visas and Labour Agreements over the next few weeks.  We will also be writing our own articles on these changes.  We believe it is important that our members have access to a range of opinions and articles, not just articles produced and written by us.  Below is such an example, and is first of the rank.  Thank you to our Vice-Convenor, Mark Northam for this one:

Immigration Law News, a free news service for migration agents and immigration lawyers, has published the industry’s first in-depth detailed analysis of the new TSS/186/187 legislation released late Thursday. The analysis, prepared by Mark Northam (MARN 1175508) and Sergio Zanotti Stagliorio (MARN 1461003), details highlights of the new TSS visa and a wide range of changes to the 186 and 187 visa programmes including changes not previously announced in detail by the Department of Home Affairs. 

The analysis details changes to these important visa programmes including: 

Do you want to read a story that illustrates why it is a poor idea for an applicant to turn the whole process of completing a visa application over to a “consultant”, without checking the contents of the application for accuracy?

Or why it really is “bets practice” for a Registered Migration Agent to have the applicant review all the information that is provided on an Internet visa application before clicking on the “submit” button?

Then look no farther than the recent decision of the Federal Circuit Court in the case of Ashiq v Minister for Immigration & Anor (2017) FCCA 544 (7 March 2018).