Australian Immigration Daily News

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

Overview 

This instrument makes amendments to the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) to assist applicants for certain parent visas who may be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Migration Act 1958 (the Migration Act) is an Act relating to the entry into, and presence in, Australia of aliens, and the departure or deportation from Australia of aliens and certain other persons.

Subsection 504(1) of the Migration Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Migration Act, prescribing matters required or permitted to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to the Migration Act.

Source: Migration-Amendment-Parent-Visas-Regulations-2021.pdf and Migration-Amendment-Parent-Visas-Regulations-2021-Explanatory-Memo.pdf

From today, migration lawyers will be able to offer services independently of the regulatory framework for migration agents, and all lawyers with unrestricted practising certificates will be freely able to provide immigration assistance in the course of legal practice.

The discontinuation of dual regulation is in accordance with multiple major recommendations spanning many years and has been a long-held advocacy position of the Law Council. The removal of expensive and inefficient regulation of migration lawyers will improve access to justice by reducing costs for lawyers and therefore their clients.

Source: LAW-COUNCIL-OF-AUSTRALIA-The-end-of-dual-regulation-for-migration-lawyers.pdf

The Director of the Office of the MARA has provided the following information to Migration Alliance overnight:

Please see below the new Form 1548 ‘Application for an Australian Legal Practitioner Number’ (LPN).   

Form-1548.pdf

Overview of the Disallowable Legislative Instrument

The purpose of this Disallowable Legislative Instrument is to amend the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) and the Immigration (Education) Regulations 2018 (the Immigration (Education) Regulations) to update references and provisions consequential to amendments made to the Immigration (Education) Act 1971 (the IE Act) by the Immigration (Education) Amendment (Expanding Access to English Tuition) Act 2020 (the IE Amendment Act).The IE Act relates to the provision of certain courses of instruction for migrants and certain other persons.  This includes the provision of English courses.  The IE Act sets out who is eligible and ineligible for English courses, as well as time limits for registration, commencement and completion.  The IE Act also establishes the Minister’s obligation to provide or arrange the provision of tuition in an approved English course to certain eligible persons. The IE Amendment Act, which received the Royal Assent on 17 December 2020, makes the following amendments to the IE Act: 

• changing the upper limit for eligibility to access English tuition from ‘functional English’ to a new level of ‘vocational English’;

• removing the 510 hour statutory limit on an eligible person’s entitlement to English tuition;

• removing the statutory time limits of up to 12 months for registering for, commencing and completing English tuition for certain people who held a visa and were in Australia on or before 1 October 2020; and

• allowing for the provision of English tuition to certain visa holders or visa applicants outside Australia, to support their English language learning in preparation for their migration to Australia.

Source: Migration-Legislation-Amendment---English.pdf and