Starting from 1 March 2017, applicants from Vietnam can now apply for the Work and Holiday visa to travel and work in Australia at the same time. The visa is valid for up to a year with a second application possible to extend your stay for another year. Read more about applying for a second Work and Holiday visa here.

The subclass 462 Work and Holiday visa is for young travellers aged 18 to 30 from the following countries:

Key terms:  457 visa – labour agreement – employer sponsored visas – migration policy changes

The Fast Food Industry Labour Agreement established in 2012 has been scrapped by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. This will result in significant reductions of 457 skilled visas issued to fast food businesses. More than 500 skilled worker visas were approved for fast food businesses over the past four years.

The 457 visa programme has been under the microscope of the Federal Government ever since the reported visa abuse of 7-11 workers. In our earlier article we talked about the possible scrutiny of specific industries for the employer sponsored visa programme, which includes:

• the 457 visa
• the Employer Nomination Scheme ENS subclass 186 visa
• the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme RSMS subclass 187 visa

We believe that there will be ongoing changes to the employer sponsored visa programme specific to a few industries such as hospitality (Café or Restaurant Managers) and low-level generic occupations such as Customer Service Managers and Project or Program Administrators.

2020 UPDATE for Partner Visa Processing Times is available here: https://www.workvisalawyers.com.au/news/all/2020-australian-partner-visa-processing-times.html

2018 Partner Visa Australian Processing Times For The 801 Visa. Refusals For Partner And Spouse 801 and 820 Visas Increasing. Why Your Partner/Spouse/Family Visa Is Taking A Long Time. 

2018 UPDATE For Partner Visa Processing Times: Increased Partner Visa Refusals for Partner Visa Subclass 801 and Partner visa subclass 820. Partner Visa Application Points Calculator and Changes That Affect Processing Times.

Australia Partner Visas continue to face long processing times and increased scrutiny by the DIBP

A recent query to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) in relation to a 2^nd stage Partner visa (subclass 801) application has resulted in the following response:

“The current processing time for Permanent Partner (subclass 801) visas is 12 to 18 months from your eligibility date.”

The processing times for the Temporary Partner (subclass 820) visas are also listed as 12 to 18 months on the DIBP website.

The eligibility date refers to the date you become eligible for processing of the permanent partner visa, which is usually just before two years after you lodged your initial partner visa application. You can find out if you are eligible by using the DIBP Partner (Permanent) Calculator.

This means that a typical partner visa applicant will have to:

• wait 12 to 18 months before the temporary partner (subclass 820) visa is granted
• wait another 6 to 12 months before you can apply for a permanent partner (subclass 801) visa
• wait another 12 to 18 months before you receive your permanent partner (subclass 801) visa

You will only receive a permanent partner (subclass 801) visa after 36 to 42 months’ (3 to 3.5 years) time!

Key terms: SkillSelect – Invitation to Apply – Skilled Independent subclass 189 - Skilled Regional Provisional subclass 489 – Expression of Interest – Points Test

Results for the SkillSelect invitation round on 15 February 2017 have been published. Here is a summary of the results:

• 1253 Skilled Independent visa invitations were issued (up from 1144 in the previous round)
  • applications with 60 points or more were invited
  • applications submitted 15 February 2017 have been invited
• 27 Skilled Regional Sponsored visa invitations were issued (down from 28 in the previous round)
  • applications with 60 points or more were invited
  • applications submitted 14 February 2017 were invited

Earlier today news broke that former Adelaide gang leader Vince Focarelli has received a Notice of Intention to Consider Cancellation (NOICC) from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP). The Minister of Immigration, Peter Dutton has exercised visa cancellation powers granted to him under section 501 of the Migration Act 1958.

Visa Cancellations in Numbers

Since the power to cancel visas was amended in December 2014, there has been a large increase in visa cancellations compared to the previous period. The number of visas cancelled under section 501 of the Migration Act increased from 76 cancellations in 2013-14 to 983 cancellations in 2015-16. The Commonwealth Ombudsman published a report about the Minister’s new cancellation powers and identified various issues which have placed visa holders facing visa cancellation and deportation various hardships and difficulties. The report also provides a few recommendations which demonstrate the need for the cancellations powers to be exercised with consideration.

Further reading: Increase in Australian Visa Cancellations for Character Reasons such as Criminal Convictions

It is estimated that Australia will face a shortage of nurses in the medium to long term because of the following factors:

1. Retirement of older nurses
2. Increased demand for nurses, especially in aged care (Australia has a growing aged population)

In the immediate and short term Australian states and territories have started to look towards overseas nurses to fill in the demand for skilled professional nurses. Just last month Neroli Ellis from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation told ABC Radio Hobart nursing recruitment agencies were increasingly looking overseas for nurses to work in Tasmania. Hospitals are also competing to attract experienced nurses to work in their establishments.

Nursing occupations which are suitable for migration purposes have been listed on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) and Consolidated Skilled Occupation List (CSOL). They include:

Key terms: SkillSelect – Invitation to Apply – Skilled Independent subclass 189 - Skilled Regional Provisional subclass 489 – Expression of Interest – Points Test

Results for the SkillSelect invitation round on 1 February 2017 have been published. Here is a summary of the results:

• 1144 Skilled Independent visa invitations were issued
  • applications with 60 points or more were invited
  • applications submitted 1 February 2017 have been invited
• 28 Skilled Regional Sponsored visa invitations were issued
  • applications with 60 points or more were invited
  • applications submitted 31 January 2017 were invited

Key terms: Visa cancellation – Migration Act 1958, s501 – Migration Act 1958, s116 – character issues – criminal charges – Commonwealth Ombudsman

The Commonwealth Ombudsman is the organisation responsible for handling complaints about Commonwealth Government departments and agencies. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) is one of the Government departments monitored by the Ombudsman.

In December 2016 the Ombudsman published two reports involving the DIBP, namely:

1. Administration of section 501 (hereafter the “section 501 report”)
2. The administration of people in immigration detention who have had their Bridging visa cancelled due to criminal charges or convictions (hereafter the “bridging visa cancellation report”)

Both reports identified shortcomings and issues with the DIBP process of cancelling long term Australian visas and bridging visas.

The section 501 Report

In the section 501 report it was noted that a similar investigation was carried out in 2006, which was critical of the then Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) for not “always provide(sic) the minister with all relevant information, especially mitigating information, about long term Australian residents when considering the cancellation of their visa”.

The US and the UK are tightening their immigration policies. President Trump implemented a travel ban and has repeatedly emphasised that he will be evaluating the country’s immigration policy and introduce tougher screening of visa applicants. While the travel ban has been removed by the US Federal court there is no stopping the President from giving out another executive order of similar nature. In the UK there has also been a stir up as the British government looks to cap the number of international students to the UK. The trend in the development of immigration policies in these two countries has startled migrants and temporary-stay workers and students, who now ponder their future in the US or the UK.

This presents Australia with an opportunity to attract genuine skilled professionals, aspiring students and potentially business and investor migrants to Australia. The US and the UK have long benefited from their preferred migrant destination status for many years, with many entrepreneurs, technology innovators and brilliant scientists settling down in the US or UK. Now Australia may stand to gain from opening its borders to attract talent, skills and investment from overseas.

What are the visa options available for Australia?

Accounting & ICT Professionals need more than 60 points

The SkillSelect invitation round results has been released on 18 January 2017. Based on the result, we can see that the majority invitations by points score are given to the Skilled - Independent (subclass 189) visa applicants. Whilst the Skilled - Regional Provisional (subclass 489) visa requires the same minimum point score of 60 as the 189 visa, it is evident that 189 visa applications gets the priority invitation.

In the last invitation round, Accountants require 70 points score while ICT Professional requires 65 points. The list of ICT Professional are as follows:

• 225211 - ICT Account Manager
• 261111 - ICT Business Analyst
• 225212 - ICT Business Development Manager
• 313112 - ICT Customer Support Officer
• 135199 - ICT Managers nec
• 135112 - ICT Project Manager
• 263211 - ICT Quality Assurance Engineer
• 621211 - ICT Sales Assistant
• 225213 - ICT Sales Representative
• 262112 - ICT Security Specialist
• 263299 - ICT Support and Test Engineers nec
• 263212 - ICT Support Engineer
• 313199 - ICT Support Technicians nec
• 263213 - ICT Systems Test Engineer
• 223211 - ICT Trainer

Read more on the current crisis for Accountant looking to apply for skilled migration  or find out more on the requirements of 70 points to receive an invitation to apply.