Australia Skilled Migration Program: Small Business Owner for Regional Skilled Visa 491 and Skilled Nominated Visa 190

The general skilled migration program in Australia has been the most popular program used by migrants to obtain permanent residency status.

Visas represented for this program can be named subclass 189 (skilled independent visa), subclass 190 (skilled nominated visa), and 491 (skilled regional) (the previous visa for 491 is 489 visa)

The skilled migration program attracts skilled migrants worldwide and onshore graduates and workers as its benefits that the country can bring to each family.

Not surprisingly, Australia receives thousands of applications every year under the skilled migration program, which is highly competitive.

Those who are not highly skilled in their occupation might consider the Small Business Owner (SBO) pathway to aim for permanent residency.

Queensland was the first state to launch this program, and it has been increasingly popular over the years. 

As of July 2021, four states in Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, Canberra, and South Australia, have this program officially in place.

You may not be aware that South Australia even has this stream. Very few articles talk about the small business owner skilled migration stream in South Australia.

This blog will give you full details of the South Australia small business owner stream.

Before that, watch out video for the quick overview of the Small business owner stream South Australia 491/190

Migration planning levels 2022-23 – a clear focus on Skilled Migration with 30, 000 more allocations and less than 30,000 for Family and partner visas.

This shows the significant impact of covid-19 to the labor shortages of Australia now the government is trying to attract more skilled migrants, driving innovation and investment as part of the 2022-23 budget.

The 2022-23 permanent Migration Program ceiling will be capped at 160,000 places.

Migration – Skill stream

The Morrison Government’s Migration Program will focus on skilled migration, with a return to a pre-pandemic composition of roughly two-thirds/one-third across the Skill and Family streams.

The Skill stream will increase to 109,900, more than 30,000 places above 2021-22 planning levels.

There have been significant growth in number of quotas for each stream in Skilled Migration such as:

Employer Sponsored Visa: 8,000 more allocations

Skilled Independent 189 Visa: roughly 10,000 more allocations for the new program years 2022-2023. This is published to deal with the current huge backlog in the Department of Home Affairs

Skilled nominated Visa 190: 8,800 more allocations

Skilled Regional visa 491 or visa 494 will more than double to 25,000 places to support growth in regional Australia.

Business Innovation and Investment (9,500 places), Global Talent (8,448 places) and Distinguished Talent (300 places) are experiencing a modest reduction in the allocations.

This may not be as bad as it sounds for Business Innovation and Investment Visa, because the processing of those business visas have been slow and may not have reached allocations.

The drop in Global Talent visa allocations looks dramatic, but it is useful to remember, that in 2021, while there was an allocation of 15,000, just over 9000 was granted.

Australia is still proven to be the most favorable destination in the world for highly skilled workers and investors.

Occupation lists will be reviewed and updated in early 2022-23 to reflect changes in Australia’s labor market, based on advice from the National Skills Commission.

Migration – Family stream

As part of the Government’s migration program, the Family stream will provide an estimated 50,000 places to support family reunion.

The Partner and Child visa categories are estimated to deliver 40,500 and 3,000 visas respectively (delivery of Partner and Child visas will be subject to demand and visa processing requirements); while 6,000 places will be available for Parent visas; and 500 places for Other Family visas.

This sounds bad, but the Partner visa allocation was nearly doubled during the covid pandemic.

From 2022-23, Partner visa processing will move to a demand driven model.

Granting Partner visas on a demand-driven basis will provide the flexibility to meet the demand for Partner visas in a given program year, and assist in mitigating future growth in the Partner visa pipeline while maintaining immigration integrity.

Working Holiday Makers

There is an increase in the cap for Working Holiday Maker – the 462 visa 

11,000 additional WHM visas will be available for prospective backpackers.

This is reasonable when Australia is pushing their programs which support significantly on labor shortages in critical sectors such as the Agriculture Visa program, Working Holiday Makers.

Humanitarian Visas

The 2022-23 Humanitarian Program will be maintained at the current ceiling of 13,750 places 

an additional 16,500 places will be available for Afghan nationals under the Humanitarian program and will be equally allocated over the next four years. 

There will be 4000 places available for Ukrainians under the Temporary Humanitarian visa.  Minister Hawke has commented that Ukrainians will be considered displaced persons that may return to their homeland in the future. They will have access to Medicare and work rights.

Funding the Immigration Department

The budget has released decreased funding for the Department of Home affairs Immigraiton services over the next five years. Funding will go down each year.

2021-22: $3,917m  

2022-23: $3,335m

By  2024-25: $2,848m

So how achievable are the targets, with cutting the Department.

Looking at the breakdown of the expenditure can is quite revealing:

Australia spends twice as much, over 2 billion a year, on the management of unlawful non-citizens.  While it spends less than a billion, 822 million, on managing the entire skilled and immigration program.

So, the obvious way to improve the budget on Immigration is to spend less on detention and then you have more for visa services and Citizenship.

The best way to do this, is to give those in detention, that can safely be released, Bridging visa and work rights.  This will save millions and possibly billions.

Greater funding for the skilled part of the Immigration budget could boost Australia’s post covid recovery and help with skills shortages.

2022/2023 移民预算

• 2022/2023的整体移民配额保持在160,000, 总配额不变。
• 技术移民占总配额的70%，相当于109,900的配额。相比于去年增加了3万配额，其中的1万配额从去年的伴侣签证配额中分配出来。
• 伴侣签证由于新财年的配额分配而大幅度减少

技术移民预算配额

家庭签证移民预算

剩余的30%总配额将分配给家庭签证。其中1万的伴侣签证被重新分配给了技术移民签证。由此可见，新财年的伴侣签证大幅度缩减。而父母签证有小幅度的上升，从去年的4500配额到新财年的6000配额，可以相对地减轻父母签证堆积的情况。 

预算报告中，有一点值得注意的是伴侣签证的下签安排将根据实际需求。 

欢迎关注我们的微信公众号，每周我们都会推送移民分析和动态：

您也可以到以下网站，与我们的律师或者移民中介预约一个咨询会议： 

https://www.workvisalawyers.com.au/arrange-an-appointment.html 

Latest news on South Australia Skilled Regional Visa 491 allocations

South Australia has announced that it is close to meeting its quotas for visa 491 nominations under General Skilled Migration state nomination program for this financial year 2021-2022. 

SA occupation list website has modified all the requirements for 491 visa to only available for Talent and Innovator program. This means that all 491 applicants will have to lodge a registration of interest.

Skilled & Business migration is still open for new applications and continuing to process the active ones, the demand for South Australia state nomination 491 visa will likely exceed their annual places of nomination.

Learn more about South Australia immigration here >

Since its introduction, the Global Talent Visa proved to be one of the most popular visas for highly skilled individuals wanting to come to Australia.  When it was first introduced, the Australian Government allocated 5,000 places for the program, for this financial year (2021-2022), there are now 15,000 places under this program and will be reducing to approx 8,500 in 2022-23 program year. 

Information page for Global Talent Visa >

It even became more popular when Australia imposed the border and travel restrictions because the Global Talent visa holders were not subject to the inbound travel restrictions because it is a permanent resident visa.

Because of its popularity, the Expression of Interest (EOI) process to get an invitation to apply for the Global Talent Visa is very competitive (read full blog about the current application numbers here) and the processing time could be longer than expected. The current processing time for Global Talent Visa post EOI lodgment could be 6-12 months depending on how exceptionally talented the applicants are.

However, the Department of Home Affairs in its September 2021 ​​Skilled visa newsletters ​​noted that they received many EOIs that are not within the scope of the program.  The number of EOIs received would necessarily increase the Department’s workload and therefore delay the processing.

Considering the competitiveness of the global talent visa program, what do you need to do to make your EOI stand out and/or to increase your chances of getting an invitation?

In General, visa applicants are required to meet the following 4 core requirements to be able to apply for a Global Talent visa: Target sectors, Salary above the income threshold, internationally recognized for outstanding achievement and qualified Australian nominator

If you are still unsure about your eligibility, please take our free GTV assessment here!

Take Free GTV Assessment

[Recent news updated on 20/04/2022]

Ukrain Visa Support

In the short term, many visitor visas are being granted for Ukranian's

Moreover, Australia is prioritizing Ukrainians visa applications.

Work Visa Lawyers have successfully helped some Ukrainians.

Explore your visa options here >

Scott Morrison announces visas for Ukrainians, $50 million in military and humanitarian aid

Australia has announced their support package to Ukrainians who are affected by the war of Russia's invasion. Along with the support, they will provided a prioritized pathway for Ukrainians in remporary humanitarian visas with 3 year validity and extra $50 million in military and humanitarian support.

With this visa, Ukrainians will be able to work, study and access Medicare. There are approximately 5,000 Ukrainians who have been granted visas to travel to Australia including skilled visa 491/190, family reunion visas, as well as student and Tourist visa

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia from 24 February 2022 has raised immediate questions about how Australia can assist in terms of visas and immigration.

What has the Australian Government has announced about visas for Ukrainians?

Australian leaders have promised to open their doors to Ukrainian refugees and more visa options.

We strongly believe that the Australian government should put Ukrainians on top priority for visa applications.

Australian Government announcement so far and what more can be done?

This is a devastating time for the Ukrainian-Australian community, many of which have family and friends still in Ukraine.

The best support from the immigration Department now is to accelerate the conclusion of Ukrainian visa applications to Australia as instructed by Minister of Immigration Alex Hawke.

Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and leaders are considering various options for support through Australia’s humanitarian, skilled visas from offshore with the high prioritized process (SC 190 or 491), Student Visa 500, and other visa programs.

“The Australian Government remains committing to working in partnership with the Ukrainian-Australian community during this evolving situation.” Said The Hon Alex Hawke MP

Community leaders are urging for a fast track for all Ukrainians in the system residing in the hot zone.

Australia’s Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has reaffirmed Australia’s unwavering support and will stand firm with Ukraine.

Morrison said all outstanding visa applications from Ukrainian nationals in Australia had been processed, and the government was processing as a top priority about 100 applications from Ukrainians daily.

“They’re visa applications across the entire migration program – for temporary visas on skills, education visas, and family reunion visas. They’re getting the stamp, and they’ll be able to come to Australia.” Morrison said

What about Evacuee or Refugee or Humanitarian Visas?

In the short term, Australia could offer a short-term Evacuation visa Subclass 449 - Humanitarian Stay (Temporary), for evacuation and stay in Australia. 

This is the same as what was done for the Afghanistan evacuation in 2021.

There are some significant differences to Afghanistan and the Australian Governments last-minute evacuation efforts. There the Taliban were in power. 

In Ukraine, Ukrainians are fighting for their country’s democratic independence.

So hopefully, some of those Ukrainians that do come to Australia may be in a position to choose to return.  With the Taliban in Afghanistan, the option of returning is not there!

What is the likely number of those to be displaced?

As of 11 March 2022, according to the Operational Data Portal from the UNHCR, some 2,504,893 Ukrainians had crossed borders to leave Ukraine since 24 February 2022.

At a special UN Security Council meeting convened, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Ukrainian refugees have already escaped to neighboring countries in Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and even Russia. 

“Unless there is an immediate halt to conflict, Ukrainians will continue to flee. “We are currently planning…for up to four million refugees in the coming days and weeks,” Grandi said. 

Calls for Increases to Australia’s Humanitarian visa intake

Australian Immigration Program has been lowering its humanitarian intake over the last two years.  Total for skilled and family is down by 20,000 on three years ago.

It is cautioned that Australia needs to expand its humanitarian intake to manage the asylum offered to Ukrainian citizens fleeing the conflict zone.

This was exacerbated by cuts to the humanitarian program in 2020 that reduced it by 5000 places to 13,750 spots each year.

3,000 places have been allocated for Afghans fleeing the fall of Kabul, which limits the ability of Australia to respond to the crisis in Ukraine.

On Monday, the Law Council of Australia called on the federal government to support international efforts to accommodate refugees leaving Ukraine. It also calls on the Government to implement pathways to permanent protection visas and arrangements for Ukrainian asylum seekers and refugees currently in Australia. Justin Stewart-Rattray, President, Law Society of South Australia, talks about the main focuses of the Australian government to support Ukrainians on the Immigration side:

• Prioritize family reunification when processing humanitarian visa applications from Ukrainian nationals.
• Immediately increase the ceiling of 13,750 places allocated under the Humanitarian Program for the 2021-22 financial year.
• Accommodation for refugees is also critical to think of now; we must arrange people ready to support and a place for them to stay.

Comments from Immigration Lawyer Chris Johnston:

In the Immigration policy area, the Federal Government and the DHA have a track record of making announcements without and failing to follow through on announcements (eg. the Agricultural Visa).

The Federal Government and the DHA need to coordinate with State Governments and community organizations to offer support to Ukrainians.  

Let’s hope that the Federal Government and the DHA can do more for Ukraine!

Sources:

https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/media/media-statements/australia-must-open-its-doors-to-ukrainian-refugees

https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/media/media-statements/australia-must-open-its-doors-to-ukrainian-refugees

https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AlexHawke/Pages/3000-humanitarian-places-for-afghanistan.aspx

https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AlexHawke/Pages/ukrainian-australian-community-roundtable.aspx

https://www.themandarin.com.au/182870-advocates-urge-australia-to-welcome-ukrainian-refugees/

LATEST AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION BLOS FOR APRIL 2022 HERE>

There is a lot of good news in Australia that has been fully open for tourists and all visa holders.

This leads to many new changes in various visa subclasses covered in today’s video such as:

• Skilled Migration program visa 491, 191 and state nomination update
• TSS 482 Visa and DAMA (Designated Area Migration Agreement)
• Skilled recognized graduate visa 476
• Visa 408 covid-19 
• Global Talent Visa
• Agriculture visa program
• Contributory Parent visa 143 and its substitutions

New Subclass 408 visa – pandemic event visa stream

Subclass 408 pandemic event visa stream is more popular during the pandemic than ever.

Starting only from a temporary activity visa which most skilled migrants did not know

This visa is now playing the role of the last resort, which saves a lot of migrants who are struggling to find their Permanent Residency Pathway or having their visa expiring soon.

Pandemic event visa subclass 408 is still open for new applications even though the border is fully open.

Visa holders of subclass 408 covid-19 stream will also have work right

And critical sector visa holders are permitted to change employment or work for more than one employer if their primary job is in a critical sector.

In addition to these advantages of the visa, on the 2/3/2022, ALL TEMPORARY VISA HOLDERS WITH WORK RIGHT will be able to access the COVID-19 Pandemic Event (Subclass 408) visa

There is NO visa application charge or critical sector requirements for workers!

Overview of the current Global Talent Visa program

The Global Talent visa is aimed to target high achievers in the following 10 target or priority sectors:

• Resources
• Agri-food and AgTech
• Energy
• Health Industries
• Defence, Advanced Manufacturing and Space
• Circular Economy
• DigiTech
• Infrastructure and Tourism
• Financial Services and FinTech and
• Education

However, some sectors are more popular than others.

According to the figures released by the Department of Home Affairs, around this time last year, there were 920 Expressions of Interest (EOIs) submitted to the Department in February 2021. The sectors with the most number of EOIs submitted are:

1. Digitech with 275 EOIs;
2. Health industries with 177;
3. Energy and Mining Technology with 112;
4. Financial services and Fintech with 108; and
5. Agri-Food and Agtech with 65.

People worldwide choose Australia as a destination for their education, and with our prestigious universities and glorious climate, it’s easy to see why. 

But how do you pick where in Australia to study? It depends on the purpose of your study; within the scope of this writing, we only talk about the migration side and its work-life balance for international students who decide to settle down in Australia.

Let’s look at what the different states and territories have to offer.

The Criteria we are considering includes:

• Migration pathway (Visa streams like Skilled Visa program 189, 190 and 491, Employer Sponsorship, global talent visa…)
• Top ranking universities or institutions
• Cost of living
• Work opportunities and Salaries
• Lifestyle

Most international students come to Australia and choose Australia as their destination by attaining a permanent residency and Australian citizen.

There are extra incentives built into the Australian immigration system for those who study and live In regional areas.

These include:

• Extra 5 points for skilled migration
• Extra year for post-study work visa 485 for those who study an eligible course in regional areas
• More generous skilled occupation list for 491 visas in regional states and territories (491 visa is a 5-year temporary visa with a direct pathway to Australian permanent residency)
• Lower requirements for state nomination and skilled migration pathway

In terms of migration pathways, you should consider an employer sponsorship program. Employer sponsor migration relies on there being an employer that is willing to sponsor you for a visa.