Key terms: Migration Policy Changes – Skilled Independent Visa – Subclass 189 visa – New Zealand visa stream – SkillSelect – Age Requirements – New Zealand citizens in Australia - Subclass 444 Special Category visa

New Changes for the Subclass 189 Skilled – Independent Visa from 1 July 2017

The Australian Government has introduced new changes for the subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa. Effective from 1 July 2017 the following applies:

·         applicants will need to be below 45 years of age to receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA)

·         New Zealand (NZ) citizens will be eligible to apply for the subclass 189 visa if they meet requirements for the NZ visa stream

Key terms: VETASSESS – Migration Skills Assessment – Skilled Occupation List changes – Nominated Occupation – Short-term Skilled Occupation List – STSOL – Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List – MLTSSL

VETASSESS is one of the many Skills Assessment Authorities which processes and issues Migration Skills Assessment results. Many generic business occupations and miscellaneous specialist professions are assessed by VETASSESSS.

Following the announcement of the new Skilled Occupation Lists – the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) and the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL), VETASSESS has issued an announcement as 216 occupations were removed from the combined list of occupations suitable for migration.

My nominated occupation was one of the occupations removed! What happens now?

Key terms: Australian Citizenship

*This is a developing story. Further details may become available at a later date.*

The Australian Prime Minister and Minister for Immigration have held a joint media conference today and announced new (tougher) criteria for the Australian citizenship application. The changes include:

·         residence of FOUR years as an Australian Permanent Resident  before applying (increase from one year)

·         demonstrate English language ability (potentially IELTS 6 but yet to be confirmed)

·         demonstrate integration and contribution to the Australian community (employment, children in school, etc.)

·         number of test attempts limited to THREE times. If you failed the test three times you will need to wait for another two years before you can take the test again

·         stricter criminal background checks

·         change to questions in the citizenship test to reflect Australian values

*This is a developing story. More details to follow.*

The Prime Minister of Australia has announced the removal of the 457 visa programme. It is expected to be replaced by two new temporary work visas.

When is the 457 visa programme going to be removed?

The plan for complete removal is by March 2018. The definite date has not been announced.

I am currently on a 457 visa! What will happen to my status?

At this time we understand that all existing 457 visa holders wil maintain their visa status. No further 457 visas will be issued.

I have an ongoing 457 visa application! What will happen to it now?

At this time there has not been any information with regards to applications being processed. We will provide details on this matter as soon as it is available.

Key terms: Queensland State Sponsorship – Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated Visa – Subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa – General Skilled Migration

The Queensland state migration department – Business & Skilled Migration Queensland (BSMQ) has suspended all applications for state nomination/sponsorship on 10 April 2017. The suspension affects state sponsorship applications for:

·         subclass 190 Skilled Nominated visas

·         subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored visas (sponsored by Australian State/Territory)

While most other state and territory migration agencies will finalised applications already lodged, BSMQ will freeze and not process all unfinalised applications until the new programme year on 1 July 2017. The BSMQ announcement reads:

Key terms: South Australia State Sponsorship – Chain Migration – High Points Nomination - Supplementary Skill List – Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated Visa – Subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa

Immigration South Australia (SA) has announced changes to its state sponsorship programme effective yesterday, 5^th April 2017. Two major changes were announced and the details are below.

Change to High Points Requirement

Immigration SA allows access to the Supplementary Skill List of occupations if a SkillSelect applicant is able to meet the high points requirement on the points test. Starting from yesterday the high points requirements has been increase from 80 to 85 points. Applicants will now need to seek additional 5 points to nominate occupations on the Supplementary Skill List or special condition occupations.

Occupations no longer eligible for High Points or Chain Migration Nomination

Key terms: Partner visa – Processing times – Partner visa subclass 801 – Partner visa subclass 820

2018 Update & Related Articles: 

Partner Visa Sponsorship & Policy Update 2018: Changes Affecting Processing Times & Force Offshore Partner Visa Applications

Australia partner visa applications allow an Australian citizen or permanent resident to sponsor a partner from overseas or a partner on a temporary visa in Australia. Partner visas can be lodged offshore (the applicant is not in Australia at the time of application) or onshore (applicant is in Australia at the time of application).

The Director for the Onshore Partner Migration management team has issued a letter announcing new processing arrangements for onshore partner visa application (subclass 820 / 801 /100). The letter states:

This year the Department is facing a particularly difficult resourcing environment with pressure to decrease staff numbers in line with the Government’s wider plans to reduce public sector expenditure. In the Partner Migration programme this is occurring in an environment of continued high application rates, growing pipelines onshore, and significant fraudulent activity.

Updated numbers for occupation ceilings under the SkillSelect Programme!

Every year the Australian migration programme sets an occupation ceiling for each skilled occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL). The occupation ceiling limits the number of invitations (Invitation to Apply) which can be issued to a particular occupation under the SkillSelect programme.

As of 31 March 2017 two groups of occupations have met their respective occupation ceilings and will no longer receive further invitations for this programme year. The two groups of occupations are:

·         Other Engineering Professionals (ANZSCO Group 2339)

·         Computer Network Professional (ANZSCO Group 2631)

If your nominated occupation is from the ANZSCO Group above, you will not receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) until the invitation rounds from 1 July 2017 onwards.

The occupation ceilings apply to the subclass 189 Skilled Independent Visa and subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa (Relative) categories. State or Territory Nominated visas (subclass 190 and 489), Employer Sponsored (subclass 457, ENS 186 and RSMS 187) or Business Innovation and Investment visa subclasses are not subject to the occupation ceilings.

The Western Australia (WA) state government has announced the following with regards to the state migration services:

• An interim Western Australian skilled migration occupation list (WASMOL) is now in place for all new state sponsorship/nomination applications
• The Regional Certification Body (RCB) applications for subclass 187 Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) visa nominations are now open for regional WA and excludes Perth
• All applications submitted before the suspension on 13 March 2017 will be processed according to criteria and policy effective at that time

More on the changes below.