The Global Talent Independent visa has attracted a lot of attention as it is the first of its kind in Australian immigration. There are 5,000 available places per year.

The global talent visa program is a new initiative by the Department of Home Affairs to attract highly skilled workers from target sectors to Australia.

This visa is a fast-track to Australian permanent residency and will be a great visa pathway for high achievers around the world. The government hopes that the work of these individuals will provide a boost to the Australian economy.

This is an older article. Click here to learn the criteria for the Global Talent Visa

To learn more about the three new programs for innovation, click here.

Benefits

The GTI program has a range of benefits, including:

• Permanent residency from visa grant
• Access to healthcare and other government benefits (subject to any relevant waiting periods)
• Full ability to work in Australia 
• No strict points requirement, unlike the 189 visa
• No high English requirement, only functional English is required, which is IELTS average band score of at least 4.5 for each of the 4 test components
• Access to the Australian job market in these high-growth sectors;
• Your family can come with you to live, work and study in Australia;
• Permanent residents can sponsor their parents for Australian visas;
• There is no Skilling Australians Fund levy

Target Sectors

Australia has identified 7 key sectors for this program, which are sectors in which the Government feels are big growth areas for the Australian economy in the near future.

The target sectors are: 

1. AgTech; 
2. FinTech; 
3. MedTech; 
4. Cyber Security; 
5. Energy and Mining Technology; 
6. Space and Advanced Manufacturing; 
7. and Quantum Information, Advanced Digital, Data Science and ICT.

Requirements

Global Talent applicants are required to show that they are highly skilled professionals. This can be measured by:

• being able to earn at least $153,600; or
• being a recent PhD or Masters graduate with high grades

For salary, you do not need to be earning this salary now, you just need to be able to show that you would be able to earn this in Australia.

For graduates, it is unclear what will fall within “high grades”, however, the higher your results the better.

Importantly, the Global Talent Independent visa is not an employer-sponsored program; you are not required to have a job offer in Australia.

To learn more about the requirements of a GTI visa, click here.

Processing Time

One major perk of the GTI is very fast processing of applications. 

At the Law Council's Immigration Law Conference on 20 March 2020, respresentatives from the Department of Home Affairs stated that applications under the GTI program are being given priority processing. Processing times vary from 2 day to 2 months with many being decided in one to two weeks!

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman has also signed Ministerial Direction no 85 in November 2019. Direction no. 85 enables the Department of Home Affairs to give priority processing for the Distinguished Talent cohort (subclasses 124 and 858) to “support the responsive processing of applicants that are identified as highly desirable by Government.”

The GTI program uses the Distinguished Talent subclass 858 and subclass 124 visas, but provides a new pathway to these by invitation.

Do you need help?

Our team of experienced Immigration Lawyers and Migration Agents look forward to assisting you with your Australian visa or appeal.

Based in Adelaide South Australia, we provide Australian Immigration advice to people and businesses from all over the world.

If you require further information regarding your Australia visa options you can contact us through:

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