To minimize the COVID19 impact on visa holders, the Department of Home Affairs has been offering a number of concessions to visa applicants and visa holders to overcome the difficulties and challenges during the COVID19 crisis.
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Highlights
- Concessions for certain family visa applicants affected by COVID19 travel restrictions
- The Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL) was updated to include Social Worker (272511)
- Concessions and changes from 19 September 2020
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Concessions for certain family visa applicants affected by COVID19 travel restrictions
The Government is aware of the difficulties and limitations for some of visa applicants. The following visa used to require visa applicant to be outside Australia at the time the visa is granted. From early 2021, new concessions will apply to those visas, which allow these family visas have been applied for outside Australia, to be granted while the visa applicant is in Australia.
- Child (subclass 101) visa
- Adoption (subclass 102) visa
- Dependent Child (subclass 445) visa
- Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa
- Partner (subclass 309) visa
The Government will allow certain Family visas which have been applied for outside Australia, to be granted while the visa applicant is in Australia. This temporary concession will be for people who are in Australia and are not able to travel offshore to be granted the visa due to COVID-19 related border closures.
The Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL) was updated to include Social Worker (272511)
On 27 November 2020, the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL) was updated to include Social Worker (272511).
PMSOL is a skilled occupation list announced by the Australian government on 02 September 2020, which is to prioritize occupations which are critical to Australia’s handling and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The following three industries are PMSOL’s focus:
- Construction
- Health
- ICT
Those occupations under PMSOL will be processed quicker than other occupations. You may find it from our previous blog:
Currently, 18 Occupations have been listed in the new PMSOL.
The occupations are:
- 111111 Chief Executive or Managing Director
- 133111 Construction Project Manager
- 233512 Mechanical Engineer
- 253111 General Practitioner
- 253112 Resident Medical Officer
- 253411 Psychiatrist
- 253999 Medical Practitioner nec
- 254111 Midwife
- 254412 Registered Nurse (Aged Care)
- 254415 Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency)
- 254418 Registered Nurse (Medical)
- 254422 Registered Nurse (Mental Health)
- 254423 Registered Nurse (Perioperative)
- 254499 Registered Nurses nec
- 261312 Developer Programmer
- 261313 Software Engineer
- 312911 Maintenance Planner
- 272511 Social Worker
Concessions and changes from 19 September 2020
The COVID-19 concessions are designed to ensure provisional and temporary visa holders are not disadvantaged by circumstances beyond their control during COVID-19 Pandemic, including Border closures, restrictions imposed on businesses and the general economic downturn related to COVID-19.
From 19 September 2020, there are a number of concessions and changes published by the Department and states for those impacted by the COVID19 crisis.
Major COVID-19 Concessions for Subclass 485 Temporary Graduate Work visa applicants
Major COVID-19 Concessions for Subclass 887 Skilled Regional visa applicants
NEW DAMA Changes for South Australia – New occupations added – PR pathway
Improvement to GTI visa – Distinguished Talent – Health Waiver and Flexible lodgements
Changes to ENS 186 and RSMS 187 for 457 & 482 visa holders affected by COVID-19 Pandemic
Comment by Chris Johnston – Registered Migration Agent/Lawyer
We can see that the Department of Home Affairs has been offering numerous concessions to some of visa applicants in the recent few months. This reflects that the Government is fully aware of the frustrating period for those stranded offshore by COVID19 border closures and those visa applicants impacted by COVID19 pandemic. The Government sought to minimise the impact of COVID19 on visa applicants and visa holders, which is a positive sign.
Those concessions and changes provide flexibilities to visa applicants to remain in Australia and to continue their visa pathway.
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