While Covid is keeping most Australian states and territories closed for offshore applicants, South Australia announced in May 2021 that it is now considering sponsoring offshore applicants for 491 and 190 visas.

They raised you, supported you, and loved you… and now in return, you want to bring them to Australia.  They’re your parents.  But what is the best way to get them here, and how much is it going to cost?

Since Australia closed its border in 2020 due to Covid, international students have been locked out of the country where they are enrolled to study.  This crisis is escalating as thousands of people’s lives are thrown into turmoil, and the Australian economy suffers from the loss of this lucrative industry.  As months turn into years, the growing frustration and resentment can be heard echoing through the internet as students, universities, and Australian businesses cry out for a return strategy.

In a speech given to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Federal Minister Alan Tudge said the country would not see a return of international students until 2022 but are students willing to wait until then?

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta Arden announced yesterday that travellers from Australia will be able to enter the country without mandatory quarantine starting 11:59pm on Sunday, April 18 New Zealand time.^[i]

An exemption to travel restrictions, allowing people to leave Australia, will not be required for those travelling to New Zealand.^[ii]

This bubble will effectively allow people to travel freely between Australia and New Zealand, subject to certain conditions.

The Australian immigration department has recently offered COVID-19 concessions to international students for Subclass 485 Temporary Graduate. During COVID-19 pandemic, many visa applicants and international students have been adversely affected by circumstances beyond their control, including Border closures, stand-downs and disruptions to courses.

Today, 10 September 2020, the interim nomination allocations for 190 visa, 491 visa, 132 visa and 188 visa for 2020 for the different state nomination programs have been released.

Rebrand to “Move to South Australia - Skilled + Business Migration”

https://www.migration.sa.gov.au/ now has a new look.

We noticed that Immigration South Australia has changed its name to Move to South Australia.

Move to South Australia has updated its criteria for interim 491 and 190 nominations to support and prioritise South Australia’s economic recovery and public health response. 

• Acceptance of the new requirements
• Explanation of what your contribution to the recovery will be (200 words or less) in either:
  • Business activity
  • Investment activity

This is according to news published by Live in Melbourne. We expect further information following the Federal Budget around 6 October 2020.

Victoria Skilled Migration - 491 visa and 190 visa

The Department of Home Affairs has confirmed that Victoria continues to use the interim allocation places beyond 5 October 2020. 

By 02 October 2020, Victoria's temporary allocation for 2020-21 were: 

• 600 places for skilled subclass 190
• 200 places for skilled subclass 491
• 400 places for the business innovation and investment program

Victoria has received more than 2,400 registrations of interest received from skilled migrants, and more than 480 application from business migrants.

On 26 November 2020, Victoria has annouced that the skilled program (subclass 190 and subclass 491) remain closed to new applications. They continue to select high calibre skilled migrants for nomination from the pool of Registration of Interest submissions.

Once Victoria receives confirmation of its full 2020-21 nomination allocations for the skilled and business migration programs, it would reopen its 2020-2021 nomination for 491 visa and 190 visa soon.

It will only select applicants to apply for Victorian visa nomination if their Registration of Interest demonstrates they are working in health or medical research and contributing to Victoria’s economic recovery and/or health response.  

To be considered for Victorian visa nomination, you must submit a Registration of Interest for Victorian State Visa Nomination.  Applicants who register their interest may then be selected to apply for Victorian visa nomination.  

To be eligible to submit your Registration of Interest (ROI) for Victorian visa nomination (subclass 190 and 491) you must

• be currently living in Victoria, and
• be currently employed in Victoria (minimum six months), and
• work in a highly-skilled occupation in health or medical research, which supports Victoria’s economic recovery and/or health response

VIC will then select the best candidates to apply for Victorian visa nomination.

We are expecting a further update from Live in Melbourne following 6 October 2020.

The Global Talent Independent Visa is a hot new initiative by the Australian government to encourage highly skilled workers to migrate to Australia.
We are seeing great interest in this visa from skilled professionals in Australia and around the world.

Click here to learn the criteria for the Global Talent Visa

The Global Talent Independent Visa is great for many reasons, including:

• Very fast processing
  
  
• Straight to Australian permanent residency visa holder status
  
  
• No expensive Skilling Australians Fund levy
  
  
• No need for a job offer in Australia
  
  
• Access to Medicare

Global Talent Independent Visa Processing Time

Australian permanent visa processing times can often be more than 12 months, sometimes up to almost 2 years. The GTI visa has one of the fastest processing times of all Australian permanent visas. 

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.

Global Talent Post-Coronavirus

The recent Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has shown how important Australian permanent residency visa status can be for receiving support in difficult times
and the right to enter Australia. The GTI program allows for the grant of a permanent visa in what is likely to be the fastest time of any program.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge has hinted at the potential development of the GTI program as an integral part of the Australian migration program for the 2020-21 migration year, post-pandemic. 

The Australian Government is keen to ensure its 5,000 spots are filled in the 2019/20 migration program year, which ends on 30 June 2020, so it is important that you get into the program while you can. 

If you are interested in coming to live in Australia and meet the high income threshold, the Global Talent Independent Visa Program is a great opportunity for
highly skilled individuals to migrate to Australia. It’s easy to see why the program is so hot right now!

Read more about the Global Talent Independent Visa on our website

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:

(08) 8351 9956 or +61 8 8351 9956 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sources: 

https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/davidcoleman/Pages/global-talent-program-business.aspx

https://www.workvisalawyers.com.au/news/all/the-global-talent-visa-program.html

https://www.workvisalawyers.com.au/news/all/immigration-focus-on-the-global-talent-visa-post-coronavirus.html

491 Visa - Australian (Skilled Worker Regional) Provisional - Questions and Answers

As the Visa subclass 491 is still quite a new visa subclass for the Australian Department of Immigration, we have been receiving a huge amount of questions, so we thought we would collate them all in one place. Hopefully you will find these answers useful, if you don’t find the answer to your 491 visa question please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Living and Working in Regional Australia
Occupation and Skills
English Language Skills
My family and My Visa
My Health and Character
Processing Times and Costs
Moving towards Permanent Residency

Throughout the 2018/2019 programme year, Australian immigration has witnessed some massive changes. These changes range from new government, policy changes, the abolishment of the 457 visa, and new visas being implemented. Scroll the index below to find an in-depth summary of changes and what we predict will come in 2019.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank one of your colleagues, Connor Deegan, for his dedication in completing his work study program with Work Visa Lawyers. Connor executed a diverse array of tasks that made him a valuable contribution to my business, and to the work of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA). Throughout his placement, Connor was dependable, motivated, and demonstrated thorough attention to detail.

Alan Tudge Speech On Australian Immigration and Regional Visa Policy Aimed to Promote Regional Migration in An Attempt to Solve the Population Problem in Sydney, Melbourne, & Southeast Queensland

When starting a business in Australia you need to make sure you have the right visa. You can do this by using a registered Australian migration agent such as, Work Visa Lawyers. Whether you want to establish a large or small business in Australia, it is important that you and your business have all the correct certifications. To do this, we recommend you get help when structuring your business. ABN Australia is a trusted and establish company who can help you do that. It is also important that you use an analyst to monitor your investments, expenses, and general accounting to ensure your business is operating legally.

Key Terms: How to become an Australian Citizen - Permanent Residency (PR) - Work Visa - Citizenship by conferral and decent - Am I eligible to be an Australian Citizen 

The Re-Shuffle & Announcing David Coleman As New Immigration Minister

Prior to the recent spill, Dutton was the Home Affairs Minister as well as the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. This left Dutton responsible for an extremely large portfolio which included immigration, citizenship, and Australia’s security and intelligence agencies. While Dutton will keep control of the Australian Border Force, the Morrison government has taken a new approach by appointing David Coleman as the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs.

“David has a keen understanding of the many different backgrounds and the many different issues that need to be managed to ensure that Australians who have come from so many backgrounds get that fair go I spoke of,” (abc) Morrison said when he announced his new team.

This seems like an enormous step in the right direction for the immigration sector as Coleman celebrates diversity and understands the pain of exclusion. Australia has made its “national foundations stronger by allowing more people to build upon them,” (InsideStory) Coleman noted in his inaugural speech to parliament.

What to Expect from the New Minister of Immigration

When anticipating what’s to come it is important to remember that Scott Morrison, having been the treasurer, has previously made comment on the valuable contribution that immigration mikes to the budget. Therefore, there is some hope that the new direction for the immigration portfolio may include revisiting the planning level of 190,000 permanent migrants for the 2019 year. In the 2018 migration year the number of grants was below the planning level at 162,000.

Furthermore, immigration finally has its own dedicated Minister. It is hopeful that the separation of immigration from the Home Affairs Minister may help the long processing times visa applicants are currently seeing. Read more about the current long processing times and low approvals here.

“We need a strong focus on our immigration program so it brings the skills and the harmony and the unity that we want from the program.” (InsideStory) – Scott Morrison on removing immigration from direct responsibility of the home affairs portfolio.

Much is still to be revealed in terms of the direction that the new minister for immigration, my take, there are some significant changes which can already be observed. The first is that the word multiculturalism has made a welcome return to the portfolio. The term multiculturalism has been very useful in promoting tolerance of different cultures and has been embraced by much of the Australian community. It is more welcoming and softer then the combination of home affairs and border protection which have been the main terms used in association with immigration recently.

The second terminology change is that the word immigration has re-emerged as a usable term. Up until recently we were in the awkward position where it was Home Affairs which was in charge of immigration and the word immigration was not anywhere to be found. This lead to mass confusion amongst clients and was generally unnerving giving the feeling that the term immigration is too politically difficult to actually use.

New Regional Visa in Review

According to an article from 29 August in The Australian, a proposed 5-year reginal visa currently in review. The new visa aims to encourage migrants to settle in regional Australia. In fact, the benchmark of the new visa is the requirement that migrants will locate in reginal or capital cities other than Melbourne or Sydney. In the past financial year out of the 112,000 skilled migrants who arrived, 87 per cent had settled permanently in Sydney or Melbourne.

“If the population was distributed more evenly, there would not be the congestion pressures that we have today in Melbourne and Sydney,” (TheAustralian) Mr Tudge told a forum in Melbourne.

This new reginal visa seems to be a healthy alternative to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s call for migration intake to be cut to 80,000 a year until infrastructure caught up.

It is believed the new visa class would apply to certain categories of new arrivals under the skilled and family migration program but in some cases could also apply to refugees.

Summary

Prime Minister Scott Morrison re-shuffles cabinet, and removes immigration and citizenship from the Home Affairs portfolio. Morrison hopes this will allow immigration to get the focus the program needs.

Morrisons new direction may help processing times and could include the revisiting of the planning level of 190,000 permanent migrants for the 2019 year. Also, it is hopeful that the inclusion of the words immigration and multiculturalism in the ministerial title will be a sign that there is a more friendly and less militaristic and punitive approach to immigration.

Lastly, there is a new reginal visa that has been proposed and is currently being reviewed. The new visa would allow new arrivals under the skilled and family migration program to come to Australia for 5 years on the basis they do not locate in Melbourne or Sydney.

Do you need help with an Australian visa application?

At Work Visa Lawyers we are experienced in assisting applicants in all matters relating to Australian visa applications. Our areas of expertise include Skilled Migration visas, Business Skills Migration visas, Employer Sponsored Work Visas, Partner and other Family Migration visas as well as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) Review, Judicial Review and Ministerial Intervention.

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

(08) 8351 9956 or +61 8 8351 9956

or   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We not own the rights to the picture above and no copyright infringement is intended.

Sources:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-26/scott-morrison-announces-new-cabinet-after-julie-bishop-quits/10166300

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/turnbull-to-quit-parliament-as-liberals-race-to-replace-former-prime-minister-20180827-p50047.html

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/peter-dutton-to-retain-border-force-when-immigration-handed-to-new-minister

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/scott-morrison-will-be-the-next-australian-prime-minister

https://www.governmentnews.com.au/pm-changes-incredibly-disruptive-to-progress/

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/26/cabinet-reshuffle-full-list-of-scott-morrisons-new-ministry

https://insidestory.org.au/where-to-now-for-immigration-policy/

https://insidestory.org.au/who-is-david-coleman/

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/cities-fix-pms-plan-to-send-migrants-to-regions-for-five-years/news-story/c8573e68a1438295818d5aab9de5471b

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls victory leads to the resignation of Peter Dutton.

In a Liberal party room meeting, Peter Dutton challenged Malcolm Turnbull for the Liberal party leadership, losing 48-35 after the prime minister called a spill. Peter Dutton has resigned from his Cabinet position, and will now sit on the backbench.

"He said to me he doesn't feel he can remain in the Cabinet having challenged me for the leadership of the party, and so he is resigning." – Mr. Turnbull on Mr. Duttons resignation.

Treasurer Scott Morrison will serve as interim Home Affairs Minister “pending other arrangements,” Mr. Turnbull announced. Julie Bishop was also appointed the deputy position after running unopposed.

The narrow victory has left plenty of room for ongoing discussion concerning the possibility of Mr. Dutton of challenging Mr. Turnbull for Prime Minister. This morning’s vote confirms that Mr. Dutton has a significant conservative backing to replace Mr. Turnbull as PM.

We have been urged to expect more resignations, possibly form other frontbenchers, adding to the current but temporary sense of chaos within the government.

What Does This Mean for Australia’s Migrants

Prior to his resignation today, Peter Dutton was the Minister for Home Affairs and The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Mr. Dutton has been responsible for a number of changes within Australian migration since being sworn in December 2017, including the tougher vetting procedures we have seen. Click here read more about Mr. Duttons migration impact.

Responsibilities for the position of Minister for Home Affairs and The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection are not limited to but include:

• Overall strategic management of the portfolio, its agencies and budget
• Counter terrorism and organized crime strategy
• Counter espionage and foreign interference
• Migration and refugee/humanitarian programme settings
• Portfolio intelligence arrangements (Including visa risk assessment system)
• Visa cancellations for very serious offenders, national security, and exceptional cases

After winning the vote, Mr. Turnbull resigned as leader at the start of the meeting to prompt a vote to test the support of his opponent. Scott Morrison has been selected to act as interim Minister for Home Affairs and The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection in Mr. Duttons absence.

Mr. Morrison has held the role of Minister for Immigration and Border Protection having previously been appointed in 2013, where he was responsible for implementing Operation Sovereign Boarders.

Keep in mind that this may also lead to more responsibility for Alex Hawke and Alan Tudge. Mr. Hawke has served as the Assistant Minister of Home Affairs since December 2017. Mr. Tudge is the Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs and has been one of the more active members within the migration sector.

Do you need help with an Australian visa application?

At Work Visa Lawyers we are experienced in assisting applicants in all matters relating to Australian visa applications. Our areas of expertise include Skilled Migration visas, Business Skills Migration visas, Employer Sponsored Work Visas, Partner and other Family Migration visas as well as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) Review, Judicial Review and Ministerial Intervention.

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

(08) 8351 9956 or +61 8 8351 9956

or   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sources

We do not own the rights to the picture above.

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/corporate/ministers

https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/peterdutton/pages/welcome.aspx

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-21/politics-live-malcolm-turnbull-sees-off-peter-dutton-challenge/10146280

https://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story/5597429/malcolm-turnbull-wins-ballot-in-leadership-spill-julie-bishop-to-retain-deputy/

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/21/malcolm-turnbull-survives-leadership-contest-peter-dutton

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/malcolm-turnbull

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/aug/21/liberal-leadership-dutton-turnbull-energy

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-21/malcolm-turnbull-survives-leadership-challenge-from-peter-dutton/10146574

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/who-are-the-35-people-who-turned-on-malcolm-turnbull-and-voted-for-peter-dutton/news-story/c9b94f7f10d46e8b955b157668f0650c

https://www.workvisalawyers.com.au/news/all/20-000-less-skilled-rsms-and-partner-visas-granted-due-to-new-integrity-measures-from-australian-immigration-department.html

If you are looking to apply for a TSS subclass 482 visa, subclass 457 visa, ENS subclass 186 Visa or  subclass RSMS 187 visa subclass and you have all of your documents ready to lodge the application, you can avoid the Skilling Australians Fund by lodging it on or before 11 August 2018.

If you still have advertising to complete or have too much work left to do to complete the nomination application before 12 August 2018, it is likely that you will need to pay a contribution to the Skilling Australians Fund Levy.

The Skilling Australians Fund will affect any applications lodged on or after 12 August 2018.

This is going to cause significant additional charges to employers on top of the current application charges.

As we have previously written about, the Skilling Australians Fund is a levy which will be imposed on applications to nominate a foreign worker under a subclass 482, subclass 457, subclass 186 or subclass 187 visa.

How Much Does The New Skilling Australians Fund Levy Cost?

The size of your businesses contribution to the levy will vary based on the particular application, as well as the size of the business.

If you are a small to medium business with turnover of less than $10,000,000, your contribution will be less than for a large business with yearly turnover of $10,000,000 or more.

What Exceptions Are There?

The following kinds of applications are exempted from paying the relevant contribution charge:

• Subclass 482 visas lodged under the Labour Agreement stream
• Subclass 186 visas lodged under the Labour Agreement stream
• If the nomination is for the occupation of Minister of Religion (ANZSCO: 272211) or Religious Assistant (ANZSCO: 451816)

For any of the above applications, the contribution amount is cut down to $0.

Meeting The Training Benchmarks

Any applications lodged before 12 August 2018 will still need to continue to meet their training obligations under the current scheme. If you are currently sponsoring an employee or are planning to lodge a nomination before 12 August 2018, you will need to continue to keep clear records and spend:

• Spend 1% of payroll on the training of your Australian employees, or
• Contribute 2% to a industry training fund

For nominations on or after 12 August 2018, you will no longer need to meet the training benchmarks. It is important to be careful, however, if you have a blend of pre- and post-SAF nominees. If you have an employee who is looking to use the Temporary Residence Transition stream of 186/187 for a permanent application after holding a 457/482 which was nominated pre-SAF, you will need to show at the time of application that the training benchmarks have been met for all the sponsorship years.

There may be some cases of employers with a large payroll and low utilisation of the employer-sponsored migration scheme where the replacement of the Training Benchmarks with the Skilling Australians Fund Levy will bring an advantage.

Can The Nominee / Visa Applicant Pay The Skilling Australians Fund Levy Contribution?

No. Even if they want to, the SAF Levy Contribution has been added to the list of costs which cannot be recovered or transferred to anyone other than the nominating entity (the sponsoring business or organization).

Watch Out!

While a lot of the focus is on the Temporary Skills Shortage subclass 482 visa, if you are nominating an employee who already holds a subclass 457 visa and is moving to you from their previous employer, you will still need to contribute to the Skilling Australians Fund Levy.

What If?

There is an interesting provision in the Instrument which has provided the date for the Skilling Australians Fund to be brought in. It says that if section 3 of the Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Charges Act 2018 does not commence (as it is always possible that things might change), then these regulations will not commence either.

If you are considering nominating an employee, it is important that you keep a very close eye on news about the Fund as the 12 August 2018 draws nearer.

What Will This Mean Overall?

With the increasing financial friction to nominating an employee for an employer-sponsored visa, it is likely that we will continue to see the number of applications under this stream decrease, even faster than we have previously noted.

Comments From Chris Johnston

I expect that the introduction of the Skilling Australians Fund on 12 August 2018 is likely to reduce even further the already restricted number of applications we are seeing for employer-sponsored visas. A lot of applications will probably not go ahead because of the Skilling Australians Fund.

While the Department have projected high expected revenue from this levy, the decrease in the number of applications is likely to strongly affect this. These estimates may be out by up to 50%-75% due to the effect of dicincentivisation not being accounted for.

Do you need help with an Australian visa application?

Sources:

• Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Charges Regulations 2018

Australian Immigration News Video May 2018 - SAF, TSS 482, Regional Visas

Friday, 12 January 2018

457, RSMS and ENS visa News | Partner Visa News | Australia Immigration Department News | State Sponsorship News | Citizenship | English Requirements News

Welcome to 2018! The year of 2017 had the most changes and announcements on Immigration Policy that I can remember. Here is our recap of the significant changes to the migration programme for Australia in 2017 and some of the discussions and ongoing developments for 2018.

The Immigration News in 2017 has been dominated by the announcements in April 2017 regarding the 457 and skilled occupation list changes and the proposed changes to Australian Citizenship application requirements.

The planning levels for permanent visas continue to be significant, at 190,000 permanent visas to be granted. The planning levels control the numbers of Australian permanent visas that are granted each year. If application numbers exceed planning levels, expect a longer processing time for your visa application.

I am going to make comments below about news in relation to a wide range of visas including business, skilled, visitor and family visas.