AUSTRALIAN VISA AND IMMIGRATION NEWS - IN 2023

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The Victorian Government has just re-opened their State Nomination program for the Skilled Nominated, Subclass 190 Visa for Permanent residence, as well as the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional), Subclass 491 Visa, which will remain open until early 2024. Note that Victoria has re-opened Nomination for Onshore and Offshore applicants. The process of applying is that Applicants must initially complete a 'Registration of Interest' (ROI). Currently, there is no timeframe until an ROI is selected, due to large numbers of applications and the fact that the Program is extremely competitive. However, if an Applicant has a strong ROI, then they may receive an application for Victorian Visa Nomination, within 1 -2 months.

The Australian and Philippines Governmanets have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOA), which allows eligible citizens of both countries to apply for a 12 month multiple entry visa, which allows them to work. The Work and Holiday visa arrangement will be open to Filipino and Australian citizens who are 18 to 31 years of age, at the time of application and who are graduates of tertiary education or have successfully completed at least 2 years of undergraduate study or post-secondary education. In addition, Applicants must meet Health, Character and Security requirements and have medical insurance for the duration of their stay. The MOU is due to take effect at a date mutually agree by both parties, but probably in early 2024.

The Immigration Minister, Andrew Giles has closed the Subclass 408, Pandemic Special Event Visa to new Applicants. The 408 Visa was created in 2020, during the Covid-19 restrictions, in order to fill labour shortages and assist International students, who were unable to depart Australia. However, the Visa has been controversial and had negative publicity due to the fact that it allowed APplicants to work full time for unlimited hours, for 12 months. Therefore, from 2 September 2023, the 408 Visa will only be open to applications from current Visa holders, and it will be closed to all Applicants from February 2024.

Recently, the Department of Home Affairs has hired more than 600 new staff members to support the faster visa processing. So, currently, a Student visa, Subclass 500 is being processed in under 2 weeks. In addition, the 482 Visas are being prioritised, and being assessed, and finalised where complete, within 1 business day, and Subclass 186 Employer Sponsored visas are also being processed very fast, within 2 days from date of lodgement. Also, Working Holiday visa processing times have been expedited and the Subclass 417 Visa is now being processed within a maximum of 14 days. Finally Permanent Skilled Migration applications are being processed within 7 months now, compared to 12 months processing, in February 2023.

For the first 9 months of the 2022/23 Financial year, there was a significant increase in the Skilled migration intake by 111.7%, which is a Permanent residence number of 144,040, an increase from 68,055, in the previous financial year. In addition, Student visa approvals jumped up to a 154.4% increase to 511,149, which was previously only 200,941. Reasons for the larger numbers are due to increasing number of Visa applications, since the Post-Covid rebuild.

The Government has permitted International Students and Sponsored Workers to extend their Stay in Australia, under a Covid-19 Pandemic Event Visa, which was set-up in 2020. The Australian Labour Government has already approved more than 66,000 Covid-19 Visas, which is more than the number of Visas granted, when Australia had border restrictions.