Recent News about Australian Migration Regulations

From 24 March 2012 certain assessment levels for student’s visas will be relaxed.

These changes will lower the minimum evidentiary requirements needed for the grant of a Student visa for certain countries and education sectors. These changes will effect new student visa applications lodged on or after 24 March 2012.

In summary some of the changes to key countries are are follows:

Country of Citizenship	Education Sector	Updated Assessment Levels
China, Peoples Republic of	Subclass 574 – Post Grad Research	AL1
India	Subclass 574 – Post Grad Research	AL1
Indonesia	Subclass 571 – Schools	AL1
Indonesia	Subclass 574 – Post Grad Research	AL1
Maldives	Subclass 570 – ELICOS	AL2
Maldives	Subclass 571 – Schools	AL1
Maldives	Subclass 573 – Higher Ed	AL1
Mauritius	Subclass 571 – Schools	AL1
Namibia	Subclass 573 – Higher Ed	AL2
Nepal	Subclass 574 – Post Grad Research	AL1

SkillSelect Expression of Interest (EOI) System

Further detail is provided in relation to the new SkillSelect System on 1 July 2012. It will no longer be possible to apply directly for certain types of visas. Instead applicants will need to first lodge an Expression of Interest (EOI) and only the best candidates will receive invitation to lodge their applications.

The following types of application can only be lodged through SkillSelect after 1 July 2012, Skilled Points tested visas such as independent, sponsored and regional Sponsored; and Business Skills Migration. Skillselect is optional for the following visas: Employer Nomination Scheme – ENS, Regional Skilled Migration Scheme – RSMS and 457 – Business Long Stay.

For Skilled Points Tested visas, Expression of Interests will be lodged online.  To lodge an EOI, you must have completed your skills assessment and your English language test (usually IELTS). Every few months, DIAC will review the EOIs which have been lodged, and
issue the best candidates with an invitation to make an application for skilled points tested migration. Applicants who have been nominated by a state or territory government and meet the current pass mark, will most likely be issued with an invitation as a priority.

Quotas may exist for each occupation. The people with the best points score will be issued with an invitation. So people with more work experience, better English scores and higher qualifications will have a better chance of getting an invitation.

Once you receive an invitation, you will need to make your visa application within 60 days. If you are unable to apply within this time, your invitation lapses. If you are invited once, there is no guarantee that you will be re-invited later, and in any case you can only be issued with a maximum of 2 invitations before your application is removed from the EOI system. SO will will need to ensure that you have all the requirements ready to take up the invitation when t has been issued.

There will be exceptions to SkillSelect and the “transitional applicants” will be able to apply under the old points system until the end of 2012. The “transitional applicants” are international students who had applied for or been granted a subclass 485 Skilled Graduate visa prior to 8 Feb 2010. No other transitional arrangements are in place for international students and it is unlikely any more will transitional arrangements will be in place.

There will be some advantages to applying after 1 July 2012. The main advantage of applying after 1 July 2012 is that your application will be processed much faster than under the current system. Under the current system it can take 18 months or more for points tested visas to be processed. The new system is designed to allow Dept Immigration to more carefully manage the application pipeline and ensure that a large backlog of applications does not develop. As a result, people lucky enough to get an invitation will be able to “jump the queue”

If you have a passing score in the current points test, you should consider applying prior to 1 July 2012. Many areas of the new system have not yet been finalised, and there is no guarantee that you will be issued an invitation after 1 July even if you have a high score.  If you have an occupation that is nominated by many applicants (which is likely to meet quota quickly – eg accounting, nursing) then you should also consider applying before 1 July 2012.

New “Regional Migration Agreement” to meet Darwin’s Growth Challenges for Skilled Workers.

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen MP, and Northern Territory Deputy Chief Minister, Delia Lawrie MLA, have announced a new migration program for the Darwin region to assist employers fill skills and labour shortages associated with major projects.

“The Federal Government has commenced negotiating Australia’s first Regional Migration Agreement (RMA) for Northern Territory (specifically Darwin), which is designed to help regions hire overseas workers where there is a genuine need to do so,” Mr Bowen said.

“Darwin is set to experience huge growth, with demand for workers expected to outstrip local and national supply.

“This RMA will act as a pressure valve for the local economy, helping businesses experiencing a shortage of staff to find workers when none can be sourced locally.”

The RMA program, which is expected to be in place in the first half of this year, aims to assist small businesses which may find it difficult to use standard migration programs while ensuring Australians remain the first choice for employers.

“The NT Government is focused on seeing Territorians benefit from major projects such as Ichthys. While we are investing heavily in local training, it is still not enough to meet demand in a competitive Australian labour market,” Ms Lawrie said.

“Major projects will draw local workers away from smaller employers, and this RMA will assist those businesses to backfill these gaps in their workforce.

The RMA program was announced in the 2011-12 Budget to offer a coordinated, localised response to labour needs. Darwin has been chosen as the first RMA location due to current labour shortages which are expected to be further exacerbated by several major resource projects.

Other regional areas experiencing skills and labour shortages will be eligible for RMAs in the coming months, with guidelines on the application process to be published by the end of March.

Capping and Queuing of Family Visas

Carer visa applicants

Applications for Carer visas with a queue date up to 30 June 2011 and who meet all outstanding requirements can expect their visa to
be granted within approximately 3-18 months (measured from 1 July 2011).

Applications with queue dates after 30 June 2011 may be released from the queue for further consideration later in the financial year
to fill any remaining program places for this visa.

Carer visa applications lodged before 1 July 2011 but which have not yet been assessed and queued can expect to wait up to 2 ½ years for a visa (from 1 July 2011).

Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative visa applicants

Applications for Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative visas with a queue date up to 26 April 2010 and who meet all outstanding requirements can expect their visa to be granted within approximately 3-18 months (measured from 1 July 2011). No further
release of applications is likely this financial year. The next release of applications for further processing will occur next financial year. The queue date of applications to be released will be determined once program numbers are announced.

Estimated waiting times of applications that have been assessed and given queue dates later than 26 April 2010, may vary depending on future planning levels as well as withdrawals and refusals. Future releases of queued applications will therefore be announced at the start of each financial year.

Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative visa applications lodged before 1 July 2011 but which have not yet been assessed and queued can expect to wait up to 10 ½ years for a visa (from 1 July 2011).

Parent Visas

Parent category visa applications have a lower processing priority than other family stream visa applicants such as partners, children and the contributory parent category.

In the 2011–12 Migration Program year:

• 2000 places will be allocated to the (non-contributory) Parent category, including approximately 1400 places for Parent (subclass 103) visas and approximately 600 places for Aged Parent (subclass 804) visas.
•  6500 places have been allocated to the Contributory Parent category (subclasses 173/143 and subclasses 884/864).

The final proportion of places allocated between applicants applying in and outside Australia in both Parent visa categories is dependent on a number of factors, including client response times. All parent category visa applications are assessed in order of lodgement, assigned a queue date and then placed in the queue for the relevant visa subclass. Applicants are advised of their queue date when they reach this stage.

Contributory Parent

In 2007–08, demand for the contributory parent visa category meant that a queue formed for the first time. In the 2011–12 Migration Program year, 6500 contributory parent category visa places are available for applicants applying from in and outside Australia. Based on current planning levels new contributory parent category visa applicants can expect to wait up to 12 months before visa grant consideration.