On 14 September 2021, Victoria Government has announced that the State nominations for Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) subclass 188Bvisa – Investor stream and Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) subclass 188Cvisa– Significant Investor stream are now open for the program year 2021-2022. The eligibility criteria for Investor stream nomination requires the applicants to be less than 55 years; intending to live in Victoria; complying with investments of at least AUD $2.5 million in Victoria(held for the duration of the provisional visa); securing at least 80 points in SkillSelect; be committed to meet the requirements for permanent residence as well as meet the Department’ visa criteria. Further, as part of the changes announced, the applicants are not required to make any additional investments or invest in Designated Investment Bonds but must make all complying Venture Capital and Private Growth Equity funds (VCPE) investments only into Victorian-based funds. The eligibility criteria for SignificantInvestor stream nomination requires the applicants intending to live in Victoria; complying with investments of at least AUD $5 million in Victoria(held for the duration of the provisional visa); be committed to meet the requirements for permanent residence as well as meet the Department’ visa criteria. Further, as part of the changes announced, the applicants must make all complying with Venture Capital and Private Growth Equity funds (VCPE) investments only into Victorian-based funds. The announcement further clarifies that the new requirements do not affect the nominations received prior to 01 July 2021. Interested and eligible applicants are now able to lodge a nomination application via the Live in Melbourne portal and ensure that any requests for further information are responded to within 2 weeks. The current processing times for the Investor stream and Significant Investor stream are 20 days and 10 days, respectively.
Immigration (Education) (Specification of temporary visas) Amendment Instrument (LIN 21/070) 2021 dated 12 September 2021[“the Instrument”] amends Immigration (Education) (Specification of temporary visas) Instrument (LIN 21/013) 2021 dated 19 April 2021 to add Humanitarian Stay (Temporary) subclass 449 visa to the list of specified temporary visa subclasses, holders of which are eligible to access English language tuition under the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) for the purpose of subparagraphs 4(1)(b)(ii) and 4A(1)(a)(ii) of the Immigration (Education) Act 1971. The amendment responds to the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan and is one of the various measures being undertaken by the Australian Government to provide re-settlement assistance to Afghan nationals in Australia as many are expected to be granted the Humanitarian Stay visa. The other visa holders eligible to access English language tuition under the AMEP include the following subclasses: Subclass 160 – Business Owner (Provisional) Subclass161 – Senior Executive (Provisional) Subclass162 – Investor (Provisional) Subclass163 – State/Territory Sponsored Business Owner (Provisional) Subclass164 – State/Territory Sponsored Senior Executive (Provisional) Subclass165 – State/Territory Sponsored Investor (Provisional) Subclass 188 – Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Subclass445 – Dependent Child Subclass820 -Partner Visa Subclass309 – Partner (Provisional) Subclass786 – Temporary (Humanitarian Concern) Subclass489 – Skilled Regional (Provisional) Subclass491 – Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) Subclass494 – Skilled Employer-Sponsored Regional (Provisional) Subclass060 – Bridging F Subclass785 – Temporary Protection Subclass790 – Safe Haven Enterprise To access the Instrument, click here.
Invitation Round: 08 September 2021 Matrix nominating Small Business Owners: 01 invitations ACT 190 nominations: 01 invitations 190 minimum Matrix score: 80 ACT 491 nominations: 0 invitations 491 minimum Matrix score: 457 visa / 482 visa holders: 02 invitations ACT 190 nomination: 02 invitations ACT 491 nomination: 0 invitations Matrix nominating Critical Skill occupations: 80 invitations ACT 190 nomination: 09 invitations 190 minimum Matrix score: 115 (Accountants: 120) ACT 491 nomination: 71 invitations 491 minimum Matrix score: 70 (Accountants: 110) Remaining Allocations ACT 491 nomination: 1164 places ACT 190 nomination: 492 places Invitations were not issued if the applicants have an active application in the system or have previously received ACT nomination. The next Canberra Matrix invitation round will be held before 16 September 2021.
On 05 September 2021, the Department of Home Affairs have released a statement regarding Partner visa processing in the program years 2020-21 and 2021-22. In these program years, the partner visa has 72,300 places for each year, constituting 94% of the Family stream program, much higher compared to the previous average of around 80% as well as just 39,799 places for Partners in 2019-20. The Department stated, “This increase is designed to provide greater certainty to Australians and their immediate family members during the COVID-19 pandemic, and contribute to addressing processing times for Partner visa applications.” It was further provided that the Family stream visa places constituted approximately 50% of the total Migration Program ceiling in the last two years, ensuring more visas are delivered in this stream to support family migration in Australia. The Department also mentions that “more Partner visa places have been delivered in 2020-21 than in any program year in at least 25 years.”
The Department of Home Affairs have released information under Freedom of Information request (FOI) providing number of inward travel exemptions approved by the Australian Border Force (ABF) between 01 August 2020 and 08 May 2021 categorised on the basis of the visa subclass of the traveller. During this period, the ABF has approved a total of 33,176 request for inbound exemption to travel to Australia. The details of the visa subclass held by the travellers is provided below: Visa Subclass Number of Exemptions Granted Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482) 9,080 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa (subclass 400) 4,989 Temporary Activity visa (subclass 408) 1,714 Student visa (subclass 500) 1,699 Visitor visa (subclass 600) 1,612 eVisitor visa (subclass 651) 694 Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601) 486 Training visa (subclass 407) 483 Medicial Treatment visa (subclass 602) 448 Other visas 3,488 Not recorded (secondary travellers or individuals who did not require, hold or applied for a visa) 8,483 Total 33,176 The Department has also released information that during this period, 430 inward travel requests were approved for Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489) visa holders and applicants. Further, the FOI provides a breakdown of the international movements between March 2020 and May 2021 and number of travellers based on the country of their citizenship. To access the full FOI, click here.
Recently Western Australia has announced changes to the State’s Skilled Migration Program 2021-22 to expand the Western Australian Skilled Migration Occupation List (WASMOL) available for State nomination through the General stream to include a Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 list. The lists contains occupations that are considered a priority for the State and on 27 August 2021, the occupation of Arborist (ANZSCO: 362212) has been added to Schedule 2 list. The WASMOL is available to applicants who intend to use the General Stream WASMOL Schedule 1 or the General Stream WASMOL Schedule 2 for Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) or Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) nominations. According to the updated requirements, an applicant who intends to use the General Stream WASMOL Schedule 2 must: Meet the visa criteria for the intended visa subclass, Have a full time employment contract for at least 12 months in Western Australia in the nominated occupation or in closely related occupation, and Meet the minimum English requirements for the chosen occupation. To access the full occupations list, click here.
The Government has announced the formation of the Advisory Panel to support Afghan nationals in their settlement in Australia to ensure that there are appropriate settlement and integration supports available, including identifying the communities into which the people will settle. The panel is established with a purpose to play an important role in planning to support the provision of the initial 3,000 places in the Humanitarian Visa Program to Afghan nationals as well as developing community interest towards their welcoming and successfully integration. The panel is expected to operate for 12 months, which may be extended on need basis. The Hon Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, said, “The Advisory Panel is a group of highly regarded Australian-Afghan community leaders and refugee and settlement experts, chosen for their commitment and expertise in refugee and integration issues…Australia has a proud history of helping those most in need and we are fortunate to have such a wealth of knowledge from across Australia to be working with us to ensure our world class settlement program is delivering to them the comprehensive support they need to get established and settled in Australia as fast as possible.”
Invitation Round: 01 September 2021 Matrix nominating Small Business Owners: 01 invitations 190 nominations: 01 invitations 190 minimum Matrix score:80 491 nominations: 0 invitations 491 minimum Matrix score: 457 visa / 482 visa holders: 03 invitations ACT 190 nomination: 03 invitations ACT 491 nomination: 0 invitations Matrix nominating Critical Skill occupations: 71invitations ACT 190 nomination: 12 invitations 190 minimum Matrix score: 95 (Accountants: 110) ACT 491 nomination: 59 invitations 491 minimum Matrix score: 65 (Accountants: 100) Invitations were not issued if the applicants have an active application in the system or have previously received ACT nominations. The next Canberra Matrix invitation round will be held before 07 September 2021.
On 23 August 2021, in a joint media release the Government has announced a new Australian Agriculture visa to add to the existing Seasonal Worker Programme and Pacific Labour Scheme, to address workforce shortages in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors in Australia. Agriculture visa corroborates to changes to the Working Holiday Maker program as a result of the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement and will be operated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. As per the announcement, by the end of September 2021, formal regulations are to be notified to enable the creation of the Australian Agriculture visa while its operations with other countries will depend on specific negotiations with each country undertaken through bilateral agreements in the course of 3 years. In a previous statement, The Hon David Little proud MP, Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia said, “The new seasonal agricultural worker visa would mirror the existing Seasonal Worker Programme and will add to the pool of workers available to work on Australian farms…The new visa will also set up the industry for the future and will address a key brake for many of agriculture industries – the availability of labour.”
The applicants for Victoria nominations for Subclass 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa and Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated visa must now register their interest for Victorian Visa Nomination as the nominations will be made by invitation only. For the 2021-2022 program, Registration of Interest (ROI) for the nomination can be madefrom07 July 2021 to 29 April 2022 and an applicant can only have 1 active ROI submitted at a time. In the first invitation round for subclass 190 visa nominations, while the focus was on filling critical skills in the health sector, other sectors also received a substantial percentage of nominations. A snapshot of the invitations issued and the top occupations are provided below: Occupations Lowest Points Mechanical Engineer Engineering Technologist Electrical Engineer 95 Food Technologist Mechanical Engineer Engineering Technologist 90 Medical Practitioners NEC Resident Medical Officer / Physiotherapist Occupational Therapist 90 Secondary School Teacher Food Technologist Chemical Engineer 95 Software Engineer Biomedical Engineer / Industrial Engineer / Life Scientist NEC 90 Electrical Engineer Mechanical Engineer Developer Programmer / Engineering Technologist 95 The State is also assessing the ROIs submitted for Subclass 491 visa and invitations are due to be issued in the near future. To register your interest for Victorian nominations, click here For applicants interested in the digital target sector, digital games engineers are now eligible for subclass 190 nominations in addition to subclass 491 nominations.