An ‘occupation ceiling’ might be applied to invitations issued under the independent, skilled regional (provisional) visas. This means there will be a limit on how many EOIs can be selected for skilled migration from an occupation group. This ensures that the skilled migration program is not dominated by a small number of occupations. Once this limit is reached, no further invitations for that particular occupation group will be issued for that program year. Occupation ceilings do not apply to State or Territory Nominated, Employer Sponsored or Business Innovation and Investment visa subclasses. Occupation ceilings for the 2019-20 program year. Occupation ID Description Occupation Ceiling Value 2019-20 Invitations to 11/07/2019 1213 Livestock Farmers 5,934 0 1331 Construction Managers 4,983 0 1332 Engineering Managers 1,000 0 1341 Child Care Centre Managers 1,000 0 1342 Health and Welfare Services Managers 1,785 0 1399 Other Specialist Managers 3,044 0 2111 Actors, Dancers and Other Entertainers 1,000 0 2112 Music Professionals 1,000 0 2121 Artistic Directors, and Media Producers and Presenters 1,098 0 2211 Accountants* 2,746 83 2212 Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers* 1,552 47 2241 Actuaries, Mathematicians and Statisticians 1,000 6 2243 Economists 1,000
DOHA has updated Regulation 5.19 with instructions to address transitional arrangements for 457/TSS visa holders Further to various enquires to MIA and the Department and discussions as to whether TRT applications can be lodged on the last day of validity of grandfathered two year Subclass 457/TSS visas, the Department has updated the Regulation. The Procedural Instructions have been updated at Regulation 5.19 with the following instruction to address transitional arrangements for these visa holders: 4.3.20 Transitional arrangements – in place from 18 March 2018 to march 2022 Decision-makers are reminded that the Government has provided transitional arrangements for certain cohorts of clients who held or had applied for a subclass 457 visa on 18 April 2017 which was subsequently granted. These arrangements are relevant to the TRT stream only. Where a nomination is lodged on or after 18 March 2018, and at any time until 18 March 2022, in relation to a client in this cohort, standard nomination requirements in place as of 18 March 2018 must be met with the exception that: occupation list requirements will not apply; and the minimum period an applicant is required to have been employed in their nominated occupation/position as the holder of a subclass 457 or TSS visa will remain at two years. However, decision makers can accept 23 months as having satisfied this requirement. This is to prevent inefficiencies resulting from the 457 visa expiring a few days short of applicants meeting the two-year work requirement, necessitating obtaining a further TSS visa to complete the two years of time worked. While this update to the PI will be loaded to Legend on 18 August 2019, the visa processing network have been advised that this can be applied with immediate effect. Associated legislative change to Regulation 5.19 will be updated in due course. * Thanks to MIA member Rick Gunn for being the first to get a response from the Department on this issue and sharing it with members.
Monday 29 July 2019, Victoria’s Skilled and Business Migration Program will be launching a new and improved application system for visa nomination. Any draft nomination application saved in the system, will be required to be submitted by 4.00pm on Wednesday 24 July or a new application needs to be commenced in the new system on Monday 29 July 2019. No visa nomination applications can be submitted on the Live in Melbourne website between 4.00pm Wednesday 24 July 2019 (AEST) and Monday 29 July 2019. Agents will not be able to login to the system from 4.00pm Wednesday 24 July 2019 until Monday 29 July 2019 wherein you will need to re-register your details.
The Department of Home Affairs has now introduced a new multipurpose online webform to contact various Ministers for intervention. Any ministerial intervention will now be required to be lodged by the new online webform available on the Department of Home Affairs website. The form can be used to send enquiries to Ministers: Peter Dutton, David Coleman, David Littleproud and Jason Wood.
Visa applications obtaining 80 points (including state nomination points) on the Department of Home Affairs points test, are able to access additional occupations (special conditions and Supplementary Skilled List). As of 26 July 2019, applications submitted under the High Points category are required to have 85 points. Immigration SA has received a high volume of applications for the high points category and will be monitoring applications received over the coming weeks. Once Immigration South Australia reach the ‘high points’ category quota, the minimum points requirement will be automatically increased to 90 points. Some individual occupations like Quality Assurance Manager, Hotel or Motel Manager, ICT Sales Rep, Technical Sales Rep nec, Geologist, Occupational Health and Safety Advisor, Web Developer, ICT Support and Test Engineers nec have low nomination left for the 2019/20 program year.
Education and Training Minister for Western Australia today launched StudyPerth’s 2019 International Student Ambassador Program. This initiative is a long-term State Government strategy to attract more international students to Perth, which will help improve Western Australia’s economy, contribute to the community and create more jobs. The program intends to promote Perth as a first-choice study destination for International Students. A group of 10 international students were today named as the program’s ambassadors at the Council of International Students Australia annual conference in Perth. Each will be tasked with helping the State Government and StudyPerth to position Perth as a first-choice study destination. The ambassadors will also raise awareness about the social and economic benefits that international education brings to Western Australia. They will write blogs and social media posts; facilitate question and answer forums and attend social business events, where they will discuss the benefits of international education in Perth Australia. The development of the International Student Ambassador Program is one of 16 initiatives in StudyPerth’s Action Plan, which outlines how international students can live, learn and launch their future selves in Perth’s environment.
Parents of migrants visiting Australia on the newly introduced parent visa could risk being deported if they fail to notify the Department any changes made to their personal and contact details, including “online profiles and usernames” at least two days before the change is to occur. The temporary parent visa was introduced in July this year. The visa is subject to conditions 8103, 8303, 8501, 8531, 8550 and 8564. Condition 8550 states that the visa holder must notify the Department personal details, including any change in the visa holder’s name, address, phone number, email address, online profile used by the visa holder and user name not less than 2 working days before the change is to occur. A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs confirmed to a News channel that the measure ensures that the records held are accurate and the Department can communicate with visa holders when required. The requirement is also applied to the Frequent Traveller stream for Chinese citizens which allows for a visa validity of up to ten years.
The NSW Government will re-commence nominating supported applicants by Monday 22 July 2019. Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDA) will be accepting applications for Skilled Regional State Nomination (sc489) for the region from Midday today. Regional Development Australia Northern Inland is the certifying body on behalf of the Northern Inland region of NSW. RCBs assist employers to sponsor permanent skilled workers. RDA through their knowledge of the local labour market, are able to certify the nomination before it is submitted to the Department for Home Affairs for approval. The revised Occupation List is available online on the Skilled Regional NSW Sponsorship page of the RDA website. The application process will remain the same as last financial year, and full details can also be found on the Skilled Regional NSW Sponsorship page of RDA website. The occupation list will be updated regularly to reflect the applications that are received. Due to the commencement of the new Skilled Regional State Nominated visa sub-class 491 on 16 November 2019, the last day that nominations for the 489 visa will be processed and invitations from the Department of Home Affairs will be issued will be 10 September 2019. To allow time for processing before this cut-off time, RDA will not accept any 489 applications after the 3 September 2019. The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) for employers seeking to nominate a skilled worker will also be replaced on the 16th of November this year. Therefore, to allow time for assessment, we will be unable to accept applications for assessment under this program after the 11th of November. Applications for certification for the RSMS are currently open, and details on how to apply are available on the RSMS Employer Nomination page of our website. Information on the new Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa, while limited at this stage, is available on the Department of Home Affairs website.
Changes were introduced on the 10 July 2019 to Job Ready monthly /quarterly journal process and the Employment verification process. From 10 July 2019 TRA is changing the way it monitors a JRE participant’s work experience and skills development during steps 2-4 of the program. JRE participants will no longer be required to complete a monthly work journal entry through the online portal. This will be replaced by a new, simpler Quarterly Progress Report process. The new template for this quarterly report will be emailed to participants every three months, or as required, for completion until a successful Job Ready Workplace Assessment is achieved. Current JRE participants will no longer have access to the JRE Journal page in the online portal after 10 July 2019, but the number of validated work hours can still be viewed. Applicants must enter the date they started working with an employer during the online JRE application process and must provide supporting pay evidence for the period being claimed with their application documents. Only pay evidence submitted as part of the application will be considered by TRA. Further applicants and current participants will now be able to download an Employment Verification Report relevant to their nominated occupation from the TRA website. The Report must be completed and signed by the employer and/or supervisor who signs the Employment Registration Form. It must be provided to TRA with any Employment Registration Form.
The Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019 and Migration Amendment (Streamlining Visa Processing) Bill 2019 are currently before the House of Reps under the Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs portfolio The Bills were read on 4 July 2019 and second read on 4 July 2019 in the Parliament. The Bills are looking to: For the purposes of character test, to create an additional discretionary, objective ground to grant or refuse to grant a visa under section 501 of the Migration Act 1958, where a person has been convicted of a serious violent crime in Australia or on foreign land, regardless of the length of sentence that has been imposed. To streamline the visa application process by requiring the provision of personal identifiers (biometrics) at the time of lodgement of the application by a class of visa applicants, rather than after a written request from the Case Officer. The Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019 has been referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on 4 July 2019 and the Report is due on 13/09/2019.