From 22 July 2019, Victoria’s Skilled & Business Migration Program will remove the invitation process for all Business Innovation and Investor Program streams. Victoria is no longer issuing invitation for Business Innovation and Investor Program streams. If an Expression of Interest has been submitted through the Department of Home Affairs’ SkillSelect system, but no invitation has been received to apply for Victorian nomination, the applicant should lodge a nomination application directly from 22 July 2019. There is no need to submit a new EOI. A new minimum eligibility criteria will be applicable for some visa subclasses from 22 July 2019, including: A minimum Department of Home Affairs’ SkillSelect Points test of 80 will be required for all 188 Innovation stream applicants 188 Innovation nomination applicants must agree to employ at least one (1) full time employee in their main business Applicants proposing to engage in export activity must demonstrate that the business will export 100% Victorian manufactured products only 188 Investor applicants must agree to make a minimum additional investment of at least A$500,000 in Victoria during the provisional visa period. The investment must be held for no less than 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa (subclass 888) Investor Stream nomination application 188 Investor and Significant Investor applicants will be required to have A$200,000 available for migration purposes (consistent with 188 Innovation stream requirements) Victoria’s Skilled & Business Migration Program will only accept visa nomination applications that meet these new criteria. Existing visa holders and applicants who have applied for the nomination before 22 July 2019 will not be subject to these changes.
New changes have been introduced in the ImmiAccount in respect of visas for GP initiatives. All employers who intend to nominate a position to be filled by a doctor, who needs a visa to work in the ANZSCO occupations 253111, 253112, and 253999 are required to obtain certification (a Health Workforce Certificate) from a Rural Workforce Agency (RWA). A Health Workforce Certificate is a letter issued by a RWA confirming the genuine need to fill a primary healthcare position at a given location in Australia by a doctor. On choosing any of the three occupations above, a new page will appear in the nomination application advising that a caveat applies to the nominated occupation. Select ‘Position has been endorsed / certified by relevant body’ from the list of reasons a caveat does not apply. At the end of the nomination you will require to upload the “Health Workforce Certificate”. This is a requirement to proceed with the remaining nomination application.
The Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (subclass 491) visa will commence on 16 November 2019. The Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489) visa will cease at 11:59pm on 15 November 2019. The Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489) visa will commence on 16 November 2019. Key Dates to remember: Date Action 10 September 2019 LAST day for states and territory governments to nominate and for invitations to be issued to an intending migrant for a subclass 489 visa. LAST day for intending migrants to lodge an EOI in SkillSelect for the subclass 489 visa. 15 November 2019 LAST day for people who have been invited to apply for a subclass 489 visa to lodge a subclass 489 visa application. 16 November 2019 Intending migrants can lodge an EOI for the subclass 491 visa. State and territory governments can nominate and invitations are able to be issued to an intending migrant for a subclass 491 visa. Visa applications can be lodged for the subclass 491 visa for intending migrants issued with an invitation to apply.
The Australian Government renamed the Global Talent – Initiative program to Global Talent – Independent (GTI), to identify, attract and invite the best and brightest skilled migrants from across the globe. The Global Talent – Employer Sponsored (formerly the Global Talent Scheme) (GTES) is a niche scheme under the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa program launched as a 12 month pilot on 1 July 2018. The pilot will continue to be open to applications after 1 July 2019 until further notified. The GTES allows employers to sponsor overseas workers for highly-skilled positions that cannot be filled: by Australian workers through other standard visa programs – in particular, the Short-term stream and Medium-term stream of the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa The GTES is only for highly-skilled niche occupations that cannot be accessed through existing skilled programs. Before the Department enters into an agreement, businesses must be able to demonstrate that they can’t fill the position through existing skilled visa programs. Employers will then be able to sponsor workers for a TSS visa under the GTES. The Department will release further information on the GTI program shortly.
The DAMA program gives regional employers access to broad range of overseas workers than what is available through the standard TSS visa program and ENS program. DAMA are now in place for the following locations: Northern Territory Great South Coast, Vic WA Goldfields, WA Regional South Australia Adelaide City Orana NSW Far North QLD
The Department of Home Affairs must be notified of children born onshore to visa holders under current legislation. When a child is born onshore the Department must be notified as soon as possible, even if they do not have a passport yet. A baby born in Australia is automatically an Australian citizen if at least one parent was an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time of birth. The baby may also be eligible for dual citizenship of the parents’ home country (if permitted by the home country). Not notifying the Department can lead to complications in the baby’s status if the child is taken offshore without a visa, especially if the parents are temporary visa holders. The parent may need to apply for another visa for the baby to return to Australia, while remaining overseas. This could be an expensive exercise in terms of visa fees, whereas notifying the Department to include the baby while onshore on the parent’s visa can be done simply with an email to the Department and no visa fees apply.
The Department has notified that there has been an increased number of nomination application or associated visa applications in permanent employer sponsored visa application with ineligible visa subclasses, streams or ANZSCO codes. Migration agents are reminded to ensure accuracy and care in completing the applications. Errors of this nature will impact the outcome of the lodged application and will lead to increased processing time.
In case of Temporary Visitor Visa holders and who are in Australia, and whose immigration has not been cleared and the Minister has reasonable belief that the visa holder has contravened some of the provisions of the Biosecurity Act, the Minister has grounds to cancel the visa. Further in the case of the holder of a temporary visa and the Minister reasonably believes that the visa holder has imported goods to which regulation 4A of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 applies and has not been granted a permission under subregulation 4A(2) of those Regulations to import the goods, the Minsiter will have grounds to cancel the visa.
Migration (LIN 19/146: Income Test for Sponsorship for Temporary Sponsored Parent Visa) Instrument 2019 To meet the requirement of an approved Parent sponsor, the amount of taxable income of the Sponsor should be $83,454.80. As per the regulations, the income year specified will be the most recent completed taxable income year prior to the date of lodgement of an application for approval as a family sponsor.
According to the list compiled by the Henley Passport Index, which analyses how many countries a passport holder can enter visa-free or on a visa-on-arrival basis, Japan has topped the list. Japan and Singapore have held onto their joint top spot, with each country offering visa-free access to 189 destinations. South Korea now sits in second place along with Finland and Germany, with citizens of all three countries able to access 187 destinations around the world without a prior visa. France, Spain, and Sweden are in joint fourth place, each with a score of 185. With a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 183, the UK and the US now share 6th place. And while Australia’s position on the ranking has remained the same — in ninth spot, along with New Zealand, Iceland and Lithuania. In significant shifts elsewhere in the rankings, the United Arab Emirates has entered the top 20 for the first time in the index’s 14-year history, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 165. Over the past five years, the UAE has more than doubled the number of destinations its citizens are able to travel to without a prior visa. TOP 10 MOST POWERFUL PASSPORTS Japan, Singapore Germany, South Korea Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg France, Sweden, Spain Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland Belgium, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom, United States Malta Czech Republic Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Lithuania Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia.