Obtaining a permanent residency visa for Australia can be a long gruelling process. Once you finally receive that long-awaited grant email from the Department of Home Affairs, you may feel that your status is genuinely permanent, especially if you previously had already been living and settled in Australia on a temporary visa. Unfortunately, for some, this is not the case.
The Department of Employment, Family, Skills, and Small Business has released its Traffic Light Bulletin for the December 2019 to February 2020. If accepted by the Department of Home Affairs, several substantive changes will affect the occupation lists. These changes could see ramifications for prospective visa applicants and nominating sponsors. The report suggests popular occupations be removed altogether like hairdressers, gardeners, and massage therapists.
Obtaining a permanent residency visa for Australia can be a long gruelling process. Once you finally receive that long-awaited grant email from the Department of Home Affairs, you may feel that your status is genuinely permanent, especially if you previously had already been living and settled in Australia on a temporary visa. Unfortunately, for some, this is not the case.
On 16 November 2019 the Department of Home Affairs commenced two new skilled regional visas, both of which have a pathway to permanent residence:
Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa - Subclass 494
Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa - Subclass 491.
Both visas will be available to Perth residents - in other words, Perth is considered to be part of “regional Australia” once more. In fact, the only cities that are now excluded are Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. This is welcome news!
The Subclass 494 visa program will be available to prospective applicants whose occupation is either on the Medium to Long Term Occupation List or the Regional Occupation List. You will need an employer to sponsor you, in much the same way as a TSS visa. You will also need a Migration Skills Assessment in your nominated occupation, Competent English and 3 years’ fulltime work experience in a relevant position (and from the last 5 years).
The Subclass 491 visa program is a point-tested visa, available to prospective applications whose occupation is on a list published by each of the Australian States & Territories. For example, if you want to check if you will be eligible for this visa in Western Australia, you will need to check the WA Occupation List. Points are allocated in the same manner as the 189 and 190 visas - that is, according to Age, English language ability, Qualifications, Employment Experience, etc. The Department will also now allocate you additional points if you are single, or if you have an Australian partner, or if you have a “skilled” partner.
Both visas are granted for a period of 5 years. However, once you have held the visa for a minimum of 3 tax years - and you are able to demonstrate that you have lived and worked in “regional Australia” earning above $53,900 per year - then you will be eligible to apply for a newly introduced Permanent Residence Skilled Regional visa - subclass 191.
Both visas cost $4045 for the primary applicant; $2025 for a partner; and $1010 for a dependent child under 18 years of age.
Book your appointment with us now to find out if you are eligible to apply!
Listed below are some changes recently announced by the Federal Government and the new arrangements for the skilled migration visa applications.
Australia’s skilled migration program is a points-based system designed to attract highly qualified and experienced professionals to best meet Australia’s skills needs.
There are a number of skilled migration visas that require applicants to score a minimum number of points to qualify for permanent skilled migration (subclass 189, 190 & 489 visas).
The government announced that from 1 July 2018 the points threshold will now be increased from 60 to 65 for skilled – independent, nominated and regional sponsored visa categories.
Government application charges for most Australian visas were increased on 1 July 2018.
The government is hoping to generate $410 million dollars over a four-year period from 2017 to 2021.
In partner visa applications, the prospective applicant will now need to pay $7,160 instead of $7,000.
The fee for Business Innovation and Investment (Subclass 188 Provisional) visa in the Premium Investor stream will record the highest hike of $190. Applicants will now have to pay $8,770 instead of $8,580.
The Global Talent Scheme will commence in July 2018 on a trial basis for 12 months.
More information can be found on the Department’s website here - https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/work/skilledvisas/visas-for-innovation.
The visa scheme aims to attract highly skilled workers to deliver innovation to Australia’s tech industry. It consists of two streams - start-up stream and established business stream.
Established Business stream allows employers who are accredited sponsors to employ highly-skilled individuals with cutting-edge skills to contribute to innovation in an established business, and help make Australian businesses and their Australian employees the best at what they do.
Startup stream allows employers to sponsor highly-skilled individuals with cutting-edge skills to contribute to Australia's startup ecosystem and bring new ideas, new jobs, new skills and new technology for Australia. This stream is for startups operating in a technology based or STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) related field. Startups must be endorsed by the independent startup advisory panel.
In both instances, a four-year Temporary Skill Shortage visa will be issued with the option to apply for permanent residence after three years.
Employers will be required to demonstrate that they prioritise the employment of Australians and that there will be skills transferred to Australian workers as a result of the person being granted a visa.
It may have been introduced to complement skill shortages resulting from reduced occupations eligible for the Temporary Skills Shortage (subclass 482) visa scheme.
If your business meets all of the above criteria for the stream you are interested in, email globaltalentscheme@homeaffairs.gov.au with the following information:
Business name and ABN/ACN
Description of the positions required not available or are restricted on the eligible skilled occupations lists.
Government plans to implement the Skilled Australians Fund for employer sponsored visa categories. This will be followed by the introduction of training levy also known as Nomination Training Contribution Charge (NTCC) for the respective sponsors.
Employers and businesses seeking to nominate a worker will need to pay NTCC for the following visas: Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) (Subclass 482) visa, which is replacing visa subclass 457; Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) (Subclass 186) visa; and Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) (Subclass 187) visa.
For an 482 visa, an annual fee of $1200 would be implemented for each nomination for a business that has a turnover of less than 10 million dollars.
A fee of $3,000 is set for an employee on a permanent skilled visa (186 and 187 visa).
Spike expected in General Skilled Migration (GSM) visa applications
General Skilled Migration Visa is designed for skilled workers who are willing to live and work in Australia on a permanent basis. This visa is also applicable to those individuals who can get sponsorship of an Australian employer.
Increasingly there are very few options available for international students under the Employer Nominated Scheme (TSS, ENS, RSMS) due to minimum work experience requirements and as a result this is likely to lead to increase lodgement of General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas (489, 189, 190 and 887).
Acknowledgement: Special Broadcasting Service (SBS)
Since the March 2018 changes to the Temporary Work visa program were rolled out, Putt Legal has been approached by a number of current and prospective clients who already hold subclass 457 visas, and want to know what these changes mean for their permanent residence prospects.
Previously, 457 holders were able to apply for permanent residence through the Temporary Resident Transition (‘TRT’) scheme of the subclass 186/187 visas, after working for 2 years and fulfilling various other criteria. The TRT arrangements have changed, however there are transitional arrangements in place for some 457 visa holders.
The below table provides a general overview, but please contact us on (08) 9221 7682 for individualised advice:
|
Category of 457 holder |
Transitional arrangement |
|
Held a subclass 457 visa on 18 April 2017 and continues to hold this visa at the time of TRT application |
|
|
Held a subclass 457 visa on 18 April 2017 and holds a bridging visa related to a 457/TSS visa application at the time of TRT application |
|
|
Lodged a 457 application on or before 18 April 2017 which was granted, and continues to hold this visa at the time of TRT application |
|
|
Lodged a 457 application on or before 18 April 2017 which was granted, and holds a bridging visa related to a 457/TSS visa at the time of TRT application |
|
|
Anyone else |
The new requirements apply |
These transitional arrangements are in place to ensure that people who already held or had applied for 457 visas before the changes were announced on 18 April 2017, are not unfairly disadvantaged by the new changes.
