The latest news on Australian immigration, including changes to regulations, government policy announcements, and analysis of media releases affecting current and future applications.
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An article exploring statistics from the Department of Home Affairs on Subclass 457 – Temporary Work (Skilled) visa and Subclass 482 – Temporary Skill Shortage visa nomination applications lodged, approved and refused by occupation from November 2016 to January 2019. The occupations most refused and with the highest refusal rates are revealed.
Read MoreThe Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Tax Office will begin sharing data on some 280,000 primary Subclass 457 – Temporary Work (Skilled) visa and the Subclass 482 – Temporary Skill Shortage visa holders between 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2018. This will be to ensure both business sponsors and visa holders are or were complying with their sponsor obligations and visa conditions. Inconsistencies may well be investigated.
Read MoreNew regulations will come into force on 13 December 2018 that will see the Minister of Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs publish a list of sanctioned business sponsors, what obligation they breached, and the sanction they received.
The Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs will be able to request from visa applicants, sponsors, and nominators, tax file numbers of visa holders and former visa holders for many temporary and permanent skilled visas. The ramifications of this may see more visas refused and cancelled.
Lastly, amendments have been made to give more certainty to sponsored or nominated workers whose visa applications are refused to seek review at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Read MoreUpcoming change to labour market testing (LMT) exemptions for Subclass 457 – Temporary Work (Skilled) and Subclass 482 – Temporary Skill Shortage visas are due to come into effect on 30 December 2018. This will add signatory nations of the TPP-11 who have also ratified the agreement to the list of countries exempt under international trade obligations.
Also, the character test is set to toughen (pending the passage of legislation). The new provisions will add a category of designated offences to the definition of what is a substantial criminal record. If passed, visa refusals and cancellations based on character will most likely increase.
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