PR carrot for semi-skilled workers under DAMAs, extended to south-west Victoria

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PR carrot for semi-skilled workers under DAMAs, extended to south-west Victoria

Announcements made this week will see the renewal of the Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) in the Northern Territory and a DAMA in south west Victoria, with more being considered. However, the bigger reveal is that these two DAMAs will come with it a pathway to a permanent visa, which is a significant development as semi-skilled workers have not been a feature of Australia’s skilled migration program for many years.

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Business sponsor shame list to begin 13 December 2018; Powers to request tax file numbers; Clarity on review rights for refused sponsored visas

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Business sponsor shame list to begin 13 December 2018; Powers to request tax file numbers; Clarity on review rights for refused sponsored visas

New 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.

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The regional visa debate

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The regional visa debate

This week saw debate by federal and state politicians on Australia’s population and immigration, with an emphasis on migration to regional areas. Current regulations, however, does not lend itself to this policy aim, except for General Skilled Migration visas, which already has one visa subclass requiring holders to live, study and work in a regional area. Could we see greater scrutiny on this suite of visas?

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RIP training benchmarks, SAF levy commencing 12 August 2018; 457/TSS nomination validity extended

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RIP training benchmarks, SAF levy commencing 12 August 2018; 457/TSS nomination validity extended

Training benchmarks for employer sponsored temporary and permanent visas will be abolished on 12 August 2018, replaced with the Skilling Australia Fund Levy. There will also be important changes to nominations applications for Subclass 457 - Temporary Work (Skilled) visas and Subclass 482 - Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visas.

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