Australian Immigration Monthly News April 2022 Overview
Two big events have influenced the news this month. The Australian federal budget was handed down on Tuesday, 29 March
This is provided a lot of details about what to expect in the migration program year. The second big event is that on 10 April Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the day for the federal election.
The federal election will be held on 21 May 2022.
Just prior to the election being called there is often a frenzy of activity and announcements.
This is because once the election is cold then the government often goes into what’s called caretaker mode. Parliament no longer sits and there is no further opportunity to pass new legislation.
Another factor relevant to this month’s news is that Australia has very low unemployment rate at 4%. However, there are severe skills shortages in many industries.
There are a lot of essential updates during March and April 2022.
Changes have been made to bring benefits to skilled workers in Australia.
However, there is still a focus on other streams like Business and Investment Visa or Global Talent Visa.
Today’s video will cover:
A new pathway to PR for short term TSS visa 482 - Full Information here !
Tasmania has announced having a limited allocations remaining.They have requested more investigation for other places.
However, there has been no positive news until now.
More than 1,480 applications are yet to be decided.
Only 1300 places remaining, Migration Tasmania will prioritize applicants who are employed directly related to their skills assessment.
Some applications may be held over to the new program year.
But you will be considered based on the arrangements at the lodgment time.
Tasmanian Skilled Migration has published a consultation paper that invites public comment.
It is reviewing the migration requirements and setting for the next program year.
Overall, there are more positive pathways :
Long term residence pathways for 491 and 190 skilled visa nominations.
Graduate pathways updates of the requirement for Tasmania Graduate
Non-student visa holders who complete courses on the priority list can be considered Tas graduates.
Applicants must have 3 months of work experience in the nominated occupation post-graduation.
Business owner requirement has changed to 12 months of operation.
Tasmania will remove its skilled occupation list for overseas applicants.
Offshore applicants can now receive invitations after lodgment of EOI.
This new proposal is for review now.
Public comments are welcome to enhance Tasmania’s migration settings.
Western Australia Skilled Visa 491 and 190 Updates
WA has announced additional nomination allocations for its state nomination program.
New applications are now being accepted.
All on-hand applications will be proceeded with and be contacted as required.
The following invitation round will be held in the first week of May and June.
Other states such as NSW Skilled Visa 491 or Victoria State nomination has not yet been changed recently. However, it seems to be very competitive in these states with a large number of applications on hand.
Clients can consider moving regional to seek 491 or 190 nominations earlier.
DAMA opens more in QLD, WA, and NSW
There is a DAMA Revolution going on for Regional Australia.
This gives skilled workers more pathways to permanent residency in Australia.
There are new DAMAs for the following Regions:
Far North Queensland
Orana, NSW
East Kimberly and Pilbara, WA
Some changes have been adjusted for NT DAMA.
Northern Territory DAMA
NT DAMA has made some changes to support the Territory businesses with workforce shortages.
Key changes include:
More streamlined framework for employers to access workers over 5 year period
More flexible permanent resident pathway
24 new occupations including lower-skilled occupations in agriculture
Higher age limit
Lower English requirement for tradies
Far North Queensland
The Australian government ensures that Far North QLD remains fit for the evolution of the regional labor market
Queensland is always famous for its tourist destinations.
These new changes in DAMA can support the economic impact on the tourism and hospitality sectors.
A range of occupations will become available for businesses to source workers.
Pilbara
DAMA of Pilbara will commence on 9 May 2022.
This will allow 66 occupations in Engineering, trades, Childcare, aged care, and health services to get access.
Employment opportunities are abundant on offer there in Pilbara.
East Kimberly DAMA
Businesses in East Kimberly can now access workers of more than 100 occupations.
The mining industry has covered a large economic output in East Kimberly.
However, the health care and social assistance industry is driving to be the largest employment sector.
Significant investment has taken part in the expansion of this area.
That will support growth in both the agricultural and tourism sectors
Orana, NSW
65 occupations have been open in the Orana region for businesses to source workers
This provides access to critical workers for jobs unable to be filled locally.
A skilled migrant workforce plays an important role in helping Orana fill the vacancies.
Skill level 4,5 occupations like aged care workers, security officers, or waiters are critical to the region.
DAMA and its streamlined migration pathway can attract skilled workers to fill the labor shortages.
Complete detail about DAMA in Australia will be published soon on our website.
Working holiday makers
Australia will open its doors to more working holiday makers.
New measures have been introduced to support current Australia’s tourism and trade sector.
There are now 47 countries globally with access to Australia’s work and holiday program.
A 30% cap increase to the working holiday programs.
Commencing on July 2022:
Australia will open to 500 young people from Brazil
Another 100 places for Mongolia
Cap increase up to 1000 places for the Slovak Republic
Hungary and Austria will also have a cap increased to 500 places
Italian and Danish who are aged 35 and under can now get access to the program.
Australia and India’s trade Agreement
Good news for Indians who are interested in working in Australia
In the new Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, 1000 work and holiday places for Indians have been allocated.
Those Indian students awarded first-class honors will have additional 2 or 3 years’ stay.
They must complete a STEM or ICT bachelor’s degree.
Agriculture Visa
Vietnam and Australia have signed the bilateral agreement for the Agriculture Visa program.
This will allow workers from Vietnam to work on Australian farms.
This agreement helps address the shortage in the agriculture industry for the medium and long term.
However, the application process has not yet published in detail.
Please stay tuned and subscribe to our channel for more updates.
Some changes in Pandemic Event Covid-19 Visa 408
Applicants must hold a valid visa with work rights 90 days or less from ceasing to apply for pandemic event Visa 408
Such a visa that was more than 28 days from the application will not be accepted.
Work Visa Lawyers will assess whether your occupation and your current profile fits into this covid visa 408. We will then draft and collate all the necessary paperwork, submit it, and follow up on your behalf.
We are one of the best Immigration Agents and Lawyers in Australia. we are based in South Australia, and you are always welcome to book an appointment with us via phone call, Zoom/Skype or Face to face consultation.
Book an appointment with one of our experienced Immigration Lawyers and Registered Migration Agents here.
Contact us on (08) 8351 9956 or +61 8 8351 9956 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The skilled migration program attracts skilled migrants worldwide and onshore graduates and workers as its benefits that the country can bring to each family.
Not surprisingly, Australia receives thousands of applications every year under the skilled migration program, which is highly competitive.
Those who are not highly skilled in their occupation might consider the Small Business Owner (SBO) pathway to aim for permanent residency.
Queensland was the first state to launch this program, and it has been increasingly popular over the years.
As of July 2021, four states in Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, Canberra, and South Australia, have this program officially in place.
You may not be aware that South Australia even has this stream. Very few articles talk about the small business owner skilled migration stream in South Australia.
This blog will give you full details of the South Australia small business owner stream.
Before that, watch out video for the quick overview of the Small business owner stream South Australia 491/190
Migration planning levels 2022-23 – a clear focus on Skilled Migration with 30, 000 more allocations and less than 30,000 for Family and partner visas.
This shows the significant impact of covid-19 to the labor shortages of Australia now the government is trying to attract more skilled migrants, driving innovation and investment as part of the 2022-23 budget.
The 2022-23 permanent Migration Program ceiling will be capped at 160,000 places.
Migration – Skill stream
The Morrison Government’s Migration Program will focus on skilled migration, with a return to a pre-pandemic composition of roughly two-thirds/one-third across the Skill and Family streams.
The Skill stream will increase to 109,900, more than 30,000 places above 2021-22 planning levels.
There have been significant growth in number of quotas for each stream in Skilled Migration such as:
Employer Sponsored Visa: 8,000 more allocations
Skilled Independent 189 Visa: roughly 10,000 more allocations for the new program years 2022-2023. This is published to deal with the current huge backlog in the Department of Home Affairs
Skilled Regional visa 491 or visa 494 will more than double to 25,000 places to support growth in regional Australia.
Business Innovation and Investment (9,500 places), Global Talent (8,448 places) and Distinguished Talent (300 places) are experiencing a modest reduction in the allocations.
This may not be as bad as it sounds for Business Innovation and Investment Visa, because the processing of those business visas have been slow and may not have reached allocations.
The drop in Global Talent visa allocations looks dramatic, but it is useful to remember, that in 2021, while there was an allocation of 15,000, just over 9000 was granted.
Australia is still proven to be the most favorable destination in the world for highly skilled workers and investors.
Occupation lists will be reviewed and updated in early 2022-23 to reflect changes in Australia’s labor market, based on advice from the National Skills Commission.
Migration – Family stream
As part of the Government’s migration program, the Family stream will provide an estimated 50,000 places to support family reunion.
The Partner and Child visa categories are estimated to deliver 40,500 and 3,000 visas respectively (delivery of Partner and Child visas will be subject to demand and visa processing requirements); while 6,000 places will be available for Parent visas; and 500 places for Other Family visas.
This sounds bad, but the Partner visa allocation was nearly doubled during the covid pandemic.
From 2022-23, Partner visa processing will move to a demand driven model.
Granting Partner visas on a demand-driven basis will provide the flexibility to meet the demand for Partner visas in a given program year, and assist in mitigating future growth in the Partner visa pipeline while maintaining immigration integrity.
Working Holiday Makers
There is an increase in the cap for Working Holiday Maker – the 462 visa
11,000 additional WHM visas will be available for prospective backpackers.
This is reasonable when Australia is pushing their programs which support significantly on labor shortages in critical sectors such as the Agriculture Visa program, Working Holiday Makers.
Humanitarian Visas
The 2022-23 Humanitarian Program will be maintained at the current ceiling of 13,750 places
an additional 16,500 places will be available for Afghan nationals under the Humanitarian program and will be equally allocated over the next four years.
There will be 4000 places available for Ukrainians under the Temporary Humanitarian visa. Minister Hawke has commented that Ukrainians will be considered displaced persons that may return to their homeland in the future. They will have access to Medicare and work rights.
Funding the Immigration Department
The budget has released decreased funding for the Department of Home affairs Immigraiton services over the next five years. Funding will go down each year.
2021-22: $3,917m
2022-23: $3,335m
By 2024-25: $2,848m
So how achievable are the targets, with cutting the Department.
Looking at the breakdown of the expenditure can is quite revealing:
Australia spends twice as much, over 2 billion a year, on the management of unlawful non-citizens. While it spends less than a billion, 822 million, on managing the entire skilled and immigration program.
So, the obvious way to improve the budget on Immigration is to spend less on detention and then you have more for visa services and Citizenship.
The best way to do this, is to give those in detention, that can safely be released, Bridging visa and work rights. This will save millions and possibly billions.
Greater funding for the skilled part of the Immigration budget could boost Australia’s post covid recovery and help with skills shortages.
Latest news on South Australia Skilled Regional Visa 491 allocations
South Australia has announced that it is close to meeting its quotas for visa 491 nominations under General Skilled Migration state nomination program for this financial year 2021-2022.
SA occupation list website has modified all the requirements for 491 visa to only available for Talent and Innovator program. This means that all 491 applicants will have to lodge a registration of interest.
Skilled & Business migration is still open for new applications and continuing to process the active ones, the demand for South Australia state nomination 491 visa will likely exceed their annual places of nomination.
Since its introduction, the Global Talent Visa proved to be one of the most popular visas for highly skilled individuals wanting to come to Australia. When it was first introduced, the Australian Government allocated 5,000 places for the program, for this financial year (2021-2022), there are now 15,000 places under this program and will be reducing to approx 8,500 in 2022-23 program year.
It even became more popular when Australia imposed the border and travel restrictions because the Global Talent visa holders were not subject to the inbound travel restrictions because it is a permanent resident visa.
Because of its popularity, the Expression of Interest (EOI) process to get an invitation to apply for the Global Talent Visa is very competitive (read full blog about the current application numbers here) and the processing time could be longer than expected. The current processing time for Global Talent Visa post EOI lodgment could be 6-12 months depending on how exceptionally talented the applicants are.
However, the Department of Home Affairs in its September 2021 Skilled visa newsletters noted that they received many EOIs that are not within the scope of the program. The number of EOIs received would necessarily increase the Department’s workload and therefore delay the processing.
Considering the competitiveness of the global talent visa program, what do you need to do to make your EOI stand out and/or to increase your chances of getting an invitation?
In General, visa applicants are required to meet the following 4 core requirements to be able to apply for a Global Talent visa: Target sectors, Salary above the income threshold, internationally recognized for outstanding achievement and qualified Australian nominator
If you are still unsure about your eligibility, please take our free GTV assessment here!
Scott Morrison announces visas for Ukrainians, $50 million in military and humanitarian aid
Australia has announced their support package to Ukrainians who are affected by the war of Russia's invasion. Along with the support, they will provided a prioritized pathway for Ukrainians in remporary humanitarian visas with 3 year validity and extra $50 million in military and humanitarian support.
With this visa, Ukrainians will be able to work, study and access Medicare. There are approximately 5,000 Ukrainians who have been granted visas to travel to Australia including skilled visa 491/190, family reunion visas, as well as student and Tourist visa
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia from 24 February 2022 has raised immediate questions about how Australia can assist in terms of visas and immigration.
What has the Australian Government has announced about visas for Ukrainians?
Australian leaders have promised to open their doors to Ukrainian refugees and more visa options.
We strongly believe that the Australian government should put Ukrainians on top priority for visa applications.
Australian Government announcement so far and what more can be done?
This is a devastating time for the Ukrainian-Australian community, many of which have family and friends still in Ukraine.
The best support from the immigration Department now is to accelerate the conclusion of Ukrainian visa applications to Australia as instructed by Minister of Immigration Alex Hawke.
Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and leaders are considering various options for support through Australia’s humanitarian, skilled visas from offshore with the high prioritized process (SC 190 or 491), Student Visa 500, and other visa programs.
“The Australian Government remains committing to working in partnership with the Ukrainian-Australian community during this evolving situation.” Said The Hon Alex Hawke MP
Community leaders are urging for a fast track for all Ukrainians in the system residing in the hot zone.
Australia’s Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has reaffirmed Australia’s unwavering support and will stand firm with Ukraine.
Morrison said all outstanding visa applications from Ukrainian nationals in Australia had been processed, and the government was processing as a top priority about 100 applications from Ukrainians daily.
“They’re visa applications across the entire migration program – for temporary visas on skills, education visas, and family reunion visas. They’re getting the stamp, and they’ll be able to come to Australia.” Morrison said
What about Evacuee or Refugee or Humanitarian Visas?
In the short term, Australia could offer a short-term Evacuation visa Subclass 449 - Humanitarian Stay (Temporary), for evacuation and stay in Australia.
This is the same as what was done for the Afghanistan evacuation in 2021.
There are some significant differences to Afghanistan and the Australian Governments last-minute evacuation efforts. There the Taliban were in power.
In Ukraine, Ukrainians are fighting for their country’s democratic independence.
So hopefully, some of those Ukrainians that do come to Australia may be in a position to choose to return. With the Taliban in Afghanistan, the option of returning is not there!
What is the likely number of those to be displaced?
As of 11 March 2022, according to the Operational Data Portal from the UNHCR, some 2,504,893 Ukrainians had crossed borders to leave Ukraine since 24 February 2022.
At a special UN Security Council meeting convened, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Ukrainian refugees have already escaped to neighboring countries in Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and even Russia.
“Unless there is an immediate halt to conflict, Ukrainians will continue to flee. “We are currently planning…for up to four million refugees in the coming days and weeks,” Grandi said.
Calls for Increases to Australia’s Humanitarian visa intake
Australian Immigration Program has been lowering its humanitarian intake over the last two years. Total for skilled and family is down by 20,000 on three years ago.
It is cautioned that Australia needs to expand its humanitarian intake to manage the asylum offered to Ukrainian citizens fleeing the conflict zone.
3,000 places have been allocated for Afghans fleeing the fall of Kabul, which limits the ability of Australia to respond to the crisis in Ukraine.
On Monday, the Law Council of Australia called on the federal government to support international efforts to accommodate refugees leaving Ukraine. It also calls on the Government to implement pathways to permanent protection visas and arrangements for Ukrainian asylum seekers and refugees currently in Australia. Justin Stewart-Rattray, President, Law Society of South Australia, talks about the main focuses of the Australian government to support Ukrainians on the Immigration side:
Prioritize family reunification when processing humanitarian visa applications from Ukrainian nationals.
Immediately increase the ceiling of 13,750 places allocated under the Humanitarian Program for the 2021-22 financial year.
Accommodation for refugees is also critical to think of now; we must arrange people ready to support and a place for them to stay.
Comments from Immigration Lawyer Chris Johnston:
In the Immigration policy area, the Federal Government and the DHA have a track record of making announcements without and failing to follow through on announcements (eg. the Agricultural Visa).
The Federal Government and the DHA need to coordinate with State Governments and community organizations to offer support to Ukrainians.
Let’s hope that the Federal Government and the DHA can do more for Ukraine!
