Important Forthcoming Changes in Australian Visas in 2019

With the upcoming year Australian immigration system will see some major changes. Prime Minister Scott Morrison indicated about the new opportunities for immigrants in regional parts of Australia during the recent political talk.

In order to control the growing populace in Melbourne and Sydney, the Australian government made immigration the center point of discussion in the recent discourse and discussed about the yearly permanent intake.

They proposed to send immigrants to rural or regional Australia for certain period of time prior to granting them the permanent residency as many states are looking for more crowd’s.

Less-skilled immigrants with insufficient English efficiency to get a pathway for permanent residency in Australia.

Two noteworthy agreements have been made and signed with the Great Southern Coast of Victoria and Northern Territory by the Federal Government to offer a permanent residency pathway to the semi-skilled immigrants with insubstantial English.

More agreements could be made with other regions to fulfill the labor requirements of these areas, said migration minister David Coleman. He added that Government is continuously making efforts to make our migration program better in order to address the requirements of the specific regions.

The language, skills and income requirements have been minimized under these migration agreements which also lets the low-skilled workers to access a way to indefinite migration has come into existence due to the overgrowing demand for agriculture visa to address the rarity of farm workers.

New (Temporary Sponsored) Parent visa to be introduced

A new parent visa will be available in 2019 for the parents of Australian permanent residents and citizens which will let them stay in the country for a period of three to five years at a cost of five thousand and ten thousand dollars respectively. Annually fifteen thousand visas will be introduced. This visa can be renewed once for a maximum of 10 years (overall).

Due to the legislation linked to this visa couldn’t pass until November 2018 the introduction of this new parent visa got delayed, which was promised during the federal election in June 2016.

Children, sponsoring their parents for the new Australian parent visa must know that health insurance will be mandatory for their parents. They will also be the financial guarantors for them and in case of any medical emergency or debt they will be responsible to repay them.

Under this visa, Australian couples can sponsor only one pair of their parents.

Sponsored family visas with new sponsorship set-up

With all the Government’s updates, the Federal Government passed the migration changes bill 2016 and same was eventually passed on the very same day on 8th November 2018 by the lower house opening up the way for a new sponsored family visa framework.

The new sponsorship system involves two-step application process that includes the assessment of sponsors, and then the lodgment of the visa application, once approved.

With a Partner visa the spouse or partner of a permanent Australian resident, citizen of Australia or an eligible New Zealand citizen to live in Australia.

This framework is arranged to safeguard the family members at risk peculiarly children and spouses from their savage sponsors.

This two-step application process will lead to additional wait time for the applicants of partner visa, said chief AHWC Immigration lawyer, Maggie Taaffe. While the amendments in the partner visa process states that an applicant can only apply for a partner visa once the sponsor for this visa is approved and we still have to wait to see whether the new law enables an application of a partner visa to be lodged at the time when sponsor application is lodged, she added.

“Contrarily we foresee an approximate wait of 12 weeks while the sponsor for partner visa is approved prior to the application of an actual partner visa can be lodged.”

Ms. Maggie Taaffe says that the new regulation also  states an added analysis of the sponsor as the Bill requires to share the personal information of the parties linked with the family visa scheme.

No investment proof will be required for a Business Visa

In order to boost the economy of Southern Australia a special visa was designed last year in November, however it is anticipated to go all out this year with higher number of applicants.

The Federal Government approved for a Subclass 408 visa which allows the holders to live in Australia for up to 3 years along with their family members.

The priority will be given to the businesses related to the cyber security, space, defense, digital, big data and food, clock-chain, wine, health, Ag Tech and technology, medical, media, film industries and robotics. Although, applicants with different business plans may also apply.

This unique visa process will last for 3 years, till November 2021.

Australian Permanent Migration Intake Will be Reduced

Permanent migration intake of Australia has been limited at 190,000 annually and has continued to exist at the same level since 2011 which eventually dropped down to a bit over 162,000 last year with a cut in the skilled and family visas.

It will be very interesting to see whether the government makes any move towards Prime minister Scott Morrison’s suggestion of capping the migration intake at 160,000 annually or not this year during federal election in May. He added that he would like the territories and states to decide the level of migration intake they wish to get for their areas.

Premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian asked the Federal Government last year to cut the state migration by half, whereas the quota for state-sponsored 190 visa for nominating applicants in ACT has increased from 800 to 1400.

Australian Citizenship

The Federal Government wishes to change the Australian citizenship regulations with the help of parliament which will lead to a wait of 4 years for permanent residents and clear an English language test prior to applying for Australian Citizenship. These amendments were applied retrospectively post announcement in April, 2017.

Though, these changes were opposed by, the Greens and few cross-bench senators making it strenuous for the government to bring the law into existence. The department of immigration then had to officially cancel the amendments and processed the applications as per the current legislation.

To be able to pass the amendments through the Senate, the Australian government will require the support of cross-bench senators, few of whom have strongly opposed to some major elements of the legislation.