From the 1st of July 2017, the Government has introduced a new Visa pathway under the Subclass 189 Independent Skilled Visa. The new pathway is specifically relevant to New Zealand Citizens living in Australia. To qualify under this new pathway, applicants will need to have lived in Australia for a period of 5 years and [...]
On 1 July 2017, the maximum age for primary applicant was reduced to under 45 for multiple Skilled Visas such as Subclass 189, 190 and 489 as well as applicants applying under the Direct Entry Pathway of the Subclass 186. The Government has also proposed to reduced the age to under 45 for applicants applying [...]
In April 2017, the Government introduced extensive changes to the Subclass 457 Visa Program and announced that the visa would be replaced by a new system in March 2018. In July 2017, further changes were implemented with ongoing changes to be introduced in December 2017. One of the major changes was the massive reduction of [...]
In April 2017 the Government introduced extensive changes to the Subclass 457 Visa Program including the introduction of new Occupations Lists. On 1 July 2017, the new Occupations Lists were again changed and introduced to multiple Visa Program including General Skilled and Employer Nominated Permanent Residency Visa. Unlike, the previous Skilled Occupations List and Consolidated [...]
From the 1st of July 2016, there will be some changes to the occupations on the SOL and CSOL: Occupations moved from SOL to CSOL: 233611 Mining Engineers (excluding Petroleum) 233612 Petroleum Engineers 234912 Metallurgists 251311 Environmental Health Officers 251312 Occupational Health & Safety Advisers 411211 Dental Hygienists 411212 Dental Prosthetists 411213 Dental Technicians 411213 [...]
DIBP has established the Digital Transformation and Channels Division which is designed to accelerate the readiness of the Department to accept more digital applications in the next few years. According to the Department they estimate that in the next four years, citizenship applications will jump by 23 percent and the number of student visas will [...]
The new Work and Holiday visa (subclass 462) arrangements between Australia and the Slovak Republic and Australia and Slovenia commenced on 1 January 2016. These arrangement allow up to 200 young adults from the Slovak Republic and up to 200 young adults from Slovenia each year to enjoy an extended holiday of up to 12 [...]
From 2 June 2014 the Immigration Department have permanently closed the following visa subclasses in the Family Stream of the Migration Programme to new applications: Parent visa (subclass 103) Aged Parent visa (subclass 804) Aged Dependent Relative visa (subclasses 114 and 838) Remaining Relative visa (subclasses 115 and 835) Carer visa (subclasses 116 [...]
The Government announced Cap and Cease measures for the following visa subclasses: Skilled Independent (subclass 175) Skilled Sponsored (subclass 176) Skilled Regional Sponsored (subclass 475) Applications for these visas that were not finalised before 22 September 2015 are taken not to have been made and the relevant visa application charge will be repaid to affected [...]
On 25 July 2014 Medibank Health Solutions will cease operations as the department’s migration medical services provider. The department has selected a new service provider, Bupa Medical Visa Services, to deliver these services.