Category Archives: 澳專資訊

Carer visa medical assessments – Booking BUPA appointments

BUPA has advised the MIA that the following process is used to book Carer visa medical assessments:

Email details of the case, including contact details and a description of the medical condition of the person requiring the medical assessment, to enquiries@bupamvs.com.au

Bridging visa E – new condition 8116

Select Legislative Instrument – SLI 2014, No 144 – F2014L01321 – Migration Amendment (Bridging Visas) Regulation 2014.

This Instrument adds a new condition 8116 to Class WE, Subclasses 050 and 051 visas, that allows visa holders to engage in approved activities and may be imposed as an alternative to condition 8101.

The new condition:

allows visa holders to work in Australia in an activity specified in a legislative instrument made by the Minister, (as yet there is no legislative instrument),
may be imposed as a condition of the Class WE visa as an alternative to mandatory condition 8101, which provides that the holder must not engage in work in Australia,
must not be imposed unless the visa applicant is in a class of persons specified by the Minister by legislative instrument, (as yet there is no legislative instrument),
may be applied on a discretionary basis.

This Instrument commences on 2 October 2014

Temporary Graduate Visas – corrections to Regulations

Select Legislative Instrument – SLI 2014, No 145 – F2014L01320 – Migration Amendment (Temporary Graduate Visas) Regulation 2014 makes technical amendments to correct the unintended consequences of previous Schedule 2 & 3 Regulation changes.

The requirement to obtain a favourable skills assessment by an applicant for the Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa is corrected to a time of decision criterion.

The title of the subclass has been corrected in Item 1229 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations.

This Instrument commences 2 October 2014.

Temporary pause in Victorian state nomination system

The Live in Victoria website is undergoing a major technology upgrade. As a result the State visa nomination applications system will be disabled from 9am Monday 27 October 2014 and will be operating by Monday 3 November 2014.

Please note that applicants and agents will be unable to submit applications for State visa nomination during this time.

The processing of applications recently lodged and already in the system will also be temporarily paused during this time, as our representatives will be unable to access the system while the upgrade is being undertaken.

The Skilled and Business Migration Program will also be unable to answer queries about the progress of applications while the system is down.

The Significant Investor Services Directory and the Overseas Skills Registry application forms will also be unavailable.

We encourage applicants and agents to lodge submissions or make any applications enquiries before the temporary outage.

We apologise to applicants and agents for any inconvenience caused while we make these important system improvements.

Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda

The Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda – An action plan for a stronger Australia has been released by the Federal Government.

The Agenda outlines proposals for lifting productivity, ensuring gains to economic and jobs growth, developing a better skilled labour force, lowering production costs, increased and improved infrastructure and cuts in red tape.

Proposals relevant to migration include the implementation of reforms to the 457 visa and enhancements to the investor visa programme.

Agenda Proposal 11: Streamlining the subclass 457 visa programme: recommends implementation of the following recommendations of the Independent Review into the integrity of the 457 visa system:

streamline the processing of sponsorship, nomination and visa applications around risk-factors to reward low-risk applicants and re-focus compliance and monitoring activities on high-risk applicants;
reform sponsorship requirements to reduce the time and cost to businesses; increase the sponsorship approval period from 12 to 18 months for start-up businesses, to give start-ups more time to build their businesses to ensure sustainability;
provide greater flexibility in relation to English language testing and skill requirements for 457 applicants, to ensure that the standards required are appropriate for the industries and occupations being sought; and
retain the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold at $53,900, ahead of a future review of its operation.

Agenda Proposal 12: Expanding the investment visa programme: expands the significant investor visa programme and introduces a new Premium Investor Visa

streamline and enhance visa processing, further promote the programme globally and strengthen integrity measures, to increase the attractiveness of investing and settling in Australia while ensuring Australia’s interests are protected;
align the criteria for eligible (or ‘complying’) investments with the Government’s national investment priorities. The investment eligibility criteria will be determined ​by Austrade in consultation with key economic and industry portfolios;
introduce a Premium Investor visa (PIV), offering a more expeditious, 12 month ​pathway to permanent residency than the SIV, for those meeting a $15 million ​threshold; and
task Austrade to become a nominating entity for SIV (complementing the current State and Territory governments’ role as nominators) and to be the sole nominating ​entity for PIV.

Expired Syrian passports added to unacceptable travel document list

Legislative Instrument – IMMI 14/073 – F2014L01319 – Migration Regulations 1994 – Specification of Class of Passports, prevents non citizens holding unacceptable documents being granted a visa.

This Instrument amends the current list to included expired Syrian passports, that have been extended in validity via a label or other endorsement by the Syrian National Coalition, as unacceptable travel documents.

This Instrument revokes IMMI 13/032 and commences on 6 October 2014.

Temporary Graduate Visas – corrections to Regulations

Select Legislative Instrument – SLI 2014, No 145 – F2014L01320 – Migration Amendment (Temporary Graduate Visas) Regulation 2014 makes technical amendments to correct the unintended consequences of previous Schedule 2 & 3 Regulation changes.

The requirement to obtain a favourable skills assessment by an applicant for the Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa is corrected to a time of decision criterion.

The title of the subclass has been corrected in Item 1229 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations.

This Instrument commences 2 October 2014.