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Dear Clients and Readers,

As we near the end of 2023, it’s a good time to review key immigration changes and their impact on businesses, individuals, and families since the Labor government took office last year.

In some ways, immigration policy feels like it’s in transition. Visa policies enacted during the COVID pandemic have been progressively rolled back as the conditions leading to their implementation no longer operate. Meanwhile, new reform directions put forward in the government’s comprehensive migration review have already led to significant changes, such as the first increase to the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) in over a decade and a promise to improve access to permanent residency for temporary skilled migrants… soon.

Still, the devil will be in the details. Bolder proposals to reform an overly complex migration system and cut red tape so that businesses can hire skilled migrants more efficiently and less costly will require further debate and legislative action. Keep an eye on our Newsflashes for new developments as they arise. More change is ahead.

Kind regards,

Linda McCreath
Principal Lawyer & Managing Director
Abacus Visa Immigration Lawyers

Transition away from COVID measures

Serious efforts to curb international student visa rorts

International graduates received extended post-study work rights

Temporary skilled workers: TSMIT, 6-months without employer, permanent residency

Migration review highlights: Key proposed reforms and how they might impact you

2023-24 State and Territory Skilled Nominated programs

Other news

Transition away from COVID measures

Policies introduced during the COVID pandemic to help visa holders trapped by international border closures and fill urgent labour shortages have been rolled back. The government has made it clear their priority is to ensure only those who have a genuine need to remain and contribute to Australia do. In particular:

• Pandemic event visa closed: The government announced the closure of the COVID-19 pandemic visa (Subclass 408) to all new applicants, effective 2 September 2023 (see our Newsflash). Only existing Pandemic Event visa holders will be able to apply for a second visa until it is fully closed in February 2024.
  
  
• International student work hours capped: From 1 July 2023, restrictions on the number of hours student visa holders can work were re-introduced and capped at 48 hours per fortnight. Students working in the aged care sector will be exempt from the limit until 31 December 2023.
  
  
• End of Working Holiday Maker concession: A concession allowing Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) to work for the same employer or organisation for longer than six months without requesting permission also ended on 1 July 2023.
  
  

Key Takeaway

International students, working holiday visa holders and other workers on short-term visas will need to re-evaluate their options for staying in Australia in the coming months. Employers will need to ensure any employees on student or WHM visas are complying with updated visa work conditions.

Serious efforts to curb international student visa rorts

The Labor government announced a range of measures to ‘support integrity in the international education system.’ In practice, international students and education providers will be subject to more scrutiny to ensure student visa holders are in Australia for genuine study – and not as a backdoor to work. The measures include:  

• Increase in savings required: From 1 October 2023, international students will need to show evidence of $24,505 in savings in order to get a student visa. This is a 17% increase from current levels and reflects the increases in living expenses since 2019.
  
  
• Limit on changing courses: Taking effect immediately, the government has closed a loophole that allowed education providers to change international students who have been in Australia for less than six months from genuine study to arrangements such as ‘concurrent enrolment’ that facilitated working in Australia.
  
  
• Fit and proper persons: The government will also consider issuing suspension certificates under s97 of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act (ESOS Act) to high-risk education providers. A suspension means providers would be unable to recruit international students.
  
  

Key Takeaway

These integrity measures are a positive development. A significant number of education providers have facilitated students changing courses immediately after arrival, exploiting students for work and circumventing the proper function of the higher education sector and its role in preparing a workforce that can genuinely fill skills shortages.

International graduates received extended post-study work rights

Eligible Subclass 485 Temporary Graduate visa holders can now stay in Australia for a longer period of time (see our Newsflash). Students who graduate from an Australian higher education provider will be able to work in Australia for an additional two years, ie. from:

• two years to four years for select Bachelor degrees
• three years to five years for select Masters degrees
• four years to six years for all Doctoral degrees.
  
  

If you are currently an international student, you should check the full list of courses that allow graduates to receive extended post-study working rights (found here) to see if you are eligible.

Key Takeaway

The move to extend work rights for graduates complements the above integrity measures for education providers. It is clear the government is keen to create conditions that encourage those with the in-demand post-secondary qualifications to transition to work for longer in Australia, particularly in regional areas.

Temporary skilled workers: TSMIT, 6-months without employer, permanent residency

A major review of the Australian migration system (covered in the next section) resulted in some immediate and imminent changes regarding temporary skilled workers:

• Increased Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT): The minimum salary a skilled migrant needs to receive sponsorship from an employer increased from $53,900 to $70,000. This is the first time the TSMIT has been raised in over a decade.
  
  
• More time for Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa holders to find a new employer: TSS Sublcass 482 visa holders will have 6 months (instead of just 60 days) to find a new sponsorship where they are no longer employed by their original sponsor (see our Newsflash). During this period, they will also have work rights. No date for the implementation of these changes has been given.
  
  
• Permanent residency: The government also said it would provide more skilled temporary workers with the opportunity to apply for permanent residency by the year’s end. No details have been provided to date.
  
  

Key Takeaway

Recent changes represent significant benefits for skilled temporary migrants, particularly those on the TSS visa. Workers will have more flexibility to change employers and it seems the government is keen to offer permanent residency to more applicants, though we will need to wait for further details. This is in line with the government’s emphasis on reducing the risk of worker exploitation and addressing the growing ‘permanently temporary’ underclass of lower-paid workers.

There have been mixed reactions to the decision to increase the TSMIT. While it means migrant workers in low-paying industries such as hospitality and retail benefit from a pay rise, industry groups have said absorbing the significant increase will be difficult for some businesses, particularly those still impacted by lingering labour shortages and inflation.

Migration review highlights: Key proposed reforms and how they might impact you

In case you missed it, we summarised everything you need to know about the federal government’s 195-page review of Australia’s migration system (‘the Parkinson Review’), released earlier in March this year: see our Newsflash. The most comprehensive review of immigration since the 1988 FitzGerald Report, the Parkinson Review tackled a range of big-ticket issues: temporary migration, occupation lists and skill shortages, immigration backlogs, and technology’s role in improving visa processing efficiency. 12 broad ‘possible reform directions’ and 38 related measures were proposed, many of which will be debated and considered further.

Key Takeaways

• The government is keen to prioritise visa programs that attract younger and higher skilled migrants, especially those in the innovation and tech industries.
  
  
• More flexible requirements for regional migrants and regional businesses who want to hire workers may be on the horizon.
  
  
• There was a strong emphasis on giving temporary skilled visa holders (i.e. those on TSS and Temporary graduate visas) more certainty of permanent residency as soon as possible, while balancing the need to prioritise highly skilled workers.
  
  
• Permanent visas: A revised points test and re-allocation of permanent visas would benefit migrants applying for Permanent employer sponsored, Significant Investor, and Global Talent visas.
  
  
• Employers: A proposal to remove labour market testing, more flexible occupation lists and monthly (instead of up-front) fees. If implemented, employing a temporary sponsored migrant would be a speedier, less costly process. At the same time, there would be a stronger focus on compliance, particularly if a business is employing lower-wage workers or if they have a history of non-compliance.
  
  
• Family visas: An idea to introduce a parent visa lottery, which could provide cheaper, fairer, faster, and more certain access to family reunification than is currently available (some visa applicants currently face wait times of 30 to 50 years!)
  
  
• Student and graduate visas: Several proposals would allow student visa holders more easily transition to the Australian labour market, including being granted graduate visas automatically, allowing more time for obtaining the accreditation or work experience necessary for permanent residency, and reviewing whether work experience that is part of a student’s course should be counted towards the cap on work hours.

For a fuller picture of the potential impact of the proposed migration reforms, read our full summary.

2023-24 State and Territory Skilled Nominated programs

Places for State and Territory nomination skilled migration programs have been reduced across the board for 2023-24 due to the large number of visa applications on-hand and the subsequent number of nominations issued in the previous financial year. See the following links for updates on each program and more information on applying:

• New South Wales
  
• Victoria
  
• Queensland
  
• South Australia
  
• Western Australia
  
• Northern Territory
  
• Tasmania
  

Key Takeaway

The continued downsizing of State and Territory nomination quotas means there will be more emphasis placed on employer sponsored visas in the near future.

Other news

• VETASSESS paused new applications for 7 trade occupations: The Australian government-appointed skills assessment authority announced a pause on new applications from 25 September for assessment of the following occupations:
  • Chef, ANZSCO Code 351311
  • Cook, ANZSCO Code 351411
  • Diesel Motor Mechanic, ANZSCO Code 321212
  • Motor Mechanic (General), ANZSCO Code 321211
  • Fitter (General), ANZSCO Code 323211
  • Electrician (General), ANZSCO Code 341111
  • Metal Machinist (First Class), ANZSCO Code 323214

The pause is due to the need to process the backlog of existing applications. Those most impacted by the pause will likely be applicants for the General Skilled Migration, Subclass 494 Regional Employer Sponsored and Subclass 186 Direct Entry visas.

• Direct pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders: New Zealanders holding a Special Category (Subclass 444) visa who have been living in Australia for four years or more are eligible to apply directly for Australian citizenship. They will no longer need to first apply for and be granted a permanent visa. The New Zealand stream of the Skilled Independent (Subclass 189) visa is now closed to new applications and will permanently close on 1 July.
  
  
• New visa for Pacific migrants: The Pacific Engagement Visa is a new permanent resident visa for participating countries across the Pacific and Timor-Leste. Up to 3,000 visas, inclusive of partners and dependent children, will be allocated annually to Pacific and Timor-Leste nationals through a ballot process. Eligibility details can be found here.
  
  
• Free trade agreements and labour market testing: Following some confusion over how labour market testing (LMT) would be treated under recently signed Free Trade Agreements with India and the UK, it was confirmed that:
  • The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) does not waive LMT;
  • Under the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (AUKFTA), an LMT exemption may only apply to certain categories of migrants (eg. those employed by a UK enterprise with a contract of service in Australia)