News
Home Affairs Publishes first round of SkillSelect Invitations for FY 18/19The Department of Home Affairs has published their first round of skill select invitations for the new financial year and the figures are looking bleak. The first round of invitations was sent on 11 July 2018 to potential applicants. As reported previously, Home Affairs confirmed that invitation rounds will be issued once per month however, this will not impact the number of invitation issued. The July figures seem to contradict the following statement issued via skill select: Posted on: 25/07/2018 at 00:01 SkillSelect invitation rounds for Skilled - Independent (subclass 189) and Skilled - Regional Provisional (subclass 489) will occur once each month, on the 11th day of each month, effective 11 August 2018. There is no change to the overall number of invitations provided each month. July 2018 figures published on Home Affairs website list the following:
Total Invitation Rounds Issued for July 2018 = 1010 Top occupations to receive invitations are:
By comparison, July 2017 figures published on Home Affairs Website list the following:
Total Invitation Rounds Issued for July 2017 = 2210 Based on these figures, the skilled migration intake is halved. Upon release of Federal Budget in May this year, the Government confirmed that immigration numbers will remain unchanged. “In 2018–19, the planning figure for the Migration Program remains unchanged at 190,000 visas, marking the seventh consecutive year this figure has been used. This was announced in the Regional Australia ministerial budget statement, unlike in past years where the figure was in the Department of Home Affairs Portfolio Budget Statement. This continues the highest planning level on record” It is therefore disappointing to see the first round of Skill Select results halved by comparison to last year. Invitation process and cut offs are somewhat of a complex process given the there is no information published regarding ranking of applicants. The highest ranked clients by points score are invited to apply for the relevant visa. For clients who have equal points scores, the time at which they reached their points score for that subclass (referred to as the date of effect) determines their order of invitation. Expressions of Interest with earlier dates of effect are invited before later dates. The second round of invitations was issued on 11 August and the data is yet to be made available to the public. To match last year’s immigration intake, Department of Home Affairs will need to issue at least 3000 invitations (to make up for July shortfall) for August 2018 and at least 3500 invitations to match September 2017 intake. Skill select first allocates places available to subclass 189 visas followed by provisional regional subclass 489 visas. The current points cut off for subclass 189 visa is 75. Provisional regional 489 visas points cut off is 80. There is current no information available on any states or territories issuing subclass 190 nominations for the new financial year. |  |
Successfully addressing time of application criteria for a Subclass 485 VisaRecent legislative changes to skilled migration particularly those relating to the introduction of subclass 482 visa placed further restrictions on student visa holders’ ability to remain in Australia on completion of their studies. The Graduate Work stream is one of the streams which is open to graduates with an eligible qualification, including those from the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, who graduate with skills and qualifications that relate to an occupation that is considered in demand in the Australian labour market on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL). To add to the burden, the complexity of subclass 485 visa lies in the fact that there are six “Schedule 1” requirements (or time of application criteria): The following six Schedule 1 item 1229 requirements for making a valid Class VC application are self-explanatory:
Whilst some of the above criteria cannot be “bypassed” for example, an applicant is required to be in Australia at the time of application, of the information can be provided once the application is lodged even if this appears to be schedule 1 requirement. Knowledge in this field is particularly crucial if an application needs to be made urgently due to a visa expiry. Evidence of English For the applicant to satisfy this clause, when the application was made it must have been accompanied by evidence that the applicant:
In this situation if an applicant is relying on satisfying the English language criteria by way of English language test, the Policy is clear that the applicant must have undertaken the test prior to lodgement of their 485 application. There is no requirement for the test result to be made available at the time of application. In instances where English language test result is provided post lodgement, the test date must pre-date lodgement of the 485-visa application. On average it takes approximately the following number of days to receive English test result in Australia:
***NB Home affairs do not accept online screen shots of the results which is what become available in 13 days with IELTS. You need to wait for the actual certificate to arrive. That takes 28 days. ** Skills Assessment A subclass 485 graduate work stream application must have been accompanied by evidence the primary applicant had applied to a relevant assessing authority for an assessment of their skills in their nominated skilled occupation. The skills assessment body will depend on the occupation as listed in the ANZSCO dictionary. To satisfy the time of application criteria, it is not necessary to provide a copy of the skills assessment result when lodging the application. The applicant should attach to their visa application evidence of making an application to the relevant assessing authority to have their skills assessed for their nominated occupation. This may include a test reference number or an acknowledgement of a skills assessment application. Generally, an assessing officer will issue a request for further information to provide evidence of positive skills assessment. An applicant will have 28 days respond to this request. If a positive skills assessment cannot be provided within the specified period, the Department can grant further extension of 120 days. To seek further extension, applicants need to email: SA Temporary Graduate Team, sa.temporary.graduate@homeaffairs.gov.au. Some relevant assessing authorities specify in their assessment letters that the assessment is valid for a specific period for visa or migration purposes. Skills assessments that do not specify an expiry date are valid for a period of 3 years from the date of the assessment. On average it takes approximately the following number of days to receive a positive skills assessment result in Australia:
Summary Applying for a skilled graduate visa a complicated, document heavy process, however in many circumstances it may be the only visa available for an applicant to remain in Australia. Whilst time of application criteria must be addressed in order to achieve a desired positive outcome, it is important to understand what information must be provided at the time of application as well as the information that can be provided during the processing of the application. |  |
Five foreign fighters lose Australian citizenshipA total of six individuals have now ceased to be Australian under changes to the Australian Citizenship Act in 2015 to strip dual nationals of Australian citizenship for actions contrary to their allegiance to Australia. Under section 35 of the Act, a dual national’s Australian citizenship automatically ceases if they act contrary to their allegiance to Australia by engaging in terrorism-related conduct. This includes those who fight for or who are in the service of a declared terrorist organisation overseas. |  |