Last week, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) have announced a new priority structure for processing Australian visa applications. The new structure follows the implementation of a new Skilled Occupations List (SOL) and the revocation of the Critical Skills List, amongst other changes that took place on 1 July, 2010.

Upon its initial release, there were no timeframes attached to each processing priority. However, these have now been provided by DIAC, with the current processing timeframes as follows:

- Lauren Mennie is Casework Department Manager for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) have announced a new priority structure for processing Australian visa applications. The new structure simplifies the previous one, which included many different categories of applications.

DIAC’s new priority structure follows the implementation of a new Skilled Occupations List (SOL) and the revocation of the Critical Skills List, amongst other changes that took place on 1 July, 2010. It now consists of four distinct priority groups, as follows:

The new priority structure affects all applications that have not yet been finalised, regardless of the time they were lodged or the point to which they had been processed.

Since no state or territory in Australia has released their State Migration Plan occupation lists, it is not yet possible for any application to qualify under priority group 2. Until such time, all applications will be processed according to the nominated occupation. If that occupation appears on the SOL (Schedule 3), that application will qualify under group 3. If it does not, the application will fall under group 4.

Once State Migration Plans are announced, any applicant who already holds state sponsorship from a state that also includes their occupation on the new State Migration Plan occupation list will automatically change priority groupings to priority group 2. According to DIAC’s announcement, no re-application for sponsorship will be necessary and the new priority status will be applied by default.

Although we recognise that there is more work for DIAC to do in order to process the many thousands of applications that have been kept waiting and caught out by the numerous changes within the last year and beyond, we view this as a positive step forward from DIAC. The priority structure is undoubtedly simpler, and many applicants – particularly those who are already state sponsored – are in a good position to move even further forward in the queue if their state’s migration plan accommodates their occupation.

DIAC have yet to release specific timeframes for each category, so it is not yet known how long each group can expect to wait, although it has been made clear that applications under priority group 4 can expect a "very long wait" before finalisation, possibly a timeframe of three years from the point of lodgement.

Further blogs will follow shortly outlining where this leaves other types of applications, and clarify any questions that applicants may have at this time.

- Lauren Mennie is Casework Department Manager for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) have recently provided comment on the re-classification of occupations following the recent switch from the Australian Skilled Classification of Occupations (ASCO) to the Australia and New Zealand Skilled Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO). You can click here to read it for yourself. 

While applicants who have received a positive skills assessment from ACS are able to stay in the occupation that they have been matched to, ACS have made provisions for applicants who wish to be assessed in an occupation that their current one does not correlate to. These applicants are able to apply for a new skills assessment to be recognised under a new occupation by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

The ANZSCO occupations that have been matched to the ASCO occupations are as follows, including whether they will appear on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL - Schedule 3) AND/OR the State and Territory Skilled Occupation List (StatSOL - Schedule 4):

As you will see, some ASCO occupations can be matched to multiple ANZSCO occupations, some of which are on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) and some of which are not. Additionally, all ANZSCO occupations also feature on the StatSOL. The only exception is the Systems Programmer ASCO occupation as this has yet to be matched against an ANZSCO occupation. Whether this was a deliberate omission by DIAC remains to be clarified.

If you have an ASCO occupation that has multiple ANZSCO occupation matches, we are presuming you can choose from any of these ANZSCO occupations in order to proceed with your visa application. HOWEVER, we recommend that you proceed under the occupation that is most fitting to your circumstances and history. If you are applying for a Skilled Independent (subclass 175) visa or a Skilled Family Sponsored  (subclass 176 / 475) visa, please be aware that your recent work experience needs to be in an occupation that features on the SOL. Additionally, if you are requiring state sponsorship then there may be some further criteria which could prevent you from proceeding under certain ANZSCO occupations.

For example: Should you have received a positive skills assessment in the ASCO occupation of Systems Designer and you qualify for a Skilled Family Sponsored (subclass 176) visa, you could potentially lodge your visa application with ICT Business Analyst as your nominated ANZSCO occupation. However, if you are unable to demonstrate that your references are most in line with ICT Business Analyst tasks (as opposed to the tasks associated with another potential ANZSCO occupation match that isn't on the SOL, such as Computer Network and Systems Engineer) then you will not meet the criteria. 

Getting an occupation classified by the ACS

Should you wish to be reclassified under a new occupation by the ACS, then you will need to have your application reassessed, though we are currently unsure of how long it will take for applicants to be reassessed.

This service is free to all applicants who received a positive skills assessment between 1 May, 2010 and 30 June, 2010, although most applicants will need to gather further references etc. Applicants who received a positive skills assessment prior to 1 May, 2010 that wish to receive a  skills assessment under a different occupation classification will have to submit an entirely new skills assessment. 

While it's very likely that a number of States and Territories will feature IT occupations on their State Migration Plan sponsorship lists, as ANZSCO is an entirely new classification system, we have no way of knowing which specific occupations will become most 'desirable'. Therefore, I would advise against taking any action at this time.

 UPDATE: The Department of Immigration website mapping table (schedule 3) now reflects a match for Systems Programmer to Developer Programmer under ANZSCO. The new SOL is dated August 2010.

- Lauren Mennie is Casework Department Manager for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

We have been waiting for 1 July, 2010 to bring us changes to the General Skilled Migration (GSM) Australian visa process for some time. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) have previously implied that the changes we have been waiting for, primarily concerning the new form of state sponsorship called State Migration Plans, would be revealed today.

As reported earlier, the State Migration Plans have yet to be released. Despite this, some changes have taken place today that I think are worth bringing to the attention of the many visa applicants in need of information. While I'll almost certainly write in more detail on this soon, for now, I’d just like to summarise some of the major changes that have taken place:

State Migration Plans delayed

As previously stated, details of the State Migration Plans are not yet available, and have been delayed until at least August. Current details of the expected release dates for each State and Territory can be found on our State Migration Plans page. 

Suspension on skilled visa applications lifted

The suspension that has precluded applicants from applying for a skilled visa has been lifted. However, even though it is now possible to lodge an application for an offshore skilled visa once more, I wouldn't recommend doing so at this time, for reasons that I'll explain further down.

Change of occupation classification from ASCO to ANZSCO

From today, all occupations are classified under a new coding scheme called 'ANZSCO'. DIAC have already released information about the transition from ASCO to ANZSCO.

The majority of applicants will not need to obtain a new skills assessment (if one is already held), and the effect on their application will be minimal. However, I would advise researching what your new occupation code is and whether this will affect your application in any way.

Introduction of a new Skilled Occupation List (SOL)

As previously advised, DIAC have today implemented a new Skilled Occupation List which has been previously published. All applicants need to have an occupation which is on the new SOL, unless they are sponsored by a state under a State Migration Plan.

Change in requirements at lodgement for State Sponsored visa applicants

All state sponsored clients will now be required to demonstrate their sponsorship at the time of lodgement. In other words, if state sponsorship is required then it is no longer possible to apply for a visa without first attaining that sponsorship.

As a result of the current priority processing directive, it is favourable for applicants to lodge as a subclass 176 state sponsored visa, even if they qualify for other visa subclasses, as the timeframe for obtaining a visa will be shortened considerably. It is for this reason that we advise most applicants to hold off on applying for a visa until after they have seen whether they qualify for a State Migration Plan.

Increase in fees for visa applications

The cost of an application for a skilled visa has today increased to AU$2,575. 

If you are interested in reading further information about these changes, I'll be posting a series of blogs on the key points over the next few days.

- Lauren Mennie is Casework Department Manager for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

For South Australia's manager of General Skilled Migration (GSM), Ann Johnson, to open a seminar by requesting that everyone  "leave your guns at the door" is a fairly strong indication of the current mindset held by the many frustrated migration agents in attendance. It's also a reminder that it's not the Australian States and Territories who are responsible for the many changes made by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

The seminar on 3 June, 2010 was the first we've attended since the suspension of the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program, so we were hoping that Ann Johnson might be able to provide some further information regarding the Australian immigration; specifically the State Migration Plans. As a reminder, the GSM program has been closed for the time being, with a scheduled reopening date of 1 July, 2010. Upon its reopening, Australian skilled visa applicants will be subject to a number of changes to visa legislation, including a much tighter Australian Skilled Occupation List (SOL).

As only applicants with a nominated occupation on the SOL will be able to proceed with an independent visa application, we've been trying to find more information on how the State Migration Plans will work, as these will be the new mechanisms to allow visa applicants to be sponsored by an Australian State or Territory under the GSM program and will be crucial to a large proportion of applicants in the future.

While the State Migration Plans are still only expected to be detailed and introduced on 1 July, 2010 at the earliest, we hoped that we might be privy to some more details as to how they will be structured and just how many additional occupations we can expect to feature on these replacements for the old sponsorship lists.

Unfortunately, there's little 'insider information' that I can report on, but it was still useful to have certain items confirmed or clarified. The main points that we received were:

• The State Migration Plan's list of occupations can include additional occupations to what appears on the SOL;
• As the list of occupations that will feature on the State Migration Plan needs to be approved by the Minister, the Cabinet and then DIAC, it's unlikely that it will be ready "until at least July";
• Each occupation will have an attached 'planning level', but this number will not be disclosed and no indication will be given as to when the planning level is close to being reached for each occupation.
• Ann Johnson said that the process for changing the State Migration Plan list of occupations is that while they will revise it every month, they will only change it every quarter, for the benefit of applicants.
• Applicants who had previously been approved under South Australia's former state sponsorship method may need to reapply before they are approved under the new State Migration Plan (assuming their occupation is transferrable from the previous sponsorship list to an occupation on the new one);
• No more than 100 'off-list' applicants can apply for sponsorship where they do NOT have an occupation on the State Migration Plan's list of occupations, with this being a reduction from 500 'off-list' applicants from the previous financial year (though Ann Johnson did say that South Australia "didn't get anywhere near to 100" in this last year). 

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship have announced the annual review of Australian Visa application charges, with the cost of most visas to be increased by less than 10 per cent after 1 July. The largest increase, at 10.5 per cent, will be added to the fee for a second contributory parent visa.

The annual review of Australian visa application fees, made as part of the release of the Federal Budget, typically see fees increase in accordance with changes in the Australian Consumer Price Index. You can read the full Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) ammendments to migration fees and regulations here.

The new visa application fees for some common skilled and family visas will be as follows:

 - Lauren Mennie is Casework Department Manager for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

The announcement made last week that Australian immigration will be switching to the ANZSCO skills classification on 1 July, 2010 is an issue set to have a huge impact on the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program, as it essentially redefines the occupations and skills that are in demand by Australia.

We've been investigating the impact of the changes through speaking to the skills assessing bodies who will also be affected by this change. The latest comments we've seen have come from the Australian Computer Society (ACS), who provided the following information:

"Applicants who hold, or are about to hold, an assessment outcome letter with an ASCO code issued by the ACS prior to 1 July 2010, are advised to apply for a review of assessment outcome and follow application for review process that will be publicised on the ACS website once the framework, in which new SOL would be applied, is introduced by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

• Up to and including 30 June 2010, assessment outcome letters will be issued in ASCO codes only.
• From and including 1 July 2010, assessment outcome letters will be issued in ANZSCO codes only."

In many ways, ACS is the assessing body that we most wanted to hear comment on the changes as many of the ASCO computing professional occupations they currently assess do not have a direct match on ANZSCO.

As a result, if an applicant has previously completed an assessment with ACS but was unable to lodge their Australian visa application before the GSM program was temporarily suspended, it will be advisable for these applicants to apply for a "review of assessment outcome and follow application for review process".

Further details aren't yet available as to how this review process will work or how long it will take, but more information is expected to be made available on the ACS website soon.

- Lauren Mennie is Casework Department Manager for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

With the skilled Australian visa program switching to using the ANZSCO occupation classification on 1 July, 2010, responses from Australian skills assessing bodies are still coming in.

A representative for the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC) was kind enough to answer a few of our questions over email.  See their responses to our Q&A below:

Q&A with ANMC on the switch to ANZSCO

• Q: Should applicants be applying under the ANZSCO occupation now, or should applicants still be nominating an ASCO?
  
  ANMC RESPONSE: The ANMC will continue assessments under the current ASCO Codes. If/when this changes to ANZSCO codes, our online application system will be updated to include the new ANZSCO Codes and information will be made available on our website.
  
• Q: Has any information been given in regards to transitional provisions that may be put in place for applicants that have obtained a skills assessment already under an ASCO code, and whether this will enable them to lodge to DIAC, or if they will require a reissue of skills assessment as an ANZSCO occupation?
  
  ANMC RESPONSE: This will need to be followed up with DIAC as we have not received any information from them ourselves.
  
• Q: Additionally, for the occupations where there is only a partial match between the ASCO and ANSZCO, what is your policy? Will a partial match between occupations be sufficient, so as to allow a reissue in an ANZSCO occupation?
  
  ANMC RESPONSE: Unable to comment on this at the moment.
  
• Q: Also, can we expect any changes to your forms or assessing policies based on the changes?
  
  ANMC RESPONSE: Yes, online forms will be updated. Assessment process will not change.

- Lauren Mennie is Casework Department Manager for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.