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.

When the Australian immigration changes were announced on 8 February, 2010, it was said that 'State Migration Plans are being developed by State/Territory governments and include occupations that are in demand in each individual state and territory. Each state migration plan is approved by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.'

No firm indication as to their date of introduction was given, with only the vague assertation that the State Migration Plans would be launched in 'mid-2010'. Many migration agents and visa applicants were hopeful that their introduction would accompany the re-opening of the Australian General Skilled Migration (GSM) program and the implementation of the new Australian SOL (Skilled Occupation List) on 1 July, 2010.

However, it's now 1 July, 2010 and none of the Australian States and Territories have released full details of their State Migration Plans. See below for the latest updates from each State / Territory:

WESTERN AUSTRALIA The release date of Western Australia's State Migration Plan will definitely not fall on 1 July, 2010, as the State Migration Plan still has to be approved by the Minister.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA The release date of South Australia's State Migration Plan will definitely not fall on 1 July, 2010, as the State Migration Plan still has to be approved by the Minister.

QUEENSLAND The release date of Queensland's State Migration Plan will definitely not fall on 1 July, 2010, as the State Migration Plan still has to be approved by the Minister.

NORTHERN TERRITORY The release date of the Northern Territory's State Migration Plan has tentatively been set for 1 September, 2010.

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY (ACT) The release date of the ACT's State Migration Plan has tentatively been set for 1 August, 2010.

- Tom Blackett is Online Editor 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.

A hot topic of discussion amongst Australian visa applicants and migration agents alike has been the Migration Amendment (Visa Capping) Bill 2010. This controversial bill has flown under the radar of most media outlets, but has the potential to be the most unfair and destructive item of legislation ever introduced to the Australian migration system.

You can see more details for yourself by clicking here, but to give a brief explanation, the bill proposes to provide the government with a tool for the post-lodgement management of the current backlog of migration applications. As a result, DIAC will be allowed to cap and terminate an application at any time, regardless of when an applicant has lodged their application.

To elaborate, DIAC could choose to cap the number of visas issued in a given year to applicants with 'specified characteristics'. To explain this term, I'll refer you to the following passage from the bill's proposal:

"Characteristics that may be specified include the occupation nominated by the applicant, or the time at which the applicant made their application. The characteristics will be objective, and relate to information that is provided to the department when an application for a visa is made."

Therefore, DIAC could choose to cap the visas for applicants with the 'specified characteristic' of any given nominated occupation on the Australian SOL (Skilled Occupation List). As a result, all outstanding visa applications with the same characteristics (i.e. the same nominated occupation) would then be terminated. This also makes it very easy for DIAC to close off skilled migration to any occupation of their choosing, as a termination will result in an automatic termination of all further visa applications by migrants who share the same 'specified characteristics', at least until the start of the next financial year.

While any applicants who have had their applications terminated will be refunded the pre-paid visa application charge, this won't cover the costs of skills assessments, medical examinations, language tests and any other associated costs, not to mention the emotional damage of forcing an applicant out of the migration process with no prior warning.

Additionally, unlike a visa refusal, it is not possible to challenge a visa termination before the Migration Review Tribunal or any court. This is because DIAC will have technically not made a decision, and without a decision there is nothing to review or contest.

The most frustrating part of the proposed bill is how it has the potential to punish the people who have followed the rules and jumped through all the hoops that DIAC have set up in the last couple of years, only for the potential to be removed from the process entirely with no prior warning. 

It's always been understood that there are no 'sure things' when it comes to the Australian migration process, but it was at least possible for visa applicants to understand what the eligibility requirements were and have a good idea of their chances of success. However, should the Visa Capping Bill be passed, the opposite will be the case, with it practically impossible for any applicant to know whether they'll be able to have their visa application finalised or if they'll simply be cast aside by the Australian government.

- Tom Blackett 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.

With Australian immigration scheduled to switch to using the ANZSCO occupation classification upon the implementation of the new Skilled Occupation List on 1 July, 2010, we've been speaking to a number of the key Australian assessing bodies to get an idea of what their approach will be going forward.

After receiving comments from Engineers Australia and VETASSESS yesterday, we've now received a statement from the branch of VETASSESS that assesses the skills of tradespeople, which is informally known as VETASSESS Trades:

VETASSESS Trades comment on the ASCO-ANZSCO switch

"Please be advised that VETASSESS can offer you the following information at this stage:

VETASSESS will not be issuing Skills Assessments in ANZSCO until the 1st of July, 2010.  The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) have advised that they will be publishing an ASCO-ANZSCO mapping table which will detail the conversion of occupations from ASCO to ANZSCO.  Generally speaking, if an occupation has a direct match from ASCO to ANZSCO and VETASSESS are still the assessing authority for that occupation, applicants will not require a reassessment under the ANZSCO code. 

Please see the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) website at www.immi.gov.au for future publication of the ASCO-ANZSCO mapping table and the latest SOL list."

While this statement doesn't provide much new information, it is reassuring to see VETASSESS reiterate that they will accept positive ASCO skills assessments, provided the occupation has a direct match on ANZSCO.

Additionally, the reference to the ASCO-ANZSCO mapping table is interesting, with the current assumption being that the mapping table will provide a fairly comprehensive method of matching occupations from ASCO to ANZSCO.

While I still anticipate that not every occupation will be accounted for, it seems that efforts will be made to make allowances where possible and reduce the need for applicants to undergo reassessment. It may be that DIAC will simply follow the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) method of mapping ASCO occupations to ANZSCO occupations (which you can see by clicking here), but until further details are released, it's impossible to know how the new mapping table will work.

- 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.

Yesterday, we saw the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) release the new Australian Skilled Occupation List (SOL), with a key part of the announcement being their decision to switch to using the ANZSCO occupation classification upon the new SOL's introduction on 1 July, 2010.

The switch to ANZSCO raised a few questions which we're still waiting for DIAC to provide definitive answers to. However, we have seen two of Australia's prominent skills assessing bodies provide comment: 

VETASSESS comment on the ASCO-ANZSCO switch

"Thank you for your enquiry to VETASSESS.  VETASSESS will not be issuing Skills Assessments in ANZSCO until the 1st of July, 2010.  Assessments issued before this date under ASCO will be accepted by DIAC as long as the occupation has a direct match on the ASCO-ANZSCO mapping table to be published by DIAC, and VETASSESS are still the assessing authority for that occupation."

Engineers Australia (EA) comment on the ASCO-ANZSCO switch

"DIAC have advised us that they will honour the ASCO code assessment for a period of 12 months after the introduction of the new SOL, or the expiry date of their 12-month validity of the assessment outcome letter, whichever is the sooner."

What new information can be drawn from these comments?

From these comments, we can assume that it will be standard policy for the assessing bodies to continue issuing skills assessments according to the ASCO code assessment until 1 July, 2010, and that these positive skills assessments will be accepted by DIAC for up to 12 months after the new SOL is introduced (or until the assessment outcome letter expires). However, as this deadline hasn't been officially confirmed by DIAC yet, it should be taken with a grain of salt for the timebeing.

Additionally, while it's useful to have some further clarification, there are still a number of points we remain uncertain about. For example, even though an ASCO-ANZSCO mapping table is forthcoming, we don't yet know what will happen should any ASCO occupations not have a direct ANZSCO match, or how an assessing body will be assigned to such occupations.

However, it's still very early days and I do anticipate further information regarding the ASCO-ANZSCO switch to be forthcoming.

- 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.