Even after the changes made to sponsored Australia visa criteria on 1 July (as covered in this blog), yet more amendments have been made to the sponsorship criteria for the following states.

Western Australia 

The WA State Migration Centre has informed the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) of the following changes to WA Sponsorship:

English Requirements for Accountants

From 24 July, the WA State Migration Centre (SMC) requires all Accountants seeking state sponsorship to achieve a score of at least 7.0 in all four components of their International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test. This applies to all applications lodged after this date including Graduate Students and applications from citizens from the following countries: UK, USA, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand.

Work Experience

Also from 24 July, the State Migration Centre (SMC) requires that all applicants who are required to demonstrate recent work experience must have worked for at least 12 months in the last 24 months in their nominated occupation they are seeking state sponsorship for.

Australian Capital Territory (ACT)

Since 1 July, ACT have not been accepting applications for state sponsorship.  Unfortunately, any potential applicants will need to wait for the new ACT sponsorship list and policy to be announced.

South Australia

Sponsorship List

While we were under the assumption that South Australia were going to be making changes to their sponsorship list on 1 July, they've temporarily reverted back to the previous sponsorship list. However, it's still very hard to say what further changes can be expected and whether they'll be temporary or permanent measures, so it is still advisable for anyone looking for state sponsorship to apply for nomination as soon as possibe

Additionally, we've heard that South Australia are closing the capital investment scheme on 31 October. The capital investment scheme was re-opened on 29 January 2009, but with it set to be closed again, it's vital applicants who indicated they intended to lodge a capital investment  finalise their capital investment before the scheme is closed.

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

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