In case you missed it, there have been several changes to Australian visa requirements as of 1 July 2022. Many of these changes are administrative and are entirely dependent on the type of application made with the Australian Department of Home Affairs. Some of these important changes can be summarised as follows:
- Application fee increases:
Most Visa lodgement fees have seen an increase of 3%. These fee changes have not yet been updated on some visa homepages. However, the full list of visa fees can be found here.
The additional 1.4% credit card surcharge remains unchanged and still applies to all online card payments. Applicants are urged to consider these changes before lodging their visa applications.
- Labour Market Testing Requirements for employer-sponsored nomination applications:
In the last financial year, employers looking to sponsor an employee for a visa (such as the Subclass 482 and Subclass 186 Visas) had to advertise the position on the government Job Active website for at least 28 days under the Labour Market Testing (‘LMT’) requirement. The Job Active website could no longer be used to satisfy this requirement from 30 June 2022 as the website had been deactivated on this date. However, employers are urged to note that advertisements posted on the Job Active website before 4 July 2022 can still satisfy the LMT requirement for these visa nominations without needing to repost the advertisements.
Any employer looking to commence the LMT process must advertise for the nominated position on the new Workforce Australia website. This website mirrors its predecessor and has analogically been easier for employers to navigate.
- Expansion of eligible visa cohorts for the Subclass 186 Visa:
The Federal Government recently announced that a pathway to permanent residency for certain ‘Short-Term’ Subclass 482 Temporary Skills Shortage and 457 Temporary Work (Skilled) visa holders would be put in place to aid Australia’s labour shortages and economic recovery.
These changes are now in effect – meaning these eligible cohorts can now apply for Australian Permanent Residence through this new pathway.
See our previous blog post here for further information about these eligible cohorts and the pathways available to them now.
- Subclass 485 Graduate (Replacement) Visa:
Previous Temporary Graduate (Subclass 485) Visa-holders who were not able to travel to Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be eligible for the same visa under the Replacement Stream. This new stream commenced from 1 July 2022 and is subject to the following two eligibility cohorts:
- If the applicant was outside Australia when their Subclass 485 visa was granted, they must have entered Australia before 15 December 2021 and then departed before 15 December 2021 while the visa was in effect; or
- If the applicant was in Australia when their Subclass 485 visa was granted, they must have been outside Australia between 1 February 2020 and 14 December 2021 while their visa was in effect.
This replacement stream will allow those in the above cohorts to have a replacement visa granted for the full duration of the original Subclass 485 visa grant.
If you believe any of the above changes apply to you and you would like some more information, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our Migration Law team for further information.
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