General news

Home Affairs recently announced important changes to Minister of Religion Labour Agreement (‘MORLA’). The aim of those changes is to enable sponsorship of an additional occupation, Religious Assistant (ANZSCO 451816). These changes allows MORLA to provide sponsorship to another occupation other than the Minister of Religion. Here is a quick and easy guide you can [...]

A range of additional points will be awarded to certain visa applicants, including the two new visas, the Provisional (Skilled Regional) Subclass 494 visa and Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) Subclass 191 visa. Additional Points The revised points system will apply to the subclass 491 visa, as well as the existing General Skilled Migration visas (subclass [...]

It is very rare for a Department officer to not waive the “no further stay” condition (Condition 8503). It is even more rare when the condition is challenged in Court and succeeds. The case of Nguyen v Minister for Immigration did just that. What is Condition 8503? A “no further stay” condition doesn’t allow visa [...]

When applying for a visa, the health requirement must be met. This requirement affects anyone applying for an Australian visa that is disabled or has an illness. This requirement has been in place for decades and has been called discriminatory with many people not knowing why the requirement is needed. A number of families have [...]

In April 2019, the South Australia Government entered into a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) with the federal government. The purpose of the agreement is to aid businesses find overseas workers for employment sectors that face skill shortages, through Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482). Two DAMAs South Australia will have two DAMAs, the first [...]

Schedule III Criteria can get confusing because of the discretionary factors that are used to assess whether an applicant meets the criteria to grant a waiver. When someone is applying for a visa such as a partner visa, it requires the applicant to hold a substantive visa when applying if the application is made within [...]

There is currently a backlog of 97,000 applications that equates to a three-year wait time for permanent parent visa applications. The Greens want to cap the wait time to 12 months. Parents of migrants can only visit their children in Australia on tourist visas, if they don’t have a permanent parent visa. The contributory parent [...]

The Australian Government will be introducing three new visas to bring more skilled workers to regional Australia. The two new Provisional (Skilled Regional) Subclass 494 and Subclass 491 visas will be available from the 16 November this year. The new Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) Subclass 191 visa will commence from the 16 November 2022. These regional [...]

From November 2019, changes to the Skilled Migration Points test will come into effect and will affect single applicants and applicants with a partner. As outlined in the federal budget, the points test will be adjusted to reward primary applicants with additional points if they are able to speak competent English, even if they are [...]

For those of you that have completed or are currently completing your first Working Holiday visa and wish to extend your holiday here in Australia, then a second-year Working Holiday visa may be the option for you. To get the best out of your Australian working holiday experience, make sure you are up-to-date with when, [...]