Last Friday, 11 August, the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) held its routine quarterly meeting with the Department of Home Affairs,which typically helps us stay across the latest developments and pass on feedback on how things stand on the ground.

Today the MIA briefed all Members (all MARA-registered migration agents) on the latest information it had gathered from the meeting. The first few points can be set aside — the most important are the ones that follow:

1. On 11 August itself, they learnt that the state-nomination allocations are still being negotiated (are being negotiated ) and will be announced shortly (will be announced shortly). In other words, nothing had been confirmed as of last Friday, 11 August; as for this week……all we can say is that, as of going to print, the allocation figures still had not been released.

2. The Department is prioritising the removal of the restriction that limits onshore TSS visa holders to a third visa.

3. Legislation for the new pathway giving occupations on the employer-sponsored short list and the ROL a direct route to permanent residency will be released before the end of 2023. Note that the wording used here is “release”: being released before year-end means we will learn the implementation details and timing, but it does not necessarily mean the measures will commence by the end of this year.

4. Additional staff will be assigned to clear the backlog of business and investor migration applications, and some acceleration is expected.

5. The Department is strongly signalling (strongly signalling ) that there will be reform of business and investor migration, though it offered no further detail.

It feels as though, from the start of this year until now, we have been stuck in a constant state of “waiting for confirmation”: in the first half of the year we were waiting on news of the so-called major reforms, and from July to now mainly on news of the state-nomination allocations. This year’s allocations have been especially slow to arrive — even the state governments are visibly growing impatient, and prospective applicants more so.

But while some are anxious, others say: not so fast!

My skills assessment hasn’t come through yet!

It’s true — with the allocations unconfirmed, most state-nomination programmes have hit pause.

Most states cannot finalise or publish their policies for this financial year, and even where the three states of Canberra/Western Australia/Tasmania have confirmed theirs, they still cannot issue invitations on any large scale.

So this pause is actually a great time to prepare your skills assessment and sit your English test!

A selection of this week’s successful skills-assessment outcomes

For more of last week’s success stories, revisit: This week’s success stories are here! A wave of skills assessments approved across managerial, professional and trade occupations — grants for Subclass 189/190/491, plus several visitor-visa refusals overturned and granted!

They’re already making the most of the time — so get started too! Get in touch with our team for an assessment based on your work experience and qualifications; there may be a pleasant surprise in store!

Recommended past reads

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Recommended in 2023

MIA Update: State-Nomination Allocations Still Under Discussion — What Should You Be Doing While You Wait? They’ve All Worked It Out — Have You?

Six types of finance professionals in China can all move to Australia! Which pathways? Are invitations easy to get?

No study, no jumping through hoops — many kinds of overseas teachers can migrate to Australia directly too!

No English required + no points test + no age limit for a one-step green card — the opportunity is still open!

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