This Week’s Migration News Round-up

Migration Weekly

I. Parent migration to be abolished? A single body’s recommendation, nothing more

II. New VET skills-assessment priority rules take effect — you can no longer actively “grab” priority processing

III. AITSL teacher skills assessment now accepts IELTS skill-banking

IV. The Australian Government has released its latest migrant employment and job-search reference

V. Weekly round-up of grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing

I. Parent migration to be abolished? A single body’s recommendation, nothing more

A number of clients have asked us this week: is parent migration really being abolished?! The concern stems from Australian media reports shared by various social-media accounts. As you can see, the Australian media headlines never actually mention “abolishing parent migration” — the focus is much more on the overall parent-migration backlog of more than 100,000 applications.

The reason the Australian media have suddenly turned their collective attention to the parent-migration backlog is that the Scanlon Foundation, a well-known independent Australian think tank, recently released a research report on parent-migration applications.The report itself runs to almost 100 pages and analyses every aspect of Australia’s parent-migration program in great detail

1. It reviews in detail the history of Australia’s parent-migration program

2. It compares Australia’s parent visas with those of traditional migration destinations such as the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand and Canada, and the results are far from favourable. Among the temporary visas, the Subclass 870 long-stay visa lets parents stay for up to 10 years, but it is prohibitively expensive; among the permanent visas, the contributory stream is not only costly but also carries a long wait (applications lodged now face a wait of more than 10 years), while the non-contributory queue runs to 30 years — simply not a realistic option.

3. The author argues that, given the current backlog and quotas, the gap will only keep widening. On the current quotas and settings, parent migration is unsustainable

4. In the report the author suggests (also citing the views of Martin, a former head of the public service) that it would be better to abolish parent migration altogether and instead offer parents longer-term temporary visas at a lower cost

Our analysis:

First, this is merely a recommendation from an independent third-party think tank — in other words, one body’s opinion. It in no way represents the position of the Department or the Government, and it is not even certain whether the Government has any channel to read this report. That said, we are grateful for their attention to parent migration, and the various issues raised in the report are indeed the very ones applicants face

Second, with the new government having launched its major migration review and reform, parent migration has come up for discussion alongside everything else. As we have said many times, reform does not happen overnight. Setting aside whether anything actually changes in the end, there will be a great many submissions along the way, representing different interest groups and different perspectives — but the Government has to weigh up many considerations, so most recommendations will not be adopted, or at least not in full. Will reform really happen? An answer is still a long way off — we suspect that even the Department itself cannot answer any of these questions internally

Third, if reform does go ahead, there will be a transition arrangement for applications already lodged. We have never seen a visa reform that simply voided every application already lodged — there are always options and transitional arrangements.Then again, any reform involves the backlog of more than 100,000 applications, which makes the decision a real headache for the Government — there is essentially no perfect solution

Finally, as an applicant, it is better to act than to worry. If you have just been granted PR, lodge your parents’ application as soon as possible — many people got in early last financial year.If your PR has already been lodged and you want a long-term reunion, the Subclass 870 visa is genuinely worth considering.If your parents have previously held a Subclass 600 visitor visa and stayed onshore long-term, we now recommend that, before applying again, they depart Australia and remain offshore for six months or longer before lodging a fresh application — the Department does not want people using the visitor visa as a long-term stay option, and assessments are becoming increasingly strict.

For a more detailed overview of parent migration and the Subclass 870, see: The latest Subclass 143/103 parent-migration backlog figures, plus an updated wait-time estimate table — here at last! Includes an overview of the various parent-related visas!

For help planning parent migration or any parent visa, add our consultant below:

II. New VET skills-assessment priority rules take effect — you can no longer actively “grab” priority processing

VETASSESS has officially adopted new rules for priority-processing applications. It had previously advised that priority processing is available in the following circumstances

– You have received an invitation from the Department or a state nomination, and that invitation has a validity period
– Your visa will expire within eight weeks and you cannot obtain another visa
– You will turn 33, 40 or 45 within eight weeks (i.e. you are about to lose age points)
– Your language results (IELTS or PTE) will expire within 8 weeks
– Your spouse’s skills assessment or language results will expire within 8 weeks

All of the above must be supported by evidence. If none of these applies, priority processing is only possible once the special-reason priority slots are not yet full —

that is, only after the day’s 55 places have been allocated do you have a chance of priority processing

With the new rules in force this week, applicants now have an additional choice to make when lodging:

1. No priority — a standard application
2. No urgent reason, but you would like priority processing if a slot is available

3. You have one of the urgent reasons above and need to apply for priority processing

If you have no urgent reason but still want priority processing, a payment link may or may not appear after you have completed all the information and uploaded your documents; if none appears, the day’s places are likely full. If a payment link does appear, it is first paid, first served.

If you qualify on an urgent reason, a payment link will appear straight away.

As the first step in the migration journey — and the body that assesses the most occupations — VETASSESS is now rather overstretched; the IT body, ACS, is also slow, while engineering and accounting are a little better.Prepare early and secure your place early! For advice on skills assessments for migration occupations, contact our consultant below!

III. AITSL teacher skills assessment now accepts IELTS skill-banking

AITSL, the assessing authority for teaching occupations, updated its July 2023 document checklist this week

confirming that it, too, now accepts an IELTS single-skill resit

AITSL assesses occupations such as early childhood teacher, secondary school teacher and special needs teacher (TESOL is assessed by VETASSESS)

So the current language requirements for AITSL teaching skills assessments are

– Only IELTS results are accepted; PTE, TOEFL and the like are not

– IELTS results must meet 7/7/8/8 — 7 in reading and 7 in writing, 8 in speaking and 8 in listening (results obtained within 24 months before lodgement)

– An IELTS single-skill resit is now accepted

–Circumstances in which the 7/7/8/8 requirement can be waived: you have completed four or more years of study at bachelor level or above across these six countries — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Ireland (study may be combined)

A cost-effective fast track to migration through early childhood education: if you have already completed a three-year bachelor’s degree or above in any field across the six countries above (such as Australia or the UK), you can take a Graduate Diploma in early childhood education to make up four years of study; on graduation you can obtain an early childhood teaching skills assessment with the language requirement waived. Some are even available online, with tuition fees of AU$20,000–30,000 a year, and there is an October intake coming up shortly:

Last financial year, early childhood teachers were invited at just 65 EOI points for the Subclass 189 and in several states including Victoria — so seize the opportunity while you can! For details of the courses and migration planning, contact our consultant below:

IV. The Australian Government releases the latest migrant employment and job-search reference

The Australian Government has recently produced an employment guide for migrants, using data from May this year.

1. The three industries adding the most jobs are:

Health Care and Social Assistance +119,100

Construction +113,500

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services +61,800

2. The three fastest-growing industries are:

Construction 9.3%

Arts and Recreation Services 7%

Health Care and Social Assistance 5.9%

3. The migrant unemployment data for the past 12 months tells the story: those who have been in Australia for less than five years have the highest unemployment rate, regardless of whether English is their first language.

4. Migrants from non-English-speaking countries make up the highest share of the workforce in Canberra and Victoria, at 27.5% and 29.2% respectively.New South Wales and the Northern Territory form the second tier, both at around 26%. The lowest are Tasmania and Western Australia

5. The industries with the highest shares in each state/territory are —

New South Wales

Health Care and Social Assistance 14.5%

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services 10.4%

Victoria

Health Care and Social Assistance 15.4%

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services 10.4%

Queensland

Health Care and Social Assistance 16.3%

Construction 9.5%

Western Australia

Health Care and Social Assistance 13.4%

Mining 10.1%

South Australia

Health Care and Social Assistance 17.4%

Retail Trade 9.7%

Tasmania

Health Care and Social Assistance 16.7%

Retail trade 10.1%

Canberra

Public Administration and Safety 28%

Health Care and Social Assistance 12.5%

Northern Territory

Health Care and Social Assistance 16.8%

Public Administration and Safety 15.5%

For more detail, see: The latest official data report to guide migrants’ job searches! Which states have the highest share of migrant employment? Useful whether you hold PR or a temporary visa, and whether you are already in Australia or still planning!

V. Weekly round-up of grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing

A round-up of Newstarsec’s recent grants and invitations across all visa types:Press and hold below to view — the page is updated continuously, so we strongly recommend you save and bookmark it!

State nomination invitations / GTI invitation statistics

ACT state nomination (nomination)

The state government first issued the nomination approval letter

Lodged 24/07/2023 invited 04/08/2023, ACT 190 Architectural Draftsperson

GTI

GTI invitation code received on 1 August 2023, Digitech sector

NSW business and investor migration

Lodged 31 July 2023; on 1 August 2023, received NSW 888A nomination

This week’s grant progress and analysis

Subclass 189 Skilled Independent migration

Lodged early December 2022, granted 1 August 2023

Lodged 14 December 2022, granted 3 August 2023. Family of three. Occupation: Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teacher

Lodged 31 May 2023, granted 1 August 2023, 65 points (Early Childhood (Pre-primary
School) Teacher – 241111) (lodged onshore, granted onshore)

Lodged: 14/11/2022 Granted: 01/08/2023, Life Scientist

Subclass 190 State Nominated skilled migration

Subclass 190 lodged onshore 13 Apr 2023, granted 01 Aug 2023, social worker

Subclass 491 (new regional) / Subclass 489 (old regional) nominated visa

Lodged 25 January 2023, granted 27 July 2023. Occupation: Accountant

Lodged 13 April 2023, granted 31 July 2023, 70+5 points (Registered Nurses nec – 254499) (lodged onshore, granted onshore)

Subclass 887/191 regional permanent residence visa

None this week

Employer sponsorship

Lodged 25 October 2022; on 1 August 2023, Subclass 186 DE nomination approved, Taxation Accountant

Lodged 13 July 2023; on 2 August 2023, nomination approved + visa granted, Supply and Distribution Manager (offshore), offshore applicant, intra-company transfer

Lodged 13 July 2023; on 4 August 2023, nomination approved + visa granted, Graphic Designer, offshore applicant, intra-company transfer

Business and investor migration / GTI

None this week

Partner migration

Subclass 820 lodged May 2020; Subclass 801 granted 4 August 2023

Lodged 2 March 2023, Subclass 820 granted 3 August 2023

Visa application lodged 30 May 2023; Subclass 820 and 801 granted together on 31 July 2023

Visa application lodged 30 May 2023; Subclass 820 granted 3 August 2023

Parent migration / parent visas / child visas

Lodged early 2017, Subclass 143 granted 4 August 2023

Lodged 29 June 2023, Subclass 870 sponsorship approved 2 August 2023

Subclass 600 visitor visa

Lodged 31 July 2023, granted 3 August 2023

Lodged 27 July 2023, granted 1 August 2023, study-abroad graduate

Lodged 11 April 2023, granted 31 July 2023, parents of a PR holder

Lodged 27 July 2023, granted 1 August 2023

Lodged 31 July 2023, granted 3 August 2023

Subclass 600 lodged offshore 06 Jul 2023, granted 02 Aug 2023

Lodged 14 February 2023, granted 1 August 2023, offshore

Lodged 24 July 2023, granted 3 August 2023, offshore

Subclass 500 Student visa

Lodged 16 May 2023, granted 1 August 2023, aged 35 with spouse and children

Lodged 21 June 2023, granted 30 July 2023

Lodged 31 March 2021, granted 2 August 2023 (Postgraduate Research Sector) (yes, lodged back in 2021)

Subclass 485 Graduate Work visa

Lodged 27 June 2023, granted 4 August 2023

Lodged 26 June 2023, granted 2 August 2023

Lodged 23 June 2023, granted 1 August 2023, Subclass 485 with spouse

Lodged 21 July 2023, granted 31 July 2023

Subclass 485 lodged onshore 17 Jul 2023, granted 31 Jul 2023

Subclass 485 lodged offshore 01 Jun 2023, granted 31 Jul 2023

Lodged 16 June 2023, granted 4 August 2023

Subclass 408 visa

Lodged 1 August 2023, granted 4 August 2023

Lodged 2 August 2023, granted 3 August 2023

Lodged 31 July 2023, granted 2 August 2023

Lodged 30 July 2023, granted 1 August 2023

Subclass 408 lodged onshore 21 Jun 2023, granted 31 Jul 2023

Subclass 408 lodged onshore 27 Jul 2023, granted 01 Aug 2023

Lodged 25 July 2023, granted 1 August 2023

Lodged 2 August 2023, granted 3 August 2023

Lodged 20 July 2021, granted 4 August 2023 (a very long wait)

Subclass 155 Resident Return Visa

Lodged 19 July 2023, granted 2 August 2023

Lodged 20 July 2023, granted 1 August 2023

Lodged 4 August 2023, granted 4 August 2023

This week’s skills-assessment progress

VETASSESS

Lodged 22 July 2023, approved 31 July 2023. Occupation: Private Tutors and Teachers.

Lodged: 31/07/2023 Approved: 04/08/2023, Occupation: Program or Project Administrator

Lodged: 24/07/2023 Approved: 30/07/2023, Occupation: Human Resource Adviser

Lodged: 26/07/2023 Approved: 03/08/2023, Occupation: Financial Investment Adviser

Lodged: 27/07/2023 Approved: 02/08/2023, Occupation: Program or Project Administrator

Lodged: 19/07/2023 Approved: 31/07/2023, Occupation: Contract Administrator

Lodged: 30/07/2023, Approved: 04/08/2023, Occupation: Contract Administrator

Lodged: 09/07/2023, Approved: 04/08/2023, Occupation: Program or Project Administrator

Lodged: 23/07/2023, Approved: 03/08/2023, Occupation: Program or Project Administrator

Lodged 26 June 2023, passed 2 August 2023, Civil Engineering

Lodged 5 July 2023, approved 1 August 2023, Engineering Technologist

ACS

Lodged early May 2023. Approved 4 August 2023, ICT BA

AITSL

Lodged 30 May 2023, result received 4 August 2023

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【Issue 297 · Australia Migration Weekly】Is parent migration being abolished? Here’s what’s really going on! VET skills assessments can no longer actively “grab” priority processing!

Choosing a major / planning your migration: want both PR and good job prospects?! Recommended courses

Can the self-employed apply for employer sponsorship? Husband-and-wife businesses? Companies you’ve invested in? Which ones qualify?

The latest official data report to guide migrants’ job searches!

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