This Week’s Migration News

Migration Weekly

1. Lodge your nomination before 1 July and the $70k salary rise won’t apply to you!

2. Study-work-migrate: a fresh pathway via the employer-sponsored aged care agreement

3. Northern Territory MINT investment amount increase takes effect immediately!

4. Subclass 190, 189 and 491 are still being granted sporadically: processing status to the end of March

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

1. Lodge your nomination before 1 July and the $70k salary rise won’t apply to you!

There has been a flurry of reform news lately, but the only change with a confirmed start date is the TSMIT rising to $70k from 1 July. It mainly affects Subclass 482 employer-sponsored applicants, and may also affect Subclass 491 (though the income requirement for Subclass 491 has not yet been legislated, so whether it will be affected remains unknown).

With the new policy about to take effect, many people are anxious about whether it will affect them. This week brought a welcome clarification: the relevant information updated on the Department of Home Affairs website confirms that as long as you lodge your Subclass 482 nomination application before 1 July 2023, you will not be affected, regardless of whether it is approved before that date. In other words, simply lodging the application locks in the $53,900 requirement.

Those who have already lodged a nomination under assessment, those whose nomination has been approved and are awaiting the visa grant, and those who currently hold a Subclass 482 visa will all be unaffected by the salary rise.

It is expected that the rule confirming Subclass 482 holders can transition to PR after two years of work, with short-list occupations also able to transition to PR, will be finalised before the end of 2023, and everyone will be able to benefit.

As a reminder, Subclass 482 has no per-financial-year grant quota, so there is no need to worry about running out of places at the end of the financial year. Processing has also been speeding up recently and is generally faster than the points-based Subclass 189, 190 and 491.

No skills assessment, low English requirements, no points race, and you can apply both onshore and offshore: bring your work experience to us for a Subclass 482 assessment

2. Study-work-migrate: a fresh pathway via the employer-sponsored aged care agreement

Employer sponsorship is clearly the star of the moment. In addition to more occupations being able to transition to permanent residency faster, as mentioned above, the government has also opened a “fast track” for the aged care sector. On 5 May the Minister for Immigration officially announced an employer-sponsored Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement for the aged care sector, and on 15 May issued a further media release announcing that the first Aged Care Labour Agreement had been signed. Employers who sign the agreement can sponsor 570 overseas workers over the next five years.

Unlike the traditional requirement of two years of work experience and an English score before you can lodge a Subclass 482 visa, this pathway only requires applicants to obtain a relevant AQF Certificate III (or one year of relevant work experience) and a lower English score, then find an employer who has signed the agreement and can provide sponsorship, after which they can apply for a Subclass 482 visa. And no matter when you lodge, you will not be affected by the TSMIT rising to $70k on 1 July. After obtaining the Subclass 482 visa and working for the employer for two years, you have the opportunity to transition to permanent residency.

The nominated occupation is one of Nursing Support Worker, Personal Care Assistant or Aged or Disabled Carer.

If the qualification or work experience was obtained onshore, no skills assessment is required. If obtained offshore, a skills assessment must be passed first. Applicants with target community language skills who are employed by culturally and linguistically diverse aged care providers face even lower English requirements: only an overall IELTS score of 4.5.

If you hold a working holiday visa, a Subclass 408 or a student visa, or you are on the migration journey but without a clear way forward, this could be a worthwhile change of lane.

For the courses and a more detailed introduction, see: Study-work-migrate, a fresh approach! Ideal for Subclass 408/WHV/student visa holders pursuing PR, and for those in “hyper-competitive” occupations such as accounting looking to change lanes!

Or get in touch with our team directly to learn more and arrange an assessment

3. Northern Territory MINT investment amount increase takes effect immediately!

Over the past two financial years, the Northern Territory MINT programme has been a fast, one-step pathway to permanent residency for many purely offshore applicants. There is no need to chase a high points score, and most occupations are eligible. It suits overseas applicants with some savings and English ability.

This week the MINT programme also suddenly announced a price increase, announced on 17 May and taking effect the very next day. Any new MINT placement agreement received from 17 May 2023 will be subject to the new MINT rules, with the following key changes from the previous policy:

1. The minimum investment amount increases to AUD 520,000 (previously AUD 515,000);

2. The venture capital term is 12 years (previously 10 years) – the trustee still intends to return 80% (plus interest, less fees) to investors within 5 years of the close of the open period;

3. In addition to making venture capital investments directly, the fund may also use 20% of its venture capital allocation to invest in a venture capital limited partnership managed by the Paspalis fund manager.

For more detail, see: Today is the last day! The Northern Territory MINT investment amount is about to rise! Secure your place now and lock in the old policy!

4. Subclass 190, 189 and 491 are still being granted sporadically: processing status to the end of March

From late April, the grant rate for Subclass 190, 189 and 491 has slowed considerably. We have had some grants this week, set out in the round-up below, but the numbers are noticeably down on previous months. Some clients are worried that the quotas may already be exhausted, so we have obtained the figures to the end of March to share:

Backlog of applications:

Subclass 189 – 27,068; Subclass 190 – 31,122; Subclass 491 – 29,559

Applications processed in February and March 2023

Subclass 189 – 11,278; Subclass 190 – 7,591; Subclass 491 – 8,279

Combining this with the application figures we previously obtained to the end of February, we can see that by the end of March the remaining quotas for Subclass 189 and 190 were already running low: 3,176 for Subclass 189 and 4,589 for Subclass 190. After the normal processing through early April, very few places remain, so grants are now only sporadic.

Subclass 491 had roughly 14,000 places remaining at the end of March, enough to continue for some time, and its pace is expected to catch up with Subclass 190 and 189. Subclass 491 is currently still working through applications from June-September 2022.

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

A round-up of recent Newstarsec grants and invitations across all categories:Press and hold below to view; the page is continually updated, so we strongly recommend saving it to your favourites!

State nomination invitation / GTI invitation statistics

ACT state nomination

The following are formal nomination approvals

Lodged 05 May 2023, invited 15 May 2023, ACT Subclass 190, Software Engineer

Lodged 09 May 2023, invited 15 May 2023, ACT Subclass 190, Landscape Architect

Lodged 07 May 2023, invited 16 May 2023, ACT Subclass 190, Accountant (General)

Lodged 09 May 2023, invited 16 May 2023, ACT Subclass 190, Accountant (General)

Lodged 13 May 2023, invited 17 May 2023, ACT Subclass 190, Marketing Specialist

VIC state nomination

Nomination lodged 10 May 2023,
formally invited 17 May 2023

Nomination lodged 9 May 2023,
formally invited 16 May 2023

Lodged 4 April 2023, received formal invitation to nominate 15 May 2023, 85+5 accountant

Lodged 12 May 2023, received formal invitation to nominate 18 May 2023, 90+5 ICT BA

Lodged: 21/04/2023 Approved: 17/05/2023, R&D Manager

Lodged: 15/05/2023 Approved: 19/05/2023, Environmental Engineer

TAS state nomination

The following are TAS pre-invitations

Subclass 491 ROI lodged 28 March 2023, nomination invited 15 May 2023, (Translator – 272413) 70+15, with cook work experience

Subclass 190 ROI lodged 21 April 2023, nomination invited 15 May 2023, Accountant (General) – 221111 75+5, with skills-assessment-relevant work

The following are formal invitations

Nomination lodged 8 May 2023, formally invited 15 May 2023

Nomination lodged 9 May 2023, formally invited 15 May 2023

Nomination lodged 4 May 2023, formally invited 15 May 2023

Nomination lodged 11 May 2023, formally invited 17 May 2023

Nomination lodged 1 May 2023, formally invited 18 May 2023

NSW state nomination

For Subclass 491 pre-invitation data, see the summary above

The following are formal nomination approvals

Lodged 24 April 2023, received formal invitation to nominate 15 May 2023, 55+15 points Aeronautical Engineer – 233911

Formal nomination documents lodged 19 May 2023, received formal invitation to nominate 19 May 2023, 70+15 points software engineer

Occupation: Marketing Specialist, lodged: 08/05/2023 Approved: 15/05/2023

SA state nomination

Subclass 491 lodged 12 May 2023, invited 17 May 2023, onshore, occupation: Software Engineer, SA graduate stream

QLD state nomination

None this week

WA state nomination

Lodged 7 December 2022, received formal invitation to nominate 15 May 2023, management accountant

NT state nomination

None this week

This week’s grant progress and analysis

Subclass 189 Skilled Independent migration

Lodged 14 January 2023, granted 17 May 2023

Subclass 190 State-Nominated skilled migration

Lodged 9 June 2022, granted 18 May 2023

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

Lodged 29 June 2020, granted 18 May 2023 VIC Subclass 491
Accountant (General) onshore, with partner and children

Lodged 2 June 2022, granted 18 May 2023 TAS Subclass 491
Translator onshore

Subclass 887/191 Regional permanent residence visa

Lodged 23 May 2022, granted 17 May 2023

Lodged 15 May 2022, granted 17 May 2023

Lodged 9 December 2021, granted 16 May 2023

Lodged 24 January 2022, granted 15 May 2023

Subclass 191 lodged 17 March 2023, granted 18 May 2023, onshore, HK stream

Employer sponsored

Subclass 186 nomination lodged 10 June 2022, nomination approved 15 May 2023, accountant

Subclass 482 lodged 11 May 2023, nomination and visa both approved 16 May 2023, marketing specialist

Subclass 482 lodged 2 May 2023, granted 17 May 2023, accountant

Investor migration / GTI

None this week

Subclass 600 visitor visa

Lodged 27 April 2023, granted 18 May 2023, offshore application

Lodged 12 May 2023, granted 16 May 2023, onshore application

Lodged 28 April 2023, granted 15 May 2023 parents of PR holder

Lodged 5 May 2023, granted 16 May 2023, parents of PR holder

Lodged 3 May 2023, granted 18 May 2023, parents of PR holder

Lodged 10 May 2023, granted 19 May 2023, parents of PR holder

Subclass 500 student visa

Lodged 19 April 2023, granted 16 May 2023

Lodged 27 March 2023, granted 16 May 2023

Lodged 11 May 2023, granted 16 May 2023

Lodged 6 July 2022, granted 19 May 2023, Postgraduate Research Sector

Lodged: 18/05/2022 Granted: 16/05/2023, offshore, doctoral

Subclass 485 Graduate Work visa

Lodged 7 March 2023, granted 19 May 2023

Lodged 25 March 2023, granted 19 May 2023, onshore

Lodged 16 May 2023, granted 17 May 2023, onshore, with partner

Partner migration

Subclass 820 lodged 8 July 2022, granted 15 May 2023

Subclass 820 lodged 15 March 2023, granted 17 May 2023

Subclass 820 lodged 09 November 2022, granted 18 May 2023

Parent migration / visas / child visas

None this week

Subclass 408 visa

Subclass 408 lodged onshore 10 May 2023, granted 15 May 2023

Subclass 408 lodged onshore 15 May 2023, granted 17 May 2023

Lodged 12 May 2023, granted 16 May 2023

Lodged 9 May 2023, granted 15 May 2023

Subclass 155 visa

Lodged 12 May 2023, granted 19 May 2023

Lodged 9 May 2023, granted 16 May 2023

Citizenship application

Lodged 12 July 2022, approved 18 May 2023

Lodged 11 October 2022, approved 17 May 2023

This week’s skills assessment processing progress

ACS (IT-related)

Lodged 15 February 2023, result issued 15 May 2023

Lodged 27 February 2023, approved 18 May 2023, Software engineer

Lodged: 25/11/2022 Approved: 19/05/2023, Occupation: Developer Programmer

CA (accounting-related)

Lodged 9 December 2022, result issued 15 May 2023

Lodged 30 March 2023, approved 17 May 2023, accountant

Lodged 4 April 2023, approved 18 May 2023, accountant

Lodged 4 March 2023, approved 19 May 2023, accountant

IPA (accounting-related)

None this week

EA (engineering)

Lodged 4 April 2023, approved 17 May 2023, ET

Lodged early April 2023, approved 18 May 2023, civil engineering

VETASSESS

Occupation: Civil Engineering Draftsperson, lodged: 6/12/2022 Approved: 19/05/2023

Occupation: Contract Administrator, lodged: 07/05/2023 Approved: 15/05/2023

Occupation: Project Administrator, lodged: 10/05/2023 Approved: 15/05/2023

Occupation: Information and Organisation Professional, lodged: 08/05/2023 Approved: 15/05/2023

Occupation: Project Administrator, lodged: 12/05/2023 Approved: 18/05/2023

AIQS

Lodged 2 February 2023, result issued 17 May 2023

Lodged 5 December 2022, result issued 17 May 2023

Lodged 10 December 2022, result issued 18 May 2023

Recommended past articles

Study-work-migrate, a fresh approach! Ideal for Subclass 408/WHV/student visa holders pursuing PR!

Working people can migrate too! Older, weaker English, non-traditional migration field – straight to PR!

2023 offshore state migration pathways across Australia! Apply for Subclass 190/491!

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[Migration Weekly Issue 285] Lodge before 1 July and the $70k salary rise won’t apply! Subclass 190/189/491 still being granted! A fresh study-work-migrate pathway

Study-work-migrate, a fresh approach! Ideal for Subclass 408/WHV/student visa holders pursuing PR!

Working people can migrate too! Older, weaker English, non-traditional migration field – straight to PR!

2023 offshore state migration pathways across Australia! Apply for Subclass 190/491!

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