Over the past month, news on Australia’s new migration policy has been arriving thick and fast! On 27 April, Australia’s Minister for Immigration, Claire O’Neil MP, announced the future direction of the country’s migration system. Then, in the new-financial-year Budget handed down on 9 May, the quotas for each migration visa category for the 2023-24 financial year were also released.

Today, let’s pull together all the scattered news from this period for you.

New-Financial-Year Quotas in Detail

Here’s the breakdown

Overall, the total for Subclass 189 has been reduced, but because the New Zealand Stream no longer draws on the quota, the points-tested Subclass 189 places have in fact increased by 4,500.Among the other skilled categories, investor migration has been slashed, skilled migration is broadly flat for this financial year, and employer-sponsored places have even ticked up slightly.

The entire family stream, including parent migration, remains in line with this financial year’s quota.

For a more detailed analysis, see: The New-Financial-Year PR Quota Allocation Is Here! Points-Tested Subclass 189 Gains 4,500 Places! Subclass 190 and 491 Each Get Around 30,000! Employer Sponsorship Quota Rises Again!

In the Budget

Other Announcements

Beyond confirming the new-financial-year quotas for each migration visa category, several finer details were also released in the Budget:

1. Faster skills-assessment pathways may be offered to onshore skilled migrants.

2. Nationwide inflation has also flowed through to visa fees. From 1 July 2023, visitor visas and some temporary visas (including working holiday, training and temporary activity categories) will rise by 15%, investor migration categories by 40%, and other categories such as Subclass 189/190/491 and employer sponsorship by 6%.

3. From 1 July, the work-hour cap for student visa holders will be adjusted to 48 hours per fortnight; those already working in the Aged Care sector may retain unrestricted full-time work rights for a further six months.

Beyond all this information, many of you also have questions about a range of other reform “rumblings”.

For example, exactly how will the EOI points table change? Will the parent visa move to a ballot or not? What benefits do international students have when it comes to migration? Is there still hope for the GTI? … and so on.

We are all eagerly awaiting official confirmation on these questions, but in fact, within the official Australian Migration Review report, we can already analyse and trace a few telltale clues about the future direction of Australian migration.

Let’s take a look and unpack it together below!

Setting a Clear Migration Strategy to Steer Australia Through Difficult Times

–Establish a clear migration strategy to guide Australia’s migration over the coming decades.

– Ensure that a single, deeply expert government department is responsible for managing the migration system, safeguarding the professionalism of migration officers!

– Design the migration system’s assessment plan around the outcomes the government wants to achieve through migration, that is, attracting the talent it wants.

– Develop a data-driven strategy to support Australia’s migration program.

This will redefine how Australia determines the size and composition of its migration program.

– Begin planning migration over the long term (for example, 10 years).

– Plan migration on the basis of net overseas migration (including TR and PR), rather than simply relying on a PR cap.

Work with government departments and with the states and territories to consider how migration can best help meet local needs, particularly in regional Australia.

– Better target permanent skilled visas to maximise economic outcomes and maintain international competitiveness.

– Revisit the allocation of places within the skilled migration program. In particular, reconsider the size and role of the Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP), noting more positive outcomes.For the Significant Investor visa, consider how to – manage the places allocated to state and territory nominations and regional visas, including potentially merging these programs.

–Recalibrate the EOI points test to select migrants with high-demand skills who will make the greatest long-term economic contribution.

– Consider changing the existing Global Talent (GTI) visa to improve the clarity of the selection criteria and remove the need for nomination.

On Temporary Skilled Migration (Mainly Employer Sponsorship)

– Rely on the expertise of JSA to determine workforce needs and market wage rates, and to provide deep insight and advice in a way that links migration to skills and training.

– Remove the requirement for labour market testing. (Remove the recruitment-advertising requirement.)

– The Skilled Migration Advisory Committee (MACSM) as a tripartite advisory body. Drawing on the advice of JSA to further inform this tripartite approach.

– Raise the income threshold for temporary skilled migration, (TSMIT) linking it to the Wage Price Index and considering an age-adjusted threshold.

Managing the Risks of Temporary Skilled Migration

– Use temporary labour migration regulation to keep risks under control.

–Allow temporary migrants to leave their current job and look for work with another employer within the same sector or occupational scope, with up to 6 months to find a new job.

– Require all employers of a temporary visa holder to register the role through a streamlined process;those with a serious record of workplace breaches will be deregistered and ineligible to employ visa holders.

– Require employers to pay fees monthly rather than upfront, to promote mobility between employers and improve access for small businesses by lowering upfront costs.

– Following the model of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, provide migrant workers with targeted training on workplace laws and conditions.

– Improve post-arrival monitoring and compliance, including by coordinating with the tax system and using the Tax File Number (TFN) and Single Touch Payroll.

Address and Avoid “permanently temporary” migration

– Ensure that, in future, a cohort that remains here but does not hold permanent residence does not emerge.

Restoring the Original Purpose of the Working Holiday Visa

Ensure that the main focus of the Working Holiday Maker program is cultural exchange, rather than tying migration outcomes to work performance.In line with Australia’s obligations under trade and other international agreements, consider limiting the Working Holiday Maker (WHM) visa to one year.

How the Parent Visa Will Be Reviewed

Introduce a parent visa ballot to prevent further application backlogs.

Launch a cheaper, more attractive temporary visa option for parents that may, over the long term, replace the permanent parent program.

Strengthening International Students’ Study Purpose and Transition

– Review the work-hour cap for student visas, including whether unpaid work-integrated learning, internships and work experience count towards the cap.

– Automatically provide a temporary graduate visa on completion of study.

– Align the duration of the temporary graduate visa with the time needed to identify high-potential graduates who are likely to go on to secure a permanent skilled visa.

– Explore options to provide the student cohort with some form of direct permanent residency pathway.

– Align the English language requirements for student and/or postgraduate visas with those for skilled visas.

– Shift from the Genuine Temporary Entrant criterion to a Genuine Student test.

Unlocking the Potential of All Migrants

– Revisit the scope of settlement and integration support programs so that migrants can better adapt to local differences in settlement location and migration needs.

– Review the Newly Arrived Resident’s Waiting Period (NARWP) to help improve the government’s understanding of how this policy measure affects migration outcomes.

– Invest in social enterprises and other businesses focused on the drivers of migrants’ economic integration, including targeting cohorts that face particular barriers in the labour market (such as migrant women and humanitarian entrants).

– Lead a strategy, together with the states and territories, to oversee work on streamlining skills recognition, particularly for occupations that can deliver the greatest benefit to Australia.

Investing in Policy, Service Delivery and Support Capability

Invest in the Department of Home Affairs’ capability to deliver the migration system, including through ongoing investment in ICT systems, technology adoption and data capability.

A Few Bold Guesses on the Direction

For reference only

Based on the content of the report above, we can in fact make a few bold guesses about the direction of travel:

1. In future, Australian migration will work closely with government departments and with the states and territories to set migration quotas and regional development needs, particularly in regional Australia.

2. The EOI points table will change. Age and wages may also be linked into the scoring.

3. The GTI visa will change. But it will be changed for the better, and there will still be opportunities.

4. Employer-sponsored employees will be able to look for work with another employer within the same sector or occupational scope, with up to 6 months to find a new job.

5. Temporary skilled migration will focus its review on coordination with the tax system, use of the Tax File Number (TFN) and Single Touch Payroll.

6. The Working Holiday Maker (WHM) visa may be limited to one year.

7. Study visas will place greater weight on English results.

8. Introduce a parent visa ballot to prevent further application backlogs. (This may not be implemented in the short term.)

9. Some form of direct permanent residency pathway will be offered to the student cohort.

10. The temporary graduate visa for students will be aligned with the time needed to obtain a permanent residency visa.

11. Cohorts who hold temporary visas in Australia over the long term will face restrictions in future.

All of the above are 【recommendations】 from the reform report. Will they be considered? Will they be implemented? And once confirmed for implementation, will they be further adjusted from this baseline? The answers to these questions remain unknown to us all. What is certain, however, is that many fairly major reforms are on the way.

For more details and new policies, please follow our Brisbane assistant. We’ll bring you the latest news as soon as it breaks!

Catch Up on Past Highlights

New-Financial-Year PR Quota Allocation! Points-Tested Subclass 189 Gains 4,500 More!

Over 200 Occupations in Marketing/IT/Finance and More Will Have a Direct Path to PR!

Understand Australia’s Major Migration Overhaul in One Read: Points System / Employer / Parent All Covered!

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Australia’s New Migration Financial Year and Policy Direction Are Set! What Comes Next? We Trace the Clues Through the Entire Official Migration Reform Report

New-Financial-Year PR Quota Allocation! Points-Tested Subclass 189 Gains 4,500 More!

Over 200 Occupations in Marketing/IT/Finance and More Will Have a Direct Path to PR!

Understand Australia’s Major Migration Overhaul in One Read: Points System / Employer / Parent All Covered!

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