Latest! Government considering extending or temporarily freezing the 485 work visa! A new renewal pathway for many international students — full-time work for 1 year, plus no visa application fee!

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, in an interview with Sky News yesterday, touched on a lot of migration- and visa-related issues — including the New Zealand citizenship stream, refugees, and temporary visas, before going on to talk about international graduates and soon-to-be graduates, many of whom have had their Subclass 485 visa go to waste due to COVID-19 travel disruptions — given that this visa only offers one chance as a primary applicant, and, apart from those who graduated within a specific window while offshore, must be applied for within 6 months of graduation.

So the Minister said the government is aware of this concern and is considering temporarily freezing or extending the visa period for students whose Subclass 485 is about to expire, or who have wasted their 485 window stuck offshore. He said international students are an “important priority” for the federal government (oh, really…)

“We’ve already introduced some exemption rules and concessions around visa extensions, and we’ll also look into doing the same for the 485 work visa, and when the time is right, we’ll announce the relevant new policy. ”

So strictly speaking, what industries actually fall under tourism and hospitality?

In fact, the range of people working in these two industries is actually quite broad —

Tourism sector:

mainly covers any role related to the tourism industry, such as travel agency drivers, tour guides, ticketing staff, information centre staff, flight cente, and people working at tourist attractions,etc. The Department of Home Affairs will consider all sorts of tourism-related occupations. In short, as long as the work is tourism-related, it counts as part of the tourism industry.

The service industry is even broader:

for instance, hotels, resort hotels, hotels at major tourist attractions, Airbnb, ski resorts and their associated accommodation and restaurants — and all their related service staff.

Beyond that, campground operators, caravan park managers, and student accommodation managers are all covered under the accommodation industry too.

Finally, let’s talk about the food and beverage industry:

This is the industry international students have had the most exposure to so far — for instance lobby managers, restaurant chefs, kitchen hands, waitstaff, bar staff — and all other positions directly related to restaurants.

Fast food outlets (McDonald’s, KFC, Hunger Jacks, etc.), food courts in shopping malls, plus mobile food trucks and bubble tea shops — all of these count too.

If your current job is in one of the above industries, congratulations — you can work full-time! Of course, the Department of Home Affairs has also made clear that full-time work must not interfere with normal enrolment and attending classes, otherwise you’ll still be in breach of your visa conditions — keep that in mind.

If your student visa is about to expire and you don’t want to renew it, but still want to stay on and work for another year, you can apply for a Subclass 408 visa.

The Subclass 408 (Temporary Activity — COVID-19 Pandemic event) visa is another huge gift from the Australian government to applicants who are in Australia, unable to leave during the pandemic, and unable to apply for any other visa.Application fee — waived!

Applicants need to meet the following conditions:

— currently in Australia;

— hold a valid visa, and be within 90 days of it expiring, or within 28 days after it has expired (in other words, you can apply any time within the 90 days before your visa expires);

— unable to leave Australia due to the pandemic;

— unable to renew or apply for any visa other than the 408;

— working in a critical sector (aged care, childcare, early childhood education, agriculture, public health, and now tourism and hospitality too, among others);

— have the relevant skills to work in a role related to essential goods and services.

Note!

If you don’t work in one of the above critical-shortage industries or sectors, but you’re still stuck in Australia with no other renewal option, you can still choose to renew via the 408 visa, and it’s also free of the visa application charge.The purpose of this visa is to give you a temporary bridge (for example, if you plan to return home but can’t get a flight booked before your current visa expires), so the visa period will be shorter and won’t come with full-time work rights.

The catch!

Applying for the 408 pandemic-event visa isn’t entirely straightforward either. To apply for a 408 with work rights in a critical-shortage industry, besides actually working in that industry, the most important point is that you need to prove that the role you currently hold can’t be filled by a PR holder or citizen. At the same time, you also need to show that you had no intention to migrate at the time you applied for the 408 visa, which is similar to the requirement for a student visa.

Several 408 visas we’ve recently helped clients successfully obtain have all come with work rights!

Migration information-sharing and Q&A group

Still looking for a Plan B? It’s right here!Click “Original Link”, for the New Zealand entry guide!