Subclass 188B visa applicants will be required to increase their investment amount from AUD 1.5 million to AUD 2.5 million, while Subclass 188C Significant Investor visa applicants will continue with their AUD 5 million investment unchanged.
Today’s biggest news is NSW’s announcement of new international arrival rules: from 1 November, fully vaccinated overseas travellers arriving in NSW will no longer be required to quarantine — neither hotel nor home quarantine.
The Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) hosted a national conference on the 14th and 15th. Day one primarily featured federal Department of Home Affairs officials, including Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, the Assistant Secretary for skilled visas, and the Senior Director overseeing border policy enforcement during the pandemic, among others.
When studying in Australia, the Group of Eight (Go8) universities always attract significant attention. Most Go8 postgraduate programmes require a minimum Australian undergraduate GPA of 65%, and this strict entry requirement can lock out students whose grades fall short.
Former NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, who actively championed the NSW international student pilot programme, was appointed as the new NSW Premier last week. True to form as a new leader eager to make his mark, he promptly announced further relaxations to NSW’s reopening plan.
Plans to bring international students back to Australia are taking shape in New South Wales and Victoria before year’s end — NSW has two batches of 500 students each, while Victoria will admit 120 per week. The numbers are modest, mainly serving as a pilot to lead by example, but it is better than nothing and marks a promising start.
As skilled migration becomes increasingly competitive, WA state nomination has emerged as this financial year’s dark horse — significantly lowering invitation score thresholds, expanding eligible occupations, and extending particularly generous invitations to local graduates.
Immigration New Zealand launched a one-off resident visa on 30 September, available to people currently holding temporary work visas in New Zealand.
Canada, one of the world’s most popular migration destinations, has long been a firm favourite. Even after the pandemic, Canada has remained steadfast in pursuing its major population strategy — the Three-Year, One-Million Migrants Plan. New migration programmes have been continuously rolled out, while traditional high-quality programmes have also received fresh momentum through increased quotas and faster processing. The Canada Federal Self-Employment Programme we introduce today is one such well-established, high-quality programme. Following a quota increase from 700 to 10,000, processing times have been reduced from 7 years to just 2 years.
Early childhood educators have long been in short supply across Australia and other developed nations. During the pandemic, many early childhood workers continued to report for duty, providing peace of mind for frontline healthcare staff and others who could not stay home with their children. Both rounds of NSW state nomination extended invitations to early childhood educators, and Victoria’s dedicated state nomination pathway for the field has also seen significant uptake. Other state nominations have similarly invited early childhood educators — a well-deserved acknowledgement of their hard work.
