[Video] Treasury forecasts tens of thousands in Net Overseas Migration recovery next financial year! PMSOL list adds new occupations! International students in hospitality and other roles no longer restricted on work hours!
1. Eagerly awaiting next week’s Budget announcement
2. International students working in tourism and hospitality no longer subject to the 40-hour limit, PMSOL list confirmed to expand occupations
3. Canberra invitations now as low as 50 points, Victoria state nomination still has a large quota surplus!
4.Some onshore Subclass 143 applicants can now apply for a bridging visa, with successful cases already achieved
5. This week’s roundup of visa grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing progress
Australia’s latest vaccine news, 2021.5.3-5.7
As of this Friday, a total of 2,483,466 vaccine doses have been administered across Australia, with an average of 45,800 doses administered daily over the past 7 days (up from an average of 38,000 doses daily the previous week). At the current rate, it will take more than 30 months to reach herd immunity.
The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration said on 6 May that 5 new cases of blood clotting occurred in the past week, believed to be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, bringing the total to 11 cases since Australia’s vaccine rollout began. Of the 5 new cases, 4 people have left hospital and returned home, with 2 of them already back at work, while 1 remains in stable condition under treatment.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use mRNA technology, and Australia currently has no long-term domestic production capability. The NSW Premier met with mRNA technology experts this week, hoping to make NSW the home of Australia’s mRNA manufacturing industry.
For more news, press and hold the QR code:
1. Industries across the board eagerly await next week’s Budget announcement
At 7:30pm next Tuesday, 11 May, Australia’s Treasurer will hand down the Federal Budget for the 2021-22 financial year. As the first Budget of the post-pandemic recovery phase, it carries expectations for economic recovery and attention far greater than before. The ABC produced a special report interviewing several affected industries about their views and hopes for this Budget.Newstars Melbourne and Hobart branch manager, MARA-registered migration agent Kirkwas also interviewed,sharing his views.
Kirk said this Budget is very important for restoring international students’ confidence in Australia and its appeal to prospective migrants,the past year has been extremely difficult for international students,“Whether onshore or offshore, they’ve had to study online for extended periods. Those onshore have been affected by the pandemic but received very limited financial support, and many have had to work hard to juggle part-time jobs as well.”
The tightened skilled migration policy(particularly the sharp cut to Subclass 189 skilled independent migration places, and increasingly fierce competition for state nomination)has made their path even harder during the pandemic,“Most of them don’t feel appreciated.” They’ve put in a great deal, including financially, without getting the return they wanted.
He hopes to see the Federal Government bring skilled migration back to pre-pandemic levels and provide more migration pathways. “Maybe other industries have already seen light at the end of the tunnel, but our industry is definitely still in the tunnel,”“he said.
For the full report, see: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-09/federal-budget-small-business-international-students-borders/100120544
Finance minister Simon BirminghamIn his most recent interview discussing the Budget, he mentioned thatinternational travel may resume after 2022, but the border won’t be “easily thrown open” early next year. The Treasury’s forecast for Net Overseas Migration (NOM) shows:
Next financial year, 21-22, “will be in a slow recovery phase, reaching a small negative figure”
The financial year after that, 22-23, “will be in a gradual recovery phase, returning to positive figures (more arrivals than departures), but still below pre-pandemic levels”
The financial year after that, 23-24, “will return to pre-pandemic levels”
These forecast figures will also be affected by many other real-world factors, and the specific numbers won’t be 100% accurate — they’re more like an internal planning benchmark and expectation for government. As for how fast or slow this recovery is, that’s a matter of perspective. Take next financial year, 21-22, for example: still being negative might disappoint you, but this figure is tens of thousands lower than this financial year’s, which could mean hope for quite a few people to enter the country.
One more thing,over the weekend there were “reports” claiming the Prime Minister said the borders would be “closed indefinitely”…In fact, the Prime Minister wasrebuttingan article in The Daily Telegraph, which claimed that because Australia wants to “eliminate” COVID-19, international borders would remain closed, and that the government had no plans to abandon its zero-case target.
Morrison said both claims were false: “Australia hasn’t changed its pandemic response goals, and there’s no ‘zero-case’ target as reported.” He reiterated that international borders “will only open when it’s safe to do so”, and that “there are still many uncertainties ahead”. However, at present “there’s no sign that Australia is about to open up to the world.”
So it’s neither “immediately” nor “indefinitely” — the approach remains cautious, with ever-changing uncertainties, so no firm timeline can be given.
Based on the various signs at present, there’s reason to look forward to the new financial year’s Budget being handed down on the evening of 11 May — it will all be revealed soon.We’ve specially set up a21-22 Federal Budget live-update group,before and after the release on 11 Mayto track authoritative news in real time, covering everything, with live updates on the night of the release. If you’re interested, add the QR code belowand note: Budget,to request to join the group.
2. International students working in tourism and hospitality no longer subject to the 40-hour limit, new occupations added to the PMSOL list
In a press release on Saturday, the Immigration Minister announced that, to support the tourism and services sectors, student visa holders working in these industries will no longer be subject to the fortnightly 40-hour work limit during their course. According to the National Skills Commission, the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) classifies the hospitality services sector as includingbusinesses providing accommodation, food and beverage services (such as cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services); pubs, taverns and bars; hotels, motels and other accommodation, and hospitality clubs,with the main roles including the following:
Cafe and Restaurant Manager
Retail Manager
Bar Attendant and Barista
Cafe Worker
Waiter
Sales Assistant
Receptionist
Hotel and Motel Manager
Hospitality Manager
As you can see, this covers many of the common, popular jobs held by international students.
At the same time,temporary visa holders working in the tourism and hospitality services industries will be able to apply for the Subclass 408 COVID-19 Pandemic event stream,meaning they can apply for the Subclass 408 pandemic visa within the 90 days before their existing temporary visa expires,the visa length is 12 months,and this Subclass 408 visacomes with full-time work rights. This press release is more like the Minister’s official announcement — the relevant Department of Home Affairs website pages and legislation are expected to be updated accordingly.
If you’re currently working in the tourism and hospitality services industries and your visa is about to expire, there are now two renewal options that let you keep working full-time — although, relatively speaking, a student visa can run longer depending on your course length. Feel free to book a consultation for a tailored one-on-one plan.
The Immigration Minister had previously flagged that the PMSOL list, which currently has only 18 occupations, would be adjusted. In the same press release, the Minister mentioned that a decision had already been madeto add Veterinarian to the PMSOL priority occupation list. The government will continue to consider feedback from a wide range of industries, and further additions from other industries may well be announced progressively.
In short, as he has previously stated, next financial year and even in the years ahead, Australia will pay close attention to data from state governments and industry, and migration and visa policy will become more flexible so it can respond in real time to skill shortages emerging in the market during the post-pandemic recovery period.
This week, news from the South Australian Government is that they supportkeeping next financial year’s PR quota at least at the current level of 160,000,and they also support the specific settings being aligned with population and economic needs in the post-pandemic phase. In addition,they hope that when Australia can open its borders “in a transitional and targeted way”, skilled migrants holding “provisional PR” visas such as 491/489 will be among the priority groups to return to Australia.There’s also their long-standing call tostrengthen regional incentive policies, directing skilled migrants toward areas that genuinely need population and skills.
3. Canberra invitations now as low as 50 points, Victoria state nomination still has a large quota surplus!
Canberraissued 2 rounds of matrix state nomination invitations this week; the second round on 7 May only issued 491 invitations, with IT and engineering
popular occupations able to receive an invitation with as low as 50 points,50 points is the lowest score since the matrix points system was introduced.
2253 Public Relations Professional 55 points
2339 Other Engineering professionals 60 points
2332 Civil Engineering professionals 50 points
2544 Registered Nurses 50 points
2611 ICT Business and Systems Analyst 50 points
2613 Software and Applications Programmers 50 points
2621 Database and Systems Administrator 50 points
2632 ICT Support and Test Engineers 50 points
For applicants in these occupations based in other states, this is very good news — this threshold is easily achievable.
For example:
Student A graduated from UTS with a Master’s in ICT, and received a skills assessment for 2613 Software and Applications Programmers. His matrix score breaks down as follows—
Proficient level English 10 points
Nominated occupation on the ACT Critical Skills List 20 points
Master Degree 15 points
That already adds up to 45 points
The remaining 5 points can be made up in several ways, the common ones being:
for example, if applying with a spouse who has four 6s and a diploma-level qualification or higher of three years, that adds these 5 points
or if the current job falls under ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3, that can also add these 5 points
This financial year, Canberra’s 491 and 190 quotas are still plentiful to date, with the state government issuing invitations according to plan,recently there’s been a clear push to encourage 491 applications, and even popular occupations like Accountant show a trend of gradually lowering point thresholds — effectively opening the door to applicants from other states. Next financial year, the state government will push for more state nomination places, and the proportion allocated to 491 could increase further.For more analysis, see:Canberra opens the floodgates — invitations at just 50 points! ICT, engineering and other fields hit record-low scores!
If your occupation has slim prospects and huge difficulty in your own state,or you need an extremely high score to be invited, Canberra’s state nomination — fast invitations, plentiful quota and a reasonable threshold — is worth an assessment. Come and get evaluated!
Victoriareleased the latest state nomination data as at 31 April this week
For 190 —
received 6,421 ROI applications and issued 1,326 formal nominations
For 491 —
received 1,056 ROI applications and issued 269 formal nominations
With two months left in the financial year,Victoria still has 1,174 190and 774 491 formal nomination places unused,the deadline for this round of ROI submissions is 5pm next Monday, 10 May, which is also the final round of the financial year.Although the occupations receiving the most invitations are shown in the chart below:
given how plentiful the quota is, we encourage anyone working in Victoria (especially in engineering and ICT occupations) to contact us to submit an ROI — it’s entirely possible the state government will open the floodgates at year-end to avoid wasting quota!
4.Some onshore Subclass 143 applicants can now apply for a bridging visa, with successful cases already achieved
Subclass 143 applicants affected by this financial year’s PR quota running out early finally have good news. Through our testing, onshore applicants who have already lodged a 143 application and meet certain conditionscan apply for a Bridging Visa A to remain in Australia long-term, avoiding the hassle of constant visa renewals.We already have a client who has successfully obtained a Bridging Visa A — once their current visa expires, the bridging visa will take effect.
Eligible applicants must meet all of the following conditions:
1. Lodged their Subclass 143 visa application before 2021.3.24
2. Held a Subclass 600 visitor visa or another valid Australian visa at the time of lodging the 143 application
3. Currently in Australia and holding a valid visa (if condition 8503 applies, an 8503 waiver must be obtained first before this BVA can be applied for)
The successful case mentioned above, where the visa has already been granted, took 3 weeks to process. As more applications come in, the processing speed for grants is very likely to slow down, so keep a close eye on how much time is left on your current visa and get in touch as early as possible! This should also apply to applicants for the Subclass 103 queue parent visa, the Subclass 173 contributory parent visa, and the Subclass 309 offshore partner visa (subject to the same conditions).
Feifan English PTE&CCL news this week
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Themed check-in groups run from time to time — come and join! Add Feifan English’s teacher on WeChat below to sign up!
5. This week’s roundup of visa grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing progress
A recent roundup of Newstars’ visa grants and invitations across all categories: press and hold below to view,the webpage will be continuously updated, and we highly recommend yousave and bookmark it!
State nomination invitation / GTI invitation statistics
Canberra state nomination
No data available this week
Victoria state nomination
None this week
Tasmania state nomination
Lodged 30 March 2021, received a 491 invitation 7 May 2021, Accountant 221111, 95+15
NSW state nomination
None this week
South Australia state nomination
Lodged 10 February 2021, invited for 491 on 6 May 2021, Accountant (General), 70+15, single, onshore
Lodged 9 February 2021, invited for 190 on 5 May 2021, Civil Engineer, 65+5, with spouse, onshore
Lodged 9 February 2021, invited for 190 on 5 May 2021, Software Engineer, 75+5, with spouse, onshore
Lodged 4 May 2021, invited for 491 on 4 May 2021, cook, 55+15, with spouse, onshore
Queensland state nomination
None this week
Western Australia state nomination
None this week
Northern Territory state nomination
None this week
GTI invitations
None this week
This week’s visa grant progress and analysis
189 skilled independent migration
Lodged 6 March 2020, granted 5 May 2021 (Accountant 221111, onshore, with spouse)
Lodged 14 March 2020, granted 6 May 2021 (Landscape Architect 232112, onshore, with spouse)
Lodged 7 November 2019, granted 6 May 2021 (Developer Programmer 261312, onshore, with spouse)
Lodged 24 February 2020, granted 6 May 2021, onshore, QS
Lodged 3 March 2020, granted 6 May 2021, onshore, QS, with spouse
Lodged 16 March 2020, granted 6 May 2021, onshore, QS, with spouse
Lodged 25 February 2020, granted 5 May 2021
Lodged 4 March 2020, granted 6 May 2021
190 state-nominated skilled migration
Lodged 17 December 2020, granted 3 May 2021 (Accountant 221111, onshore, with spouse)
Lodged 8 October 2019, granted 6 May 2021 (Accountant 221111, onshore)
Lodged 14 January 2020, granted 6 May 2021 (Registered Nurse (Medical) 254418, onshore)
Lodged 24 February 2021, granted 7 May 2021, Registered Nurses nec, 70+5, with spouse, onshore
Lodged 1 April 2021, granted 1 May (with spouse, occupation electrical engineering, onshore),
Lodged 17 December 2020, granted 3 May, (occupation accountant onshore)
Lodged 21 January 2020, granted 1 May (with spouse, occupation chef onshore)
Lodged 30 October 2020, granted 7 May 2021
491 (new regional) / 489 (old regional) sponsored visa
None this week
887 regional permanent residence visa
None this week
858GTI Program
None this week
Employer sponsorship
None this week
600 onshore visitor visa
Lodged 29 January 2021, granted 5 May 2021
Lodged 2 February 2021, granted 5 May 2021
Lodged 28 January 2021, granted 5 May 2021.
500 student visa
Lodged 17 February 2021, granted 3 May 2021 (onshore)
Lodged 26 November 2020, granted 4 May 2021 (onshore)
Lodged 19 February 2021, granted 5 May 2021 (onshore)
Lodged 21 April 2021, granted 5 May 2021 (onshore)
Lodged 23 February 2021, granted 6 May 2021 (onshore, with spouse)
Lodged 24 February 2021, granted 7 May 2021 (onshore)
485 graduate work visa
Lodged 22 December 2020, granted 3 May 2021
Lodged 14 September 2020, granted 7 May 2021
Lodged 13 August 2020, granted 7 May 2021 (with spouse and child)
Partner migration
Lodged 820 visa application 23 April 2019, both 820 and 801 granted simultaneously on 3 May 2021
Lodged 300 visa application 20 June 2019, 300 granted 4 May 2021
Lodged 820 visa application 16 November 2020, 820 granted 4 May 2021
Lodged 820 visa application 20 November 2020, both 820 and 801 granted simultaneously on 4 May 2021
Lodged 309 visa application 23 October 2019, 309 granted 5 May 2021
Lodged 820 visa application 8 March 2019, both 820 and 801 granted simultaneously on 5 May 2021
Lodged 820 visa application 28 January 2020, 820 granted 5 May 2021
Lodged 820 visa application 9 December 2020, 820 granted 6 May 2021
Lodged 309 visa application 20 June 2019, 309 granted 7 May 2021
Lodged 820/801 visa application 16 April 2019, 820 granted 1 April 2021, 801 granted 3 May 2021
Lodged 309/100 visa application 15 February 2021, 309 granted 4 May 2021
Lodged 820/801 visa application 17 September 2019, 820 granted 5 May 2021
Lodged 820/801 visa application 5 March 2019, both 820 and 801 granted simultaneously on 6 May 2021
Lodged 820/801 visa application 13 March 2019, both 820 and 801 granted simultaneously on 6 May 2021
Parent migration / visa
Lodged temporary visa application 16 February 2021, granted 7 May 2021
155 Resident Return
None this week
408 visa
Lodged 9 March 2021, granted 8 May 2021
Lodged 2 March 2021, granted 7 May 2021.
Travel exemption applications
None this week
8503/8534 condition waivers
None this week
This week’s skills assessment processing progress
CA (accounting-related)
Lodged 4 May 2021, completed in May 2021, finance manager.
CPA (accounting-related)
None this week
EA (engineering-related)
Lodged 2 April 2021, completed 6 May 2021 (expedited)
Lodged 4 April 2021, completed 8 May 2021 (expedited)
Lodged 21 April 2021, completed 3 May 2021 (expedited)
VETASSESS
Lodged 26 April 2021, completed 6 May 2021
Lodged 24 January 2021, completed 8 May 2021
Lodged 18 February 2021, completed 6 May 2021, Food Technologist
Lodged 26 April 2021, completed 5 May 2021 (expedited)
If you can’t find the data category you’re interested in — meaning there’s none this week — you can click on the[Migration Weekly Bulletin Collection]at the top of the article to view past bulletins and find the relevant data.
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Pinned recommendation!
Click the image to read the featured articles
Onshore in Australia and thinking of switching to migration? In China and want another option? Study in New Zealand and get PR — a practical recommendation
Good news! Parents onshore in Australia who have already lodged a 143 can get a Bridging Visa A to stay in Australia! Successful cases already achieved!
GTI update in full | The main reasons for frequent refusals, common misconceptions among DIY applicants! How important are your job and qualifying income?
State governments firmly back skilled migration → PR quota should be at least 160,000, regional pathways to permanent residency should be made easier! EA: but actual job roles don’t match the policy…
The “lifeline” for onshore and offshore skilled migrants! Getting PR in 4 months — the opportunity isn’t gone
The 485 must be applied for within six months of graduation (not 12 months).
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Reply: 017 → Canadian migration for Australian international students
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Reply: 019 → 408 temporary activity visa
Reply: 020 → New Zealand migration
Employer sponsorship becomes the new hot pathway for international student migration!?Click “Original Link”, to learn about the 482 with the lowest threshold!
