AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES VISA CHANGES FOR 2020-21 MIGRATION YEAR
Migrants and immigration advisors have anxiously awaited the details of Australia’s 2020-21 migration programmes. Finally, the wait is over. The Australian government announced the updates in the Federal budget that was delivered on Thursday, 6 October.
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While the total number of available visas remain the same at 160,000 spots, there are plenty of changes in the skilled worker and family categories. These and all other changes are valid from June 2020 to July 2021.
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Skilled work visa changes
It’s good news for Employer-Sponsored, Global Talent & Business Innovation and Investment Program applicants. Australia has said that the Department of Home Affairs will prioritise these visas within the Skilled Stream. This is to assist Australia’s post-Coronavirus economic recovery and to boost local jobs.
The Department of Home Affairs has already put into effect a new Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List with 17 critical occupations on it. This list is specifically for the employer-sponsored visas.
In turn, the Global Talent visa and the Business Innovation & Investment Program will create jobs and bring money into the country.
The number of allocated spots
There are slightly less Employer Sponsored visas available in the 2020-2021 migration year. Spots for Provisional Business Innovation and Investment visas and the Global Talent Independent visas, on the other hand, have doubled and tripled respectively!
Employer-Sponsored visa: 22,000 visas (30,000 in the 2019-2020 year)
Provisional Business Innovation and Investment visa: 13,500 (6,862 in the 2019-2020 year)
Global Talent Independent Program: 15,000 (5,000 in the 2019-2020 year)
When it comes to the three most popular skilled work visas, the available spots have decreased significantly:
Skilled Independent visa: 6,500 (16,652 in the 2019-2020 year)
State Nominated Skilled visa: 11,200 (24,968 in the 2019-2020 year)
Skilled Work Regional visa: 11,200 (23,372 in the 2019-2020 year)
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Family stream visas
Australia has allocated tremendous 77,300 spots to the family stream in the 2020-21 migration year. Of those, 72,300 spots have been allocated to partner visa applications.
This change was most likely made to clear up some of the partner visa backlogs that remained at nearly 100,000 visas in September.
Partner visa changes
The most talked-about change to partner visas is the condition that partners of Australians must pass an English language test before gaining permanent residency. The Australian partner must also meet this requirement if he or she is a permanent resident and not a citizen.
If approved in parliament, this change will come into effect mid-2021.