Australia has recently decided on new immigration policy changes that include changes about international students, annual quota, priority occupations, and citizenship. The changes have been made on the occasion when Australia is getting ready to slowly open the borders for immigrants.
It seems that the temporary immigrants already in Australia will be given preference on a temporary basis just like Canada. Maybe the applications of those applicants who are out of the country will be ignored because the flights are closed due to COVID-19. But the immigrant residents of Sydney and Melbourne were much perturbed about these changes so, the relief will be announced for them as well.
Australia’ major immigration policy announcements
The annual quota for immigrants
The immigrant’s quota remains the same as of the previous year. Australia’s Home Affairs officially verified that these immigration policy changes will not affect the professionals. Instead, these will support the quota of a total estimated 160,000 immigrants annually. This number covers a total allocation of 79,600 for professionals and skills stream and 77,300 quota for family stream.
Additional occupations in PMSOL List
The government of Australia declared to select some extra occupations to the Priority Migration Skilled Occupational List (PMSOL) from the applications for the visa. Before COVID-19, the number of occupations on the list was 19 and now this is 41. There is the addition of 22 more occupations. The basic purpose of it to compensate for the loss of the state economically due to COVID-19 and make the country again in a better economic position.
According to the government, those visa holders selected by the PMSOL occupation list will have to make the preparations for the quarantine by their expenditures. There will be no support from the government. Also, the former occupations list will be computed without any alterations. But one thing is obvious that the occupations in the PMSOL list will get the preference.
Priority Migration Skilled Occupational List (PMSOL) will give preference to these occupations:
- Civil Engineers
- Electrical Engineers
- Mechanical Engineers
- Medical Laboratory Scientist
- Veterinarians
- General Practitioners
- Medical Officers
- Psychiatrists
- Midwife
The Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List
The 41 occupations (ANZSCO code) are:
- Chief Executive or Managing Director (111111)
- Construction Project Manager (133111)
- Accountant (General) (221111)
- Management Accountant (221112)
- Taxation Accountant (221113)
- External Auditor (221213)
- Internal Auditor (221214)
- Surveyor (232212)
- Cartographer (232213)
- Other Spatial Scientist (232214)
- Civil Engineer (233211)
- Geotechnical Engineer (233212)
- Structural Engineer (233214)
- Transport Engineer (233215)
- Electrical Engineer (233311)
- Mechanical Engineer (233512)
- Mining Engineer (excluding Petroleum) (233611)
- Petroleum Engineer (233612)
- Medical Laboratory Scientist (234611)
- Veterinarian (234711)
- Orthotist or Prosthetist (251912)
- General Practitioner (253111)
- Resident Medical Officer (253112)
- Psychiatrist (253411)
- Medical Practitioners nec (253999)
- Midwife (254111)
- Registered Nurse (Aged Care) (254412)
- Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency) (254415)
- Registered Nurse (Medical) (254418)
- Registered Nurse (Mental Health) (254422)
- Registered Nurse (Perioperative) (254423)
- Registered Nurses nec (254499)
- Multimedia Specialist (261211)
- Analyst Programmer (261311)
- Developer Programmer (261312)
- Software Engineer (261313)
- Software and Applications Programmers nec (261399)
- ICT Security Specialist (262112)
- Social Worker (272511)
- Maintenance Planner (312911)
- Chef (351311)
International students new policy
Due to the COVID-19, the government of Australia announced some changes in the policies of immigration and visa in 2021-22. What kind of relief international students get?
The International students in Australia got affected by COVID-19 big times. They were unable to find the resources for earning. This pandemic also disturbed their education. So, the government decided that the international students can also work as an employee in a particular department for more than 40 hours. This announcement not only is beneficial for the international students but also for the betterment of the economy of the state.
Changes for Australian citizenship applications
From 2016 to 2020, the fee for Australian citizenship applications remained the same A$285 but has been increased and the new rate will be A$490. This increase in the charges will be implemented from 1st of July. These new charges represent the payments for the staff and inflations and complications for the applications to be computed. The authorities are reviving just 50% of the payments of processing of the citizenship applications.
Previously made changes
Australia in the recent past has also made some important changes such as:
- Significant increases in family visa locations from 47,732 to 77,300, including 72,300 partner visas (then mainly beaches)
- English language required for partner visa applicants and additional sponsorship responsibilities
- Focus on the cost of the Scale Select Free Visa Program on Special, New Global Talent (GT) and Business Investment and Innovation Program (BIIP)
- Visa application fee waivers and refunds for people with temporary visas and those infected with the Coronavirus epidemic