The 2019 Federal Budget has made important announcements lately related to the Department of Home Affairs and the migration program, which may affect the stay of many people in Australia! Here’s a brief of some of the major changes.
Increase in VACs
Except for the Visitor Visa Subclass 600, base VACs for most of the visa subclasses will be increased by 5.4% from 1 July 2019, which is expected to increase the overall revenue by $275 million from 2018/19 to 2021/22.
Exemptions to VACs – INAS Games and T20 World Cup
In a gesture of goodwill to sports, subclass 408 VACs have been waived for athletes and officials for the 2019 INAS Global Games in Brisbane along with competitors and officials for the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup 2020.
New Points System for Secondary Skilled Migrants
November 2019 will see the following changes in the points system for subclass 491, 489, 189 and 190 visas.
• 10 points for applicants who do not have spouse or de facto partner
• 10 points for having skilled spouse or de facto partner
• 5 points for applicants with a spouse or de facto partner who has competent English
• 15 points for applicants nominated by State or Territory government or sponsored by a family member residing in regional Australia
• 10 points for having certain STEM qualifications
New Regional Provisional Visas
Two new regional provisional visas will be introduced to replace Subclass 489 and 187 from November 2019 whilst Skilled Regional (subclass 489) & RSMS (Subclass 187) visas will be discontinued. Furthermore, ‘enhanced’ compliance activities will also be implemented for these visas, per the new announcements.
Additional Year for 485 Visa from November 2021
An additional 12-month second post-study work visa has been added for international graduates, eventually providing them a total of three years extension of Temporary Graduate (Subclass 485) visa.
Destination Australia Program
It’s a newly-introduced regional study program for international students wherein scholarships will be provided to international and domestic students to study in regional Australia for higher education or vocational education qualifications.
Work Holiday Visa to Include Indonesia
Work and Holiday Visa will now include Indonesia, according to which annual cap for WHV (Subclass 462) for Indonesian citizens will be increased from 2,500 to 5,000 over the six years to 2014/25.
Better Support for Refugees
The newly-arrived refugees will now only be required to enter their names into Jobactive services after receiving income support for 12 months; this time-limit was 6 months earlier. This change has been especially brought forward and designed to assist refugees to focus on settlement and language assistance. Complete Jobactive access will be provided to eligible refugees seeking services on a voluntary basis.
There were many more migration changes announced in the Federal Budget 2019. For more, please visit website of MIA.
For detailed information on Announcements Related to the Department of Home Affairs in 2019, please visit http://www.iscah.com
