On the last working day of 2023, let's take a look at the changes in Australia's immigration and study abroad policies and the implementation of the policies in the new year!
On 24 August 2023, the Australian Department of Immigration updated its latest quota for the 2023-24 financial year, with a total of 190,000 visas. But almost all of these quotas have been allocated to skilled workers and family reunification immigrants, while the quota for business investment has been sharply reduced to 1,900 from 5,000 last year. However, among the new quotas actually allocated to each state, the immigration quota for all business and investment categories is 0, which means that new applicants are not accepted for business investment immigration visas at all.
At the beginning of December 2023, the Australian Commonwealth** unveiled the long-awaited migration strategy. The 100-page document contains 25 new policy commitments detailing the steps to be taken to overhaul Australia's "broken" immigration system.
In the case of the Business Innovation and Investment Programme (BIIP), the Immigration Review concluded that the scheme was less economically economical for Australia. More than 80% of companies in the business innovation stream are engaged in retail or catering hospitality, which often does not contribute much to the development of productivity and innovation.
Immigration review recommendations can leverage the comparative advantage of the significant investor stream 188c to design a visa product that better targets immigrants who can drive innovative investment in areas of national importance or play a valuable role in the venture capital industry.
It is believed that the 188C and other investment immigration policies will continue to be implemented after the reform, but the visa application requirements may be increased. It is expected that at the beginning of next year, the next round of discussions will be held and the finalization of the relevant regulatory provisions will be completed.
Overall, Australia** has made clear its determination to reform the migration system and is more focused on attracting migrants who are good for Australia.
In FY 2023-24, the quota for employer-sponsored work visas was raised to 36,825 from 35,000 last year. In the case of other skilled migration and investment immigration visas, the steady increase in employer-sponsored work visas also indicates that employer-sponsored visas will become the mainstream route of immigration in the future.
The relevant policies are as follows
The number of years of service required to transfer to PR has been shortened to 2 years.
2. The 482 applicants on the short-term occupation list are also granted permanent residence channels, and they can be transferred to PR after a minimum of 2 years
To transfer to PR, the salary requirement cannot be less than 70,000 Australian dollars.
The restrictions on the position at the time of application are no longer restricted when transferring to 186.
In addition, Australia** is planning to launch a new Specialist Skills Pathway. The channel will have an annual income of at least 13$50,000 is open for eligible applicants, but manual workers, machine operators, drivers and labourers will be excluded. **It is expected that approximately 3,000 people will come to Australia each year through this route, while committing to an average of 7 days for visa processing. **Emphasizing that highly skilled migrants bring productivity-enhancing knowledge and ideas that can create jobs for local populations and therefore bring significant economic benefits, this new approach is estimated to generate a bottom-line increase of $3.4 billion in the national treasury over the next 10 years.
Between 2020 and 2023, due to the epidemic, Australia** launched a series of concession policies during the epidemic, including the application, submission and issuance of child visas, family visas, etc. On November 25, Australia's ** epidemic concession preferential policy for some visas officially ended. The new crown concession policy affects the 188 visa extension and 888 permanent residence visa, employer sponsored visa, 485 graduate work permit, 887 visa for skilled migration in remote areas, 309 spouse visa, 101 child visa, parent visa, etc. Among them, the most affected is the 485 work permit.
In Australia, registering multiple colleges and universities is known as a parallel COE in Australia, allowing international students to take additional courses while enrolling in the main course. Parallel COE is implemented to allow international students to acquire knowledge of the main courses while also gaining more employability skills training by studying other additional courses.
With a large number of international students returning to Australia, in order to further ensure the quality of teaching and enable international students to focus more on course learning, Australia** has updated its policy: from August 26, 2023, international students will no longer be allowed to transfer from universities to vocational courses within 6 months after the official start of their studies, and can only transfer after obtaining a release letter from the school. Students who have already obtained a parallel COE will not be affected by the policy update.
Since 2019, the minimum deposit standard offered for an Australian student visa for international students is AUD 21,041. As of 1 October 2023, the minimum amount of bank deposit required to apply for an Australian student visa is AUD 24,505.
On 14 December, Australia** signed new directives to prioritise student and student guardian visa applications.
Priority student visa application categories include:
1. Student visa applications made outside Australia.
2. Applicants from the school sector, the diplomatic or defense sector, and the graduate research department.
3. Non-award sector applicants for higher education, Intensive English Language Courses (ELICOS) for overseas students, vocational education and training (VET), and educational institutions with a certificate level 1 for study.
4. Follow-up entry applications submitted outside Australia that include an unmarried family member under the age of 18.
5. All student guardian visa applications (submitted within or outside Australia).
In addition, any dependents (spouse, de facto partner, or dependent children) included in the main visa application will be given the same priority as the main applicant.
From 2024, the English language requirement for student visas will be increased, and the minimum IELTS overall score requirement will be from 55 to 6;The IELTS entry score for the Elicos course starts from 45 to 5;Students in the Foundation Year and some pathway courses are required to achieve IELTS 55 points.
In early 2024, Australia** will increase the language requirements for applying for the 485 Graduate Work Visa and Student Visa:
The language requirements for the Graduate visa will start with IELTS 60 (or equivalent) to 65；
2. The language requirements for student visa will be from IELTS 55 (or equivalent) to 60。Among them, the language requirement for the elicos that students take before the major course will start from IELTS 45 to 50；
3. For students enrolled in the Pre-University Pathway Program, the language requirement is IELTS 55 (or equivalent).
In addition, according to the content of the immigration reform. The upper age limit for the 485 graduate work permit will be lowered from the current 50 to 35 years old.
It can be seen from the policy of immigration and study abroad in 2023 that with the coming to power of the Labor Party, business investment immigration has lost its attention, and the "era of great release" of skilled immigration has also ended. **The 99-page Immigration Reform Directions published mentions the tightening of student visas, graduate visas, and the simplification and push for employer-sponsored immigration in 2024!
Immigration reform issued on December 11, 2023
1. For temporary skilled immigrants, meet the demand for skills and promote the mobility of workers;
2. Reinvent permanent skilled migration for long-term prosperity
3. Strengthen the integrity and quality of international education and raise the standards of international students and educational institutions, while ensuring that graduates contribute to addressing skills shortages and do not become"Permanent temporary workers"；
4. Combating the exploitation of workers and the abuse of the visa system;
5. Plan immigration and acquire the right skills in the right place;
6. Tailor-made visa for remote areas and WHV working holiday visa programs to solve the labor shortage in remote areas
7. Strengthen relations with the Indo-Pacific region;
8. Simplify the immigration system and improve the experience for immigrants and employers.
1. Start discussing the essential skills path in employer sponsorship and consider developing new talent and innovation visas
2. Onshore visa hopping
3. Improve the recognition and assessment methods of vocational skills.
4. Establish a modern employer-sponsored qualification certification procedure;
5. Strengthen and simplify the 485 visa;
6. Provide protection for exploited migrant workers against the cancellation of their visas.
7. Launch of a new Skills in Demand Visa visa with full mobility and access to PR
8. Implement the visa and PR route of Specialist Skills Core Skills in employer sponsorship;
9. The validity period of LMT will be adjusted to 6 months.