It appears from recent government announcements that DIAC (Department of Immigration) has formally capped OFFSHORE business visas and that ONSHORE business visas will be capped too.

The government has decided to reduce the skill stream of the migration program for 2008-2009 from 133,500 to 115,000.

The decision has been taken to limit BUSINESS SKILLS to a total of 7,500 though combination of an offshore cap and careful management of the onshore grant numbers.

The planning level for GENERAL SKILLED MIGRATION has been revised downwards to 71.500.

DIAC has advised that the following General Skilled Migration Visas will be capped -

* Class EA Business Talent (Migrant)

* Class UR Provisional Business Skilled Visas

* Class DF Residence Business Skills Visa

* Class BH Established Business Visa in Australia

Other categories may end up being capped too later in the year as DIAC aims to ensure that the 115,000 cap for General Skilled Migration is not breached.

Capping creates a problem as applicants need to meet requirements relating to their ASSETS AND BUSINESSES both at the time of application and at the time of decision.

Applicants who miss the cap and have to wait another year my find that by that time their business or their assets no longer satisfy the requirements of the Migration Regulations.

The current environment mandates that anyone wishing to apply for a business visa get high level advice IN WRITING before lodging any application.

If you have any questions please lodge your enquiry to us from the website.

AUSTRALIAN VISA EXPERTS

You can view the new CRITICAL SKILLS LIST (CSL) put out  by DIAC at its website http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/critical-skills-list.pdf.

The changes to the CSL are that all trade occupations (ASCO Group 4) have been removed except -

* Aircraft Maintenance Engineer – Avionics

* Aircraft Maintenance Engineer – Mechanical

* Electronic Equipment Trades

* Gasfitter

* Wall and Floor Tiler

We draw to your attention that the fact that DIAC is now processing General Skilled Migration Applications which the are State/Territory/sponsored, or which have nominated occupations on the new CSL DOES NOT MEAN that other General Skilled Migration applications cannot be lodged. It is simply a method of DIAC prioritising the processing so that the Government can better address the current skills shortages in the current economic climate.

General Skilled Migration applications which are not on the processing priority list can still be lodged – BUT YOU MAY HAVE TO WAIT LONGER TO GET APPROVED. This is because priority is being given to applications that are on the CSL and because of the 14% cut in the 2008-09 permanent skilled migration program intake from 133,500 to 115,000 and also because of staff cuts across the Commonwealth Public Service including in DIAC.

The length of THE WAITING PERIOD for NON-PRIORITY APPLICATIONS is something that no one can estimate with any accuracy.

Also note – SUBCLASS 485 Applications ARE NOT affected by these cuts and changes. THE CUTS ARE ONLY TO THE PERMANENT SKILLED MIGRATION PROGRAM.

For SUBCLASS 885 Applications – The decision ready scheme is available ONLY  for applications with NOMINATED OCCUPATIONS on the CSL.

The current climate is complex and it is essential to get expert assistance to ensure that your application will have maximum chance of being approved and approved without a very long waiting period.

Please direct any enquiries to us via our website.

AUSTRALIAN VISA EXPERTS

The English language requirement has been recently increased for this visa class.

The Migration Regulations have been amended to require all people applying for sponsored temporary residence work visas under subclass 457 IN A TRADE OCCUPATION to obtain an average band score of 5 in the IELTS test unless they have been given an EXEMPTION.

You do not need to get a 5 score in each subject – JUST AN OVERALL SCORE OF 5 in your IELTS results.

This change to the Rules applies to all applications lodged on or after 14 April 2009.

Any questions about this please let us know and we can elaborate further.

AUSTRALIAN VISA EXPERTS

Welcome to our blog.

Let me start off my outlining the intentions of this blog.

We will be using this blog to keep you updated about what is happening with Migration government policy as it relates to the visa types that we specialize in – Business Visas, Skilled Migrant Visas, Sponsored temporary visas and Student Visas. Law and Policy is constantly changing as the Government grapples with a very complex economic situation and political demands and lobbying from both business and from unions who represent the interests of workers, many of whom are now losing their jobs.

In the pages of our website you will find a lot of general information the different visas that we are able to assist you with – but it would be impossible for us to keep you fully up to date in those web pages unless we were updating those pages every week. It is just not possible to have our web technicians constantly changing the main pages to include the latest changes or policy updates. SO WE WILL DO THIS ON THE BLOG.

Once you become a client of ours we will be advising you to keep reviewing our blog to stay up to date. If you are not yet our client but are thinking about seeking our assistance to see if you qualify for a visa and then to have us take care of the visa application for you – you can also use this Blog to keep up to date with what is happening with australian migration and visa law and policy.

Things have changed quite a bit since just 6 months ago when the government was publicly announcing that it was throwing its doors wide open to new migrants and encouraging overseas students to come here to study and then apply for permanent residence if they had obtained a skill that Australia needed.

Now Australia, like most other countries, is experiencing a Recession and thousands of local workers are losing their jobs. This has led the government to move to RESTRICT grants of temporary working visas and permanent skilled migrant visas to just those whose skills remain in short supply in Australian and hence are still in high demand.

In the current situation it is more important than ever for anyone wishing to come to Australian to work and/or wishing to migrate here to use the services of a highly skilled migration agent. The chances of self-prepared applications or ones prepared by less experienced agents being rejected by the Department of Immigration is higher than it was before. They are reviewing all applications very carefully to make sure that only the strongest applications are accepted and approved.

Finally, we wish to let you know that we will be regularly publishing interesting and informative ARTICLES about Australia, Australian Culture , places of interest, local events and of course on various aspects of Migration policy that we think that may be appealing to you. The purpose of this is to help you know more about Australia and what you might expect when you arrive here.

PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO LEAVE COMMENTS TO OUR VARIOUS BLOG POSTS. WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO THIS. We would love to hear your views and particularly we want you tell us what further information you would like us to publish on our blog to keep you well informed.

So again, we welcome you to this Blog and we hope we can be of service to you.