The Australian Government has implemented new visa arrangements to increase the safety and security of Australians. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) have posted the new arrangements on their site, stating that the arrangements are for all travellers from Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) affected countries in Africa.
DIBP also states that this is not a travel ban. The new arrangements are placed to be able to keep Australia safe, while being able to handle the visa cases with the same assistance that the Government is already providing.
The following are included in the new visa arrangement from the DIBP website:
For more information regarding the new visa arrangements and/or any updates on the matter, visit Threats to Public Health
Migration Alliance reports that Accountants may be removed from the skills list early next year, stating that the CPA Australia and Chartered Accountant ANZ dropped their support for the Accountants because of the difficulty in finding jobs that the international graduates are having. The peak industry are preparing reports of that to the Department of Immigration.
Migration Alliance also stated that the occupation ceiling for Accountants have been reduced to approximately 5,000 for the 2014-2015. Still, major accounting bodies claimed that there was a shortage of accountants. But now, they have acknowledged that the international students are having a hard time in finding professional work in Australia, resulting in the loss of support to keep the occupation in the Skilled Occupations List (SOL).
"It is understood the change in stance will form part of a joint submission from the accounting bodies to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection next week" Migration Alliance states.
As of 30 October 2014, Accountants are in the lead in terms of positions filled. Below are the top 10 occupations that have the highest positions filled.
| Occupation ID | Description | Ceiling Value | Positions filled to date |
| 2211 | Accountants | 5478 | 1805 |
| 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers | 5004 | 1681 |
| 2544 | Registered Nurses | 15042 | 1144 |
| 2611 | ICT Business and Systems Analysts | 1620 | 639 |
| 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | 1680 | 498 |
| 2631 | Computer Network Professionals | 1788 | 469 |
| 2332 | Civil Engineering Professionals | 2850 | 430 |
| 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals | 1000 | 307 |
| 2212 | Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers | 1188 | 247 |
| 2633 | Telecommunications Engineering Professionals | 1000 | 208 |
For more information, visit Accountants may be removed from skills list early next year.
According to DIBP, 22 October 2014, Australia and Israel has announced that a Work and Holiday Memorandum of Understanding has been signed. This means that Israel and Australia now have a reciprocal arrangement for Work and Holiday Visa (subclass 462) for the 2 countries.
According to DIBP, this would allow 500 young adults from Israel and another 500 young adults from Australia to be able to travel to each other's country where they may study or do short term work.
The visa won't be in effect until both countries would come to an agreement with regards to the start date. Expect an announcement and the visa to be in effect in a few months after they have implemented the necessary processes. When a start date has been announced, eligible young adults from both countries will be able to apply for the visa.
Australia have also signed an arrangement with Portugal just last month, 25 September 2014.
For more information, click Australia and Israel sign a new Work and Holiday visa arrangement.
Earlier this year, June 2014, the DIBP closed the Non-Contributory Parent and Other Visas to new applications, processing only applications that were made before June 2, 2014.
On September 25, 2014, DIBP released the news of re-opening the Non-contributory Parent and Other Visas starting September 25, 2014 in line with the Migration Amendment (Repeal of Visa Classes) Regulation 2014. But only accepting new applications made on September 25, 2014 onwards, so applications made between June 2, 2014 and September 25, 2014 are not accepted. But re-opening the said visas for new applications after careful consideration is still good news as more families would have the chance to be reunited once again. What wasn't clear with the news though was the queue that these visas have before getting the visas.
The following are direct quotes from DIBP's website.
Based on current Planning Levels and the allocation of the majority of the Other Family places to the Carer visa category, it is currently estimated that Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative visa applications that were lodged in 2014 and meet the criteria to be queued are likely to take approximately 56 years to be released for final processing (calculated from 14 August 2014).
https://www.immi.gov.au/Live/Pages/family/other-family-visa-queue.aspx
Based on current planning levels, applicants for a Parent (non-contributory) visa can expect an approximate 30 year wait before visa grant consideration after being allocated a queue date.
https://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/parent-visa-processing-priorities.htm
Non-Contributory Parent Visa could take 30 years before visa grant consideration, and Other Family Visas could take 56 years to be released for final processing. And no, that's not a typo.
DIBP announced on September 25, 2014 that an arrangement for youth mobility was signed between Australia and Portugal, establishing a reciprocal Work and Holiday Visa (subclass 462) arrangement between Australia and Portugal.
According to DIBP, this would allow 200 young adults from Portugal and another 200 young adults from Australia to be able to travel to each other's country where they may study or do short term work.
The visa won't be in effect until both countries would come to an agreement with regards to the start date. Expect an announcement and the visa to be in effect in a few months after they have implemented the necessary processes. When a start date has been announced, eligible young adults from both countries will be able to apply for the visa.
For more information, click Australia and Portugal sign a new Work and Holiday visa arrangement
June 2, 2014, DIBP closed new application for Non-Contributory and Other Family Visas. People were disappointed and saddened about the news and there were no new categories to replace the closed visas.
But as of yesterday, September 25, 2014, DIBP re-opened the following visas to new applications:
As stated in DIBP's website, they are only accepting new applications from September 25, 2014 onwards. If you have filed an application in between June 2, 2014 and September 25, 2014, it would be considered as invalid and cannot be accepted. The application will need to be re-lodged.
For more information, see Re-opening of the Non-Contributory Parent and Other Family visas.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection published their review of the Subclass 457 Programme recently this September 2014 and it contains the results of the review that the department has done to the integrity of the said programme. The program has allowed overseas workers to work in Australia for 18 years and has filled up a lot of needed positions in various industries, helping Australia to cater its needs of various skills.
But, according to ABC Rural, the recent review and the Immigration Department has been questioned by the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and says that the Immigration Department is "virtually impossible to deal with on the issue". Michael Catchpole, CEO of AusIMM says that the list of jobs that can be applied for the 457 does not reflect the radical change that the industry has undergone in the last few years.
"The 457 Programme is always been intended as a short term skills shortage measure and we don't believe that inclusion of any minerals profession, whether they be mining engineer, metallurgical o or materials engineers, or indeed geologists, should be included on the current 457 list." - Michael Catchpole, CEO of AusIMM
Michael Catchpole says that the unemployment amongst geologists are 15 percent and above nationally. And mining engineers, and metallurgical and chemical engineers are closing in on 10 percent. He says that with the high unemployment rate of Australian mineral professions, they shouldn't be included in the 457 list.
With that said, according to ABC Rural, the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) argues that the said professions should still be included in the list and questions the number of unemployed engineers and geologists claimed by AusIMM.
"That looks at the medium term, and we simply don't know enough about what we will happen in five years' time, so we cannot remove them from the list.
It's very hard to bring it back on to the list and it's an option to bring in skilled engineers as needed.
And it's not all engineers or geoscientists out of work. The AusIMM released a report with those figures and remember they apply to their members." - Dr. Gavin Lind, Director of Training and Education at MCA
According to ABC Rural, Dr Gavin Lind says that the 457 list take into account the medium-term requirement, not short-term fluctuations in the jobless rate.
DIBP released Australia’s Migration Programme for 2014-15.
Australia’s Migration Programme is providing a total of 190,000 places for immigration. This includes the following:
According to DIBP, building the economy, shaping the society, supporting the labour market, and reuniting families are the purpose and priority of migration. The provided places for immigration are broken down to:
For more information, see “2014-15 Migration Programme”
DIBP released their 2nd Quarterly Report on the 30th of June 2014. It basically includes different kinds of statistics of the Subclass 457 visa. It's a 58 page PDF file that they have linked in their website for the public. You can click here to view it.
We have extracted the "Number of primary applications granted in 2013-14 to 30 June 2014 by nominated position location" to give you an idea on the number of applications each location has been granted with.
| Nominated Position Location | 2012-13
to 30/06/13 |
2013-14 to
30/06/14 |
% Change from
2012-13 |
2013-14 as
% of Total |
| Australian Capital Territory | 940 | 840 | -10.4% | 1.6% |
| New South Wales | 24 160 | 19 690 | -18.5% | 37.9% |
| Northern Territory | 910 | 1 030 | 12.9% | 2.0% |
| Queensland | 10 950 | 7 550 | -31.0% | 14.5% |
| South Australia | 2 030 | 1 660 | -18.1% | 3.2% |
| Tasmania | 370 | 260 | -29.2% | 0.5% |
| Victoria | 14 390 | 12 260 | -14.8% | 23.6% |
| Western Australia | 14 660 | 8 610 | -41.3% | 16.6% |
| Not Recorded | 80 | 40 | -51.2% | 0.1% |
| Total | 68 480 | 51 940 | -24.2% | 100.0% |
Looking at the 2013-14 to 30/06/14 column, as of June 30, 2014, New South Wales have the largest number of applications granted. Even if we compare it to last year's statistic, they still have the most number. Victoria comes in at second with 12,260.
DIBP will also release another Quarterly Report for the 3rd quarter that is ending on September 30, 2014.
If you want to view the complete statistics and the PDF, visit: Subclass 457 quarterly report quarter ending at 30 June 2014
For more information regarding the 457 statistics, visit: Subclass 457 – Temporary Work (Skilled) visa statistics
According to Migration Alliance, Australia and Spain are set to sign an agreement regarding the working holiday visa program. This agreement will have each country to allow people that are in the age of 18 to 31, to be able to live, work, and study for 1 year in each other's countries. Migration Alliance also stated that "Under the Australian-Spanish deal, the visa holders are expected to be able to work full time as long as they don't clock up more than six months with a single employer. They can also study for up to four months in the same course."
The applicant must meet the following conditions to be able to apply:
• The visa is not renewable; and applicants must,
• Arrive with A$5,000 (around €3,500).
• Demonstrate "functional" English; and
• Have completed at least two years of a tertiary qualification.
Australia already has a number of partner countries that participate in the Working Holiday Maker program:
Countries with Working Holiday visa arrangements:
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Countries with Work and Holiday visa arrangements:
For more information on Spain and Australia agreement, visit: New country to be added to Australian working holiday visa program
For more information on the Working Holiday Visa Program, visit: Working Holiday