To view the Skilled Occupation List, click here.
The following article is sourced from minister.border.gov.au:
Joint media release - Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham, Assistant Minister for Education and Training
Panelbeaters and cabinet makers will be added to the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) for independent skilled migration applicants, the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash and the Assistant Minister for Education and Training, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham, announced today.
Minister Cash said the new occupations on the SOL reflect that there is a gap between the skills of Australians and the work that needs to be done.
“Cabinet makers and panelbeaters make a valuable contribution to the Australian economy. Migrants with these skills will enhance the size and skill of the Australian workforce,” Minister Cash said.
“Skilled migrants complement locally trained and skilled workers, help to create new jobs and contribute to the communities in which they live and work. The Government’s $6 billion annual investment in vocational education and training is also supporting our training system to offer a pipeline of local talent to help address skills shortages,” Senator Birmingham said.
The SOL was updated based on the findings of a review of Australia’s labour market and education and migration data by the Department of Industry and Science. The review also considered submissions by industry, unions, trade and professional organisations.
The SOL applies to independent points based skilled migration (skilled migrants not nominated by State or Territory Governments), Family Sponsored visa applications and Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa applicants in the Graduate Work stream. Occupational ceilings are set for each occupation on the SOL to limit the number of migrants under each occupation in this part of the migration programme.
Other key changes to the SOL include the removal of urban and regional planners, dentists and dental specialists. Additional occupations have been flagged for close review in next year’s process.
The new SOL comes into effect on 1 July 2015. It will be used for applications made from that date.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) posted an update to the White Paper on Developing Northern Australia: Our North, Our Future.
The White Paper includes a range of visa initiatives to encourage tourism to northern Australia, and to support development in the north.
For further information see the White Paper on Developing Northern Australia: Our North, Our Future.
The visa initiatives will include:
The following announcements set out our forward plan to manage growth in China and provide better, faster and easier Visitor visas into the future. Generally, these will be introduced over the next few years in a staged and orderly manner to maintain our existing high levels of service.
Source: White Paper on Developing Northern Australia: Our North, Our Future.
For more information, click here.
On 1 July 2015, The Department of Immigration and Border Protection will launch a new website - https://www.border.gov.au. This will replace immi.gov.au and customs.gov.au. This is to reflect the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service integrating into a single organisation - the Department of Immigration and Border Protection
The domains for the Department's email will also change to @border.gov.au starting 1 July 2015. So all emails from DIBP staff will be sent from @border.gov.au instead of @immi.gov.au and customs.gov.au.
Do note that applications such as ImmiAccount and VEVO will not be affected by this change and will continue to operate as normal.
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The Australian Government has released its White Paper on Developing Northern Australia: Our North, Our Future on June 18, 2015. It includes a range of visa initiatives to encourage tourism to northern Australia, and to support development in the north. The visa initiatives will include a trial of 10 year validity Visitor visas for Chinese tourists.
For more information and details, go to White Paper on Developing Northern Australia: Our North, Our Future.
The implementation schedule for the visa initiatives is under development and further details will be provided shortly. Current Visitor visa requirements have not changed.
Source: White Paper on Developing Northern Australia: Our North, Our Future
DIBP announced that changes for the Visa Application Charges (VAC) will take effect in 1 July 2015 and these changes will be will fund investment for improvements to support stronger border and national security initiatives. You can find more details about the changes in VAC here.
They also announced that The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) are joining to become one organisation and to make this possible, there will be system outages leading up to 1 July 2015.
These system outages could prevent you from lodging an online application. We will publish advance notice of the outage wherever these are known. You will need to complete your application outside these periods.
We prefer that you lodge your application online through Immiaccount.
There are two planned outages during which you will not be able to complete your online application:
Also, BPAY will not be available as an online payment option from 8am Saturday 27 June to 7am Wednesday 1 July 2015 AEST (GMT +10).
It is your responsibility to complete your online application around these times.
We expect a high volume of online applications during this period. These high volumes could cause delays. You should take this into account when planning to submit your application.
If you are not able to complete an online application, you must send your paper application by post to the processing centre responsible for that application. You will need to give yourself enough time for this to be received by the Department before 1 July.
Source: Visa application charges increase and outage
27 May 2015, DIBP has announced that a Work and Holiday Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Australia and the Slovak Republic. This means that Slovak Republic and Australia now have a reciprocal arrangement for Work and Holiday Visa (subclass 462) for the 2 countries.
This would allow 200 young adults from each other's country 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 the Slovak Republic sign a new Work and Holiday visa arrangement.
Starting 1 July 2015, the Government is introducing a price increase to a few Visa Application Charges. The price increase will be used to fund for improvements to support stronger borders and national security initiatives.
The following are not affected by the VAC price changes:
For more information, view Visa Application Charges from 1 July 2015.
DIBP posted an update that starting 22 May 2015, they will start collecting biometrics from applicants who are in Hong Kong at the time of making a visa application for Australia, unless exempted or excluded based on Australian Government Policy.
Exemption:
Holders of Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, British National Overseas, and People's Republic of China passports do not need to provide biometric data when applying in Hong Kong for visas to enter Australia.
Things to note:
For more information, click Introduction of biometrics collection for applicants in Hong Kong
According to DIBP, new visa arrangements came into effect on 31 March 2015. These affects non-citizens other than permanent residents intending to work in Australia's offshore oil and gas industry.
People intending to work on resources installations should hold either a Subclass 457 Temporary Work (Skilled) visa or a Subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Activity) visa.
People who are participating in, or supporting, an offshore resources activity from a vessel will be granted the Special Purpose Visa by operation of law.
Source: New visa arrangements for people working in Australia's offshore oil and gas industry
For more information, click: Working in Australia's offshore oil and gas industry
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has implemented a new minimum English language test scores for the following visas:
The changes were implemented and are applied to the lodged applications for the said visas on or after April 18, 2015. If you lodged an application on or after 18th of April 2015, you must provide evidence of having achieved one of the following in a test taken in the three years immediately prior to lodging your visa application:
This removes the 'competent English' requirement for subclasses 476 and 458.
Take note that only the minimum English test scores are changed. Applicants will still meet the English requirement if they hold a valid passport issued by the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland.
For more information, please visit Changes to minimum English language test scores for subclasses 476 and 485