News

The Government has introduced changes and updates to employer-linked and independent skilled visas. These include:

A new temporary Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa – the SID visa
Changes to sponsor obligations
Changes to certain requirements under the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa

On 22 April 2016 the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), the organisation responsible for providing migration skills assessments for teachers, announced a number of changes to its skills assessment requirements which will apply to applications received from 22 April 2016.

An alternative pathway to independent skilled migration is for applicants to find a State or Territory Government to nominate them.  State and Territory Governments are able to nominate an applicant for a permanent 190 visa, or a temporary 489 regional area visa which leads to permanent residency, if certain additional requirements are satisfied after grant of the visa

Due to the difficulties faced by prospective applicants in the lodgement of online nomination applications for the subclass 190 visa, the NSW Department of Trade and Investment introduced a new invitation process from February 2015.

From 1 March 2014, State or Territory Nominated visas (subclass 190) will no longer be subject to occupational ceiling limitations set by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (“DIBP”).

The article titled ICT Work Experience Assessments by the Australian Computer Society dated 28 June 2013 addressed the criteria for skills assessment when applying to the Australian Computer Society (ACS).