News

Australian citizens or permanent residents are generally entitled to receive benefits from Medicare Australia (“Medicare”), which includes free access to public hospital health care in Australia.

Recently, some applicants for certain skilled migration visas (for example, subclasses 136, 138 and 139) have received “cap and cease” letters from DIAC, stating that their particular visa category has been capped and that consideration of their applications will cease.

The Migration Amendment (Visa Capping) Bill 2010 has been introduced to give the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship power to cap and terminate visa applications on the basis of certain characteristics.

On 17 May 2010, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) released a new Skilled Occupations List (SOL) incorporating ANZSCO codes rather than the earlier ASCO codes. 

The Australian Government has decided to temporarily suspend the acceptance of Offshore General Skilled Migration (GSM) visa applications as the demand for GSM places exceeds the available supply. 

The contents of this article are correct as at 1 June 2010. This article will discuss the new Skilled Occupation List and set out below…