Borders Opening, Visa Changes and Everything the Government is Doing to Recover the Economic Wellbeing of Australia

How exciting! An announcement has been made for the opening of the international borders, however due to the new cases this has been pushed back for a short while until the 15^th of December 2021. Another great development is that the Morrison Government is working toward making it easier for skilled migrants to remain in Australia and continue to assist in the repair of Australia’s economic recovery from lock down.

Minister Hawke has stated that the skilled migrants have “added value” and “supported” the Australian economy.

Many government officials have also stated that these measures that are being put in place, recognize, and show appreciation for the persons who remained in Australia despite Covid-19. With these measures the goal is to encourage those ones to stay and ensure that staying in Australia is going to be more accessible to new skilled migrants.

Minister Alex has also stated the following “The changes complement the Government’s recent announcement that fully vaccinated eligible temporary and provisional visa holders may enter Australia without a travel exemption from 1 December 2021.”

These changes in visas will provide more accessibility for permanent residence for the below visas:

Existing Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) visa holders in the short-term stream

Legacy Temporary Work Skilled (subclass 457) visa holders who no longer meet the age requirement.

“There are currently about 20,000 primary Temporary Skill Shortage and 457 visa holders in Australia who may benefit from these arrangements. Most of these workers are employed in the highest-skilled occupations and the largest cohorts of workers benefiting from these changes include those currently employed in the health and hospitality industries, including many workers in regional Australia,” Minister Alex Hawke said.

The Government will also ensure that an extension be put in place to extend visas for skilled regional (provisional visa) holders (subclass 489, 491 and 494) in recognition that these supporters to the economy have been adversely affected by COVID-19 related travel restrictions both financially and with regards to lack of family contact.

“Current and expired skilled regional provisional visas will be extended, providing additional time to meet regional work requirements for permanent residence,” Minister Hawke said.

“There are currently around 9,000 skilled regional provisional visa holders overseas. These visa holders can enter Australia from 1 December 2021, and they will also be eligible for an extension of their visa,” he said.

Due to the ongoing border arrangements, the extensions will be by a further six-months Visa Application Charge waivers for new Visitor visa applicants overseas where their visa expired, or will expire, between 1 January 2022 and 30 June 2022.

The new measures that are being set in place are to protect the international student’s post-study work rights as well as extend the temporary graduate visa from two to three years for masters by coursework graduates.

“The announcement will accelerate the COVID-19 economic recovery process for the 2022 academic year,” said the Minister for Education and Youth Alan Trudge.

The Government has announced further measures to support the return of international students and graduates, boosting the international education industry by:

• Allowing Temporary Graduate visa holders, who have been unable to travel to Australia as a result of COVID-19 international border restrictions, to apply for a replacement visa.
• Increasing the length of stay on Temporary Graduate visas in the master’s by Coursework and Vocation Education and Training (VET) streams.
• ​Simplifying the requirements for Temporary Graduate visa applicants for VET sector graduates; and
• Extending the existing measure for student and temporary graduates to recognise time spent offshore studying online to count towards qualifying for a Temporary Graduate visa application.

These changes are consistent with the Nation Plan to safely reopen Australia and follow earlier changes which have seen us welcome home fully vaccinated Australian Residents and Australians Citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family members.