Information About Upcoming Immigration Changes 2021 By Migration Agent In Sydney

As 2020 has shown, in response to emerging issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic Australian immigration law is subject to rapid change and there are even more changes afoot that will take place as we begin the New Year or are likely to take place in 2021.

Many changes in immigration of which are slated to be implemented in 2021 as COVID-19 has forced a raft of immigration policy changes which will have an impact on people seeking to visit or migrate to Australia such as international students, skilled migrants, partners and aged parents.

Are you prepared in 2021 for the Australian Immigration changes? Let’s take a look at what is planned for Australian Immigration 2021.

Migration Program levels:

The migration program level the 2020-21 program years would remain at 160,000. To achieve a range of economic and social outcomes the Migration program is designed. The distribution of the quota will change, whilst the quota remained the same. The family stream will increase to 77,300 from 47,732 places. Fill skill shortages in the labor market and designed to improve the productive capacity of the economy.

The Skill stream has 79,600 places allocated in 2020-21, including those in regional Australia. To help with the economy recovery Australia recruits talented individuals, Global talent, Business Innovation and Investment Program visa, Employer-Sponsored will be given priority. To encourage migration to regional areas of Australia, partner visa applicants and onshore visa applicants in regional areas will also be prioritized.To know more about immigration changes in 2021 contact Migration Agent in Sydney.

Global Talent Independent program:

The Global Talent Visa is one of the visas that will get priority within the skilled stream announced  in Australia’s 2020-21 Federal Budget  A Global talent and business Attraction Taskforce will be established. To international businesses and outstanding talents to Australia is the purpose of the task force to help with the economy recovery post covid-19 and eventually boost level of local employment.  It builds on the existing Business Innovation and Investment and Global Talent Program.

Subclass 485:

A new initiative for an additional Temporary Graduate visa has announced by The Department of Home Affairs with an extra one or two year of post-study work rights for international students who:

•    graduate with a higher education or postgraduate qualification from  regional campus of a registered university or institution
•    while holding their first Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa maintain ongoing residence in a regional area

The second Temporary Graduate visa will require in a regional area ongoing residence.
For this purpose the definition of skilled migration will be the same as regional Australia for – all of Australia excluding Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Business, Investment and Innovation Program:

To encourage successful business owner and entrepreneurs to settle in Australia, Australia’s Business Innovation and Investment Programme is designed and through their business skills and abilities contribute to Australia’s development. To support the economic recovery post-COVID-19 the 2020-21 migration program aims that. For this reason, places increased to 13,500 for business, investment and innovation program.

From July 2021 The Government intends to put in place measures aligned with the findings in this review of the Business Innovation and Investment Program. They will ensure the BIIP is well-placed by maximizing its economic contribution to support Australia’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery. From 1 July 2021 by 11.3% the visa application charges will also increase. To prove their business acumen Business Innovation visa holders will be required to have an annual turnover of $750,000 (up from $500,000) and hold business and personal assets of $1.25 million (up from $800,000).  

Partner Visas:

We will be seeing new changes to partner visa applications, based on the budget. The English requirement is one of the most significant changes to the partner visa. Sponsor and applicants will be required to pass the English language requirement. To promote economic participation and social cohesion is the aim of the test.
It is likely from 1 July 2021 these changes will come into effect.

•    You may have to sit the English language test, if you are on the provisional partner visa. It will likely be a Basic English test, whilst the difficulty of the test is not yet determined and the applicant has to show functional English.

•    An alternative to the English language test through the Adult Migration English Program (AMEP) is that the applicant undertakes about 500 hours of English language classes

•    For subclass 300 Prospective Marriage visa, the language requirement will NOT be in place, Subclass 820 Partner (Provisional-onshore) and Subclass 309 Partner (Provisional- offshore). It is only a requirement for the permanent subclass 100 and subclass 801 stage 

•    Permanent resident sponsors will be required as the visa applicant to show the same level of English language proficiency.

General Skilled Visas:

The overall points in the last few months to receive an invitation have also dropped dramatically. The results are as follows for the October 2020 invitation round:

Subclass 491 - to receive an invitation for a subclass 491 visa 65 points remained to be the lowest score. Extra 15 points includes in the 65 points to subclass 491 visas. Many people who received the invitations are in targeted sectors , whilst there is a drop in points to receive an invitation. To attract migrants to help with post-COVID-19 recovery is the aim of government.

Subclass 189 - The lowest score was 65 points to receive an invitation. Where the lowest score to receive an invitation range between 90 -110, this is a dramatic drop from the previous months. If you have an occupation on the PMSOL, 65 points is the lowest for the whole year however this may happen.
There is no information on pro-rata occupation for many months. The minimum points score has been N/A. for these occupations during these periods it is likely that no invitations were issued.

With people in the targeted sectors receiving priority over other sectors, we expect this trend to continue through to 2021.To know more about immigration changes in 2021 contact Migration Agency in Sydney.

Employer – Sponsored Visas Concessions:

Transitional arrangement affected Subclass 457/482 holder for COVID-19.visa you must hold a subclass 457/482 to be eligible for a subclass 186 TRT and have worked for at least three years full time for your employer. However many businesses are adversely affected due to COVID-19 pandemic.  As a result, workers’ hours are reduced or been asked to take unpaid leave during the pandemic. The start date is1 February 2020 of the concession period.

Australian Borders Opening:

The budget forecast assumes that travel restrictions will be lifted between March 2021 and 30 June 2021 and prepared by the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann. The current plan (Between July to December 2020), is to lift the travel ban for permanent residents, Australian citizens, some international students and New Zealanders Based on the announced policy (Between July to December 2020). 

The key reason for this plan is international students who are stranded overseas to bring them back. Continuous delay would affect universities drastically in bringing in students. In Australian the international education industry is the fourth-largest industry. It could also mean that overseas processing of permanent resident applications resume, if the governments are opening borders in 2021.

Australians Travelling to New Zealand:

The New Zealand government has agreed to establish a trans-Tasman bubble with Australia- Jacinta Arden has just announced that. She has advised before they can make a final announcement there are still a lot of works to be done.  For this reason, currently there is no date for the travel period, but we expect by early 2021 to receive an update and also contact Immigration Agent in Sydney for detailed information about immigration changes.

COVID- 19 Concessions to remain in place:
The concessions are expected to remain in places that were introduced in 2020.