South Australian employers wanting to apply for a DAMA endorsement can submit their applications through the Immigration SA Apply website later this week The South Australian Government has entered into two DAMAs: Adelaide Technology and Innovation Advancement Agreement and South Australian Regional Workforce Agreement Immigration SA will undertake the role of Designated Area Representative (DAR), which is responsible for endorsing employers seeking to access overseas workers through the Designated Area Migration Agreements. The DAMAs will enable South Australian employers to sponsor skilled overseas workers for positions they are unable to fill with local workers. Employers experiencing skills and labour shortages can apply for endorsement to enter into a DAMA labour agreement. This is an employer-sponsored program and individuals are not able to apply. The age concessions in SA Regional Workforce Agreement DAMA require candidates to be under 50. Employers may consider applying under the standard Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482) outside of the DAMA for occupations with no concessions. Kindly refer to the SA website for the new occupation list for both the DAMA’s.
South Australia continues to offer a high point’s pathway for applicants from a list of 498 occupations who have a minimum of 80 points on the Department of Home Affair’s points test (including state nomination points). Applications for state nomination will be open on the Immigration SA Apply website from mid afternoon on Wednesday 3 July 2019. An expanded State Nominated Occupation List (SNOL) has been published for 2019/20 with 275 occupations available for applicants residing offshore or in South Australia. Health, ICT, social welfare, STEM and trade occupations feature on the SNOL. An additional 223 occupations are available on the Supplementary Skilled List (SSL). SSL occupations are available to four categories of applicants who have demonstrated a strong commitment to South Australia or are high calibre applicants. The four categories are: International graduate of South Australia; Worked in a skilled occupation in Australia for the last 12 months; There are immediate family members residing in Australia for 24 months or more; or Holds high points The minimum points requirement for applicants for the ICT occupation has increased to 75 points from 65 points due to the increase in applications received in this occupation. International graduates will be required to have only 65 points in the ICT occupation. Immigration SA has also amended their policy due to which now International students holding provisional 489 visa and who have been in SA continuously for the last 7 years and continue to reside in SA will be eligible to apply for State Nomination
The Department has introduced new legislation for exchange rates for Payment of VACs and Fees in Foreign Currencies. The Department has undertaken a biannual update of the foreign current exchange rates. The new exchange rate for some of the countries are: Schedule 1—Currencies and Exchange Rates for the Payment of Fees Currencies and Exchange Rates for the Payment of Fees Column A Currency Description Column B ISO Code Column C Exchange Rate Bangladeshi Taka BDT 0.01605 Brazilian Real BRL 0.3436 Chinese Renminbi Yuan CNY 0.19942 British Pound GBP 1.74432 Hong Kong Dollar HKD 0.1707 Indian Rupee INR 0.01928 Nepalese Rupee NPR 0.0121417
Helping passionate, innovative small businesses realise their dreams and reach new markets is the primary aim of the small business grants program. The round two for business grants program opens on Monday 5 August 2019 and closes Monday 9 September 2019 for business.
Victoria’s Skilled and Business Migration Program will be launching a new online application system for visa nomination 15 July 2019. No visa nomination applications can be submitted on the Live in Melbourne website between 4.00pm Wednesday 10 July 2019 (AEST) and Monday 15 July 2019. Any draft nomination application saved in the system, will need to be submiteed by 4.00pm on Wednesday 10 July or application will need to be redrafted in the new system on Monday 15 July 2019.
CPA Australia assessing authority for occupations such as Accountants, External Auditors, Finance Managers have increased their fees from 1 July 2019. Fees for Skills Assessment, update, New ANZSCO Code, Appeal and Withdrawal assessment have increased. Further details are available on the website.
Information for Malaysian and Czech 1st Work and Holiday visa applicants Some applicants may be unable to continue beyond page 4 of the application form on their ImmiAccount. The following error message may be displayed: The Government support details provided indicate that the applicant does not have a letter of government support. To be eligible to apply for this visa, applicants must have a letter of government support. The applicant will not be able to continue and should review the eligibility information on our website. Applicants must answer YES to the question ‘ Does the applicant have a letter of government support to attach to this visa application?’ and attach the following documents to their application form: Citizens of Malaysia must provide a Malaysian Good Conduct Certificate. Citizens of the Czech Republic must provide a letter of introduction from their tertiary education institution.
Application statuses in ImmiAccount from 1 July 2019. The Department has performed a major update to its online application forms on 1 July 2019. Applications that were not submitted by 5pm Sunday 30 June 2019 are set to a status of ‘Incomplete’ in ImmiAccount as part of the systems maintenance process. RMA’s will need to review the answers within their application form to ensure that any updated questions have been answered.
Applications for the Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 870) have commenced on 1 July 2019. Applications to sponsor a parent for a Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa opened on 17 April 2019. Once a sponsorship application is approved, a sponsored parent is able to apply for a Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa within 60 days if onshore. If the parent is offshore they have 6 months from the day on which the relevant parent sponsor is approved as a family sponsor. The application is Internet based application. The visa provides parents with a new pathway to temporarily reunite with their children and grandchildren in Australia, while ensuring that taxpayers are not required to cover additional costs. The visa responds to community concerns about the limited number of Parent places in the migration program and associated lengthy waiting periods.
New changes introduced in Migration (LIN 19/184: Arrangements for Work and Holiday Visa applications) Instrument. On 26 June 2019, Migration (LIN 18/174: Arrangements for Work and Holiday Visa Applications) Instrument 2018 has been repealed. Greece and Eucador passport holders have now been included in the list of foreign countries eligible to apply for the Work and Holiday visa from 1 July 2019. Further passport holders of Austria, Portugal and Spain together with the countries mentioned in Regulation LIN 18/174 are not required to provide evidence of government support for the grant of their visa. WHM visa holders who carry out 6 months of specified work in regional areas while on their second Working Holiday (subclass 417) visa or Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa may be eligible to apply for a third visa. Eligible types of work and regional areas will correspond with the requirements for the second visa. The Department has simplified the process of applying for a Work and Holiday visa application. Applicants holding a valid passport from an eligible country including Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Turkey can now apply online through their immi account.