Australian visa program update – October 2020

Australia confirms commitment to permanent migration for the 2020 to 2021 financial year

In early October the Australian government announced their federal budget for the 2020-2021 financial year. 

On the back of the budget the DHA (Department of Home Affairs) outlined details for their permanent migration program. The below is an overview of these changes.

Migration program focus 

The government announced, due to the COVID pandemic, that the focus of the migration program for 2020-2021 is “on supporting our economic recovery, growing Australian businesses and creating jobs for Australians”.  

Migration program numbers 

The DHA confirmed the permanent migration program numbers will remain at a cap of 160,000. This includes: 

• 79,600 places in the Skilled stream 
• 77,300 places in the Family stream. 
• 3,100 in the Child and Special Eligibility visas

The government anticipate that two thirds of the visas will be allocated to people in Australia.

The remaining visas will then likely be split between the skill stream (two thirds) and the family Stream (one third). 

Migration program – Skilled visas 

A key target of the skilled visa program will be innovators, investors and job creators. They will be encouraged to apply through the Global Talent, Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) and Employer Sponsored Visas. 

Global Talent Visa – places tripled 

A particular focus will be the Global Talent Independent (GTI) Visa. The program for the new financial year will triple from 5,000 to 15,000 places. The target of this visa will be individuals in industries such as:

• AgTech
• Space and Advanced Manufacturing
• FinTech
• Energy and Mining Technology
• MedTech
• Cyber Security
• Quantum Information, Advanced Digital, Data Science and ICT

Business Investors – places almost doubled 

The DHA have confirmed that they will double the number of places available for business investors to 13,500 places. The BIIP program will be streamlined and there will be changes to investment and residency requirements, ensuring the program is targeted at Australian venture capitals and emerging small and medium size businesses to support the economic recovery. 

As of publishing this update, we are still awaiting on further details of the changes to be announced. 

GSM Program – skilled migration remains open 

Individuals and their family members can still look to submit an EOI for the GSM program. This includes the Skilled Independent visa  (Subclass 189) and the two State/territory nominated (Subclass 190 & 491) visas . 

Subclass 189 – Skilled Independent visa

At present the DHA have announced that the focus on the Subclass 189 invitations  will be on those occupations listed on the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List  (PMSOL). 

It is expected that the required points are likely to remain high. However the 11th October invitation details are yet be released.

State/Territory nominated visas – Subclass 190 & Subclass 491 

The opportunity to be nominated for either of the state/territory nominated GSM visas will remain. At the time of writing, the majority of the states/territories have programs in place to allocate nominations to eligible onshore applicants.  

For offshore applicants, we are still waiting on the states to confirm their program. These are likely to be released in the weeks and months leading up to Christmas. For example:

• South Australia have pushed back the release of their lists from mid-October to November.
• NSW  have also confirmed that they will announce changes to the management of the Skilled Work Regional Visa (subclass 491) in due course.
• Queensland have stated that they plan to re-open the program in December 2020.

Migration Program – Family stream

The majority of visas within the Family stream will go to partners, with almost double the places (72.300) compared to the previous financial year. The aim to give more certainty to those wanting to settle in Australia with their partners and plan for their futures. 

Humanitarian Program