Recent media reports are signalling that significant changes to skilled migration are on foot. For example, the Australian Financial Review reported that businesses will be able to bring in foreign skilled workers on potentially as little as $120,000 in a...

Budget 2021 was released on Tuesday night.  Amongst some of the headline items are: Australia’s “economic engine is roaring back to life”, according to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg; economic growth is forecast to reach 4.2% in 2021-2022; and ...

In an earlier article, we provided an overview of extended visa pathways for Hong Kong passport holders based on the Federal Government’s announcement on 9 July 2020 but noted that legislation had not yet been promulgated. The Migration Amendment (Ho...

Recently, the Australian Government released a statement in response to the developing political situation in Hong Kong outlining what appears to be concessional visa pathways for Hong Kong passport holders. Whilst the new Government policy is respondi...

In a previous article, I wrote about how the travel ban in place during the COVID-19 pandemic affects travellers wishing to enter Australia.  However, there is also a corresponding ban in place for Australian citizens and Australian permanent residents w...

The Story So Far In the last three months, we have seen a significant number of changes in the skilled migration landscape, leaving many potential visa applicants (and temporary visa holders wishing to transition to permanent residency) perplexed. In ...

On 18 April 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the staged abolition of the Subclass 457 visa under the rhetoric of "Australia first". The changes came with very little warning. Some have said that the changes are cosmetic and will have lit...

Last month, I suggested in a post that there was a possibility that the window for lodging a Subclass 187 RSMS visa may be closing shortly for nominations by Perth employers. I had written this in response to reports that Mark McGowan, if elected Premier...

Public Interest Criterion 4020 (“PIC 4020”) acts as a strong disincentive to visa applicants thinking of providing misleading information or bogus documents in relation to a visa application.  The provisions are unforgiving and the consequences of fa...

Last month, the current State opposition leader, Mark McGowan, announced that if elected, he would remove Perth from its regional classification for the purposes of the Subclass 187 Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (“RSMS”) visa. In fact, The We...