Exciting News
Your retirement pot shouldn’t feel 10,000 miles away.
Get in touch today to arrange a complimentary UK pension entitlement report.
Receive a full report covering essential information, including your age of access,pensionable income, death benefits, tax considerations & much more.
Click on this link to request a report.
2022 Year in Review
As we approach the end of a particularly turbulent year in the Migration Law space, it’s useful to survey the new normal following the election of the Albanese government in May. The appointment of a lawyer as Minister for Immigration – the Hon Andrew Giles MP (About Andrew (andrewgiles.com.au) – brings considerable professional experience to a role which has previously not had professional incumbents. Minister Giles addressedthe national conference of the MIA in Hobart signaling structural changes to increase in staff to break through the backlog.
Jobs and Skills – the Government’s response
The first sign of there being new management in power after the May election was a summit in September involving immigration strategies and Australia’s search for appropriately skilled individuals to rebuild the Australian economy after the pandemic. One key outcome was the increase in permanent visa programs, effectively setting new records for skilled visas:
2022-23 Migration Program Planning Levels.
The planning level for the 2022-23 Migration Program had previously been set at 160,000 places. The Albanese Government will increase this number for (2022-23) to 195,000, effective immediately.
Within the overall planning level of 195,000 places:
- 142,500 places will be allocated to the Skill stream;
- 52,500 places will be allocated to the Family stream;
Judicial developments
In June, a decision unrelated to the Federal Election, the High Court made the Alexander decision which in essence decided that it was unconstitutional for the Department of Immigration – or the Minister – to remove a person’s Australian citizenship as punishment, as this is something that only a Court is permitted to do. This, it is hoped, might be a line in the sand – or a yardstick. Permanent residents with family ties in Australia were permanently banished from Australia if they have had a conviction for a criminal offence resulting in a penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment, even if suspended or commuted, or merely historical.
MD NO.100
The Department will prioritize Skilled Visa decisio-making for healthcare and teaching occupations, as well as offshore permanent and provisional/skilled visa applications.
The Government’s state policy is:
“Helps small businesses seeking to recruit overseas workers. It speeds up processing for all occupations and makes the process less complicated. This change will allow more applications to be processed faster, particularly for the critical Temporary Skill Shortage visa, which is designed to respond quickly to labour market needs Skilled visa processing priorities.”
Temporary visa processing
Applications have accumulated since the COVID pandamic. An announcement of the backlog having been reduced from 3,000,000 to 755,000 has been made this week (3 million visas processed, backlog down to 755,000 (homeaffairs.gov.au)
One key element ofthis is that the Department has decidedto bypass medical assessments fortemporary visa applications by thoseonshore. We have asked theDepartment to ensure that they do notproceed to autogrant where a client hasanother more favourable visa.
Character, short-term visas and refugees –promises promises
In the run up to the May election and afterwards, Labor made commitments on three policy areas which are yet to be realised – we live in hope with respect to:
1)Short-term Visas
Election 2022: Labor to change short-term visa holder, permanent residency requirements (smh.com.au)
2)Character
3)Temporary Protection Visa
‘Goodwill measures’ for TPV and SHEV holders
The Government will make it easier for Temporary Protection (subclass 785 – TPV) and Safe Haven Enterprise (subclass 790 – SHEV) visa holders to travel outside Australia.
On 19 November, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles, announced that a ‘more expansive’ approach to the interpretation of compassionate and compelling circumstances’, which is needed to obtain travel permission to a third country, would be taken. All decisions as to whether a visa holder’s circumstances are ‘compassionate’ or ‘compelling’ are made on a case-by-case basis.
The Minister also announced that the Government will amend Ministerial Direction 80 in relation to Afghan family visa applications, so that where the sponsor or proposer is a permanent visa holder who entered Australia as an Unlawful Maritime Arrival, the pplication will no longer receive the lowest processing priority in the Family visastream.
CPD
In the light of the significant changes now taking place on the Skilled Visa space, Playfair Legal will offer a unique in-house training experience for fellow practitioners using the skills of Melbourne solicitor Lily Ong (anaccredited legal specialist) and George Lombard (principal solicitor Playfair Legal). Both are fellows of the MIA. This seminar will be held between 1pm and 3pm on Thursday 24 November 2022.
For further information, please
contact
sirisha.adhikari@playfair.com.au.
Playfair Legal
In 2022 Playfair Legal has incorporated with Lombard Laurence Lawyers, a Sydney-based migration firm with shared values, and the resulting in an expansion of the services we provide whilst also offering additional depth in fields as diverse as AAT appeals, Australian Border Force enquiries and health waivers.
We look forward to 2023 with renewedvigor!
If PLAYFAIR can assist you with your global mobility and immigration needs, please reach out to us now via email at info@playfair.com.au or call our office on (02) 9233 8899.