Monthly Archives: October 2022

The parent visa waiting times has been at the forefront of the discussion in immigration news and this month’s budget provided a very encouraging news to parents and their children waiting to reunite in Australia.

When it comes to family visas, more parent visas will be available, with the government increasing the allocation from 4,500 in 2021-22, to 8,500 this year.

Australian parent visas are designed in various types to meet various situations. They can be permanent, or provisional, contributory, or non-contributory. While some provisional visa leads to permanent visa application in the future, some may not.

• The Contributory Parent Visa (Subclass 173) is a temporary parent visa. This visa allows you to stay in Australia for 24 months, and cannot be extended or renewed.
• To live as a permanent resident of Australia, you can apply for Contributory Parent Visa (Subclass 143). Currently this takes up to 5-6 years to process this visa. The second visa application fees are quite expensive and is around $43,600 per parent . This amount is requested once the parents pass the health and police check-ups. It is important to understand the timing of the payment in order to save for this cost.
• If one of the parents is 65.5 years, or above, and stays in Australia on a visa that allows him/her to apply for a parent visa onshore (a visitor or tourist visa WITHOUT the 8503 “No Further Stay” condition), he/she can apply for the visa staying in Australia.
• Sub class 870 temporary visa, allows parents to stay in Australia for a longer time than the Visitor Visas. Subclass 870 Visa does not require the parents to meet the ‘Balance of Family Test’ which applies to the aforementioned visas. Parents holding this visa can stay in Australia for 3 to 5 years temporarily without the need to depart Australia. But, you must be outside of Australia for at least 3 months to apply for a consecutive Sponsored Parent Visa. So, you can stay in Australia for a maximum of 10 years on this visa.The fee associated with the visa to stay up to 3 years is $5,000 and $10,000 up to 5 years.

On 25^th of October 2022, the new Albanese government announced its first budget. Although the budget was a cautionary one, signalling the recovery process post covid. However, there were a number of encouraging measures taken on migration.

The budget also proposed increases of the migration program funding after it was cut by the previous Morrison government. An extra $576 million over four years will be provided to the Department of Home Affairs towards visa processing, to cover a shortfall in funding for the maintenance of offshore processing centres and to support refugees.

The Albanese government had previously announced it would put in an extra $36.1 million to hire more staff to bring down visa processing wait times. It also said it would increase the number of places for skilled and family visas from 160,000 to 195,000.

The announced skilled visa places under each category of visa are listed below.

Australian culture and way of life has attracted many migrants to travel to Australia. One of the strangest holidays for some of our clients who moved to Melbourne is the “Melbourne Cup” day.

As one of our clients said “I first thought it was a cricket or footy tournament, apparently not. It is a horse race in Melbourne”

The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s most famous annual Thoroughbred horse race. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. It is the richest “two-mile” handicap in the world and one of the richest turf races. The event starts at 3:00 pm on the first Tuesday of November and is known locally as “the race that stops the nation”.

Phar Lap, the most famous horse in the world of his day won the 1930 Melbourne Cup at 11/8 odds on, the shortest-priced favourite in the history of the race. He had to be hidden away at Geelong before the race after an attempt was made to shoot him and only emerged an hour before the race time of the Cup. Phar Lap also competed in 1929 and 1931, but came 3rd and 8th respectively, despite heavy favouritism in both years. Melbourne Cup day is a public holiday for all working within metropolitan Melbourne and some parts of regional Victoria, but not for some country Victorian cities and towns which hold their own spring carnivals. For federal public servants, it is also observed as a holiday in the entire state of Victoria.

Photo by Philippe Oursel on Unsplash

Australian citizenship is something that many migrants aspire. It is an acknowledgement of their commitment to Australian values.

To become an Australian citizen, the migrant should submit an application by him/herself or through an agent. Once you have submitted your application, you will be contacted by the Department of Home Affairs.

If the application is successful, the applicant will be invited to participate in an Australian citizenship ceremony, which comprises of the Australian Citizenship Pledge.

There are 3 ways to become an Australian citizen:

• By birth: If you are born here and one or both of your parents is an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Australia.
• By descent: If you are the child of an Australian citizen but you are born overseas, you will generally be granted Australian citizenship.
• By grant: If you are a non-citizen of Australia you can apply to become an Australian citizen.

There are certain Australian citizenship requirements you must meet, which include:

• You are an Australian permanent resident
• You are over 16 years of age
• You have lived in Australia for a period of four years, including 12 months as a permanent resident
• Are of good character
• Have an adequate knowledge of your responsibilities and privileges as a citizen

As an Australian citizen, you have a number of privileges, which include:

• Voting in Federal and State or territory elections and in a referendum
• Applying for work in the Australian Public Service or in the Australian Defence Force
• Seeking election to parliament
• Applying for an Australian passport and re-entering Australia freely
• Obtaining help from an Australian official while overseas
• Registering children born overseas as Australian citizens by descent

Citizenship Test

All applicants will need to complete and pass a citizenship test, which is based on their knowledge and understanding of Australian society, values and history. The test will also assess the applicant’s English language abilities, sufficient knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of being an Australian citizen and intend to reside and work in Australia, or to preserve a close connection with the country.

September and October brought good news for many migrants offshore. The following list of occupations received invitations with just 65 points displaying Australia’s commitment to getting more skilled migrants to Australia.

If you fall within any of the following categories, contact us today to commence the skilled migration process before the Australian Government closes the invitations for the year.

• Aeronautical Engineer
• Agricultural Consultant
• Agricultural Engineer
• Agricultural Scientist
• Architect
• Audiologist
• Biochemist
• Biomedical Engineer
• Biotechnologist
• Botanist
• Cartographer
• Chemical Engineer
• Chemist
• Chiropractor
• Civil Engineer
• Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teacher
• Electrical Engineer
• Electronics Engineer
• Engineering Professionals nec
• Engineering Technologist
• Environmental Consultant
• Environmental Engineer
• Gastroenterologist
• General Practitioner
• Geophysicist
• Geotechnical Engineer
• Hydrogeologist
• Landscape Architect
• Life Scientist (General)
• Life Scientists nec
• Marine Biologist
• Materials Engineer
• Mechanical Engineer
• Medical Diagnostic Radiographer
• Medical Laboratory Scientist
• Medical Practitioners nec
• Metallurgist
• Microbiologist
• Mining Engineer (excluding Petroleum)
• Naval Architect
• Occupational Therapist
• Other Spatial Scientist
• Psychologists nec
• Quantity Surveyor
• Registered Nurse (Aged Carel
• Registered Nurse (Community Health)
• Registered Nurse (Critical Care
• and Emergency)
• Registered Nurse (Medical Practice)
• Registered Nurse (Medical)
• Registered Nurse (Mental
• Health)
• Registered Nurse
• (Perioperative)
• Registered Nurse (Surgical)
• Registered Nurses nec
• Secondary School Teacher
• Social Worker
• Sonographer
• Special Needs Teacher
• Specialist Physicians nec
• Speech Pathologist
• Structural Engineer

This article provides a general overview of the Australian education system that consists of four stages.

1.  Early childhood education (ages four to five)

Kindergarten is officially the first stage of formal schooling in Australia. The aim is to teach children to work with others, make friends, express their creativity, build communication skills, and the reading, writing and numeracy skills required to effectively participate in subsequent learning opportunities.

2.  Primary school education (ages six to 11)

Primary schools offer programs from Foundation to year six. Primary education focuses on developing essential literacy, numeracy, intellectual and social-emotional skills.

3.  Secondary school education (ages 12 to 18)

Secondary schools cater for students’ educational needs from Year 7 to Year 12. 

In some states, students can drop out at Year 10 to enrol for vocational training and pursue an apprenticeship.

Australia’s secondary school education system adheres to a national curriculum framework. Subjects taught include, mathematics, science, history, languages, geography, the arts, health and physical education, information and communication technology, civics and citizenship, economics and business.

After completion of senior secondary school (Years 11 and 12), students sit for exams and are awarded a Senior Secondary Certificate of Education.

4.  Higher education in Australia

Also known as tertiary education, higher education in Australia includes all formal education beyond high school. It’s divided into two sectors; vocational education and training (VET), which is registered and regulated by the Australian Skills Quality Agency (ASQA), and universities which are registered by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). 

Vocational Education Training (VET)

VET is based on partnerships between Australian governments (federal and state) and industry bodies and is designed to expedite entry into a job after graduation.

Many vocational courses incorporate a period of on-the-job training, in addition to classroom or online learning.

Courses are provided by government-funded Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions, adult and community education centres, and private registered training organisations (RTO).

VET qualifications range across four levels of certificates (Certificate I, II, III and IV), as well as Diploma courses and Advanced Diploma courses, depending on the years of study and the occupational skills and competencies gained.

Undergraduate study in Australia

At the undergraduate university level, student’s study for a bachelor’s degree as initial preparation for a professional career of their choice.

Completing a bachelor’s degree involves a minimum of three years of full-time study. However, some institutions offer a fast-track system to complete a degree in two years. 

At tertiary level, the majority of Australian universities are public, and under Study Assist, fees are subsidised through a student loan program where payment becomes due when students enter the workforce and reach an annual income level of  $47,000. The average cost of a bachelor’s degree is AUD$15,000 to $33,000. In recent years most popular field of education at higher education institutions in Australia was Management and Commerce. Subjects in the society and culture, and health fields, were the next most popular study options in that year. The most popular subjects include medicine, law, business and management, dentistry, education, environmental science, accounting and engineering

The recent cyber attack on one of the largest telecom service providers in Australia, Optus, reminded all that the scale and sophistication of cyber attacks are increasing.

And they’re becoming harder to detect. Australian Demand for cyber security products and services is growing. Australia’s appetite for cyber solutions is expected to see sales grow to A$7.6 billion by 2024.

Australian expertise in this field includes secure mobility solutions, quantum encryption, AI-driven deception, IoT security, and cloud security.

The Global Talent Visa (Subclass 858) is a streamlined visa program for highly skilled professionals to move to Australia. There is no points testing and it grants immediate Permanent Residency. If you meet the criteria for this visa, please make an appointment to speak with us today. There are 2 pathways under the Global Talent visa:

1. the Global Talent visa pathway – an opportunity for highly skilled people in the target sectors; and
2. the Distinguished Talent pathway – a pathway for exceptional and outstanding individuals who do not fit into any Global Talent sector. Some examples are international cricketers, musicians.

If you are highly skilled in one of these areas, or you work in a senior role for a company that provides services in one of the following sectors, you may be eligible for the Global Talent visa under the Global Talent pathway.

The Global Talent Visa allows an opportunity for experts in cyber security to apply and obtain a permanent residency visa.

Whilst Permanent Visa holders have access to medicare facilities, most temporary residents have to maintain adequate health insurance for the whole of your stay in Australia. In the visa grant letter, the Department of Home Affairs include a condition identified by the number 8501 visa condition.

If this visa condition is there on your visa you need to take out health insurance for coming to Australia. Some of the examples of visa classes include;

• Working Holiday Visa (417)
• Work and Holiday Visa (462)
• Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (subclass 482)
• Temporary Graduate (subclass 485)
• Student Visa (subclass 500)
• Visitor (subclass 600)

There are several Australian insurers that offer cover tailored to visa holders. When you approach a health insurance provider indicate that you are subject to this condition and they will recommend the policy options available for you.

It is also noteworthy that sub class 491 which comes under a temporary skilled visa is not subject to this condition and are entitled to medicare.