News & Blog

Falcon Migration conducted a very well-attended webinar for Mining and Mineral Engineering Association of Sri Lanka on 3^rd July. More than 70 mining professionals attended this covering General Skilled Migration and Employer-Sponsored Migration. Currently, the mining professionals can apply under the following categories;

• The Mining Engineer
• Engineering Technologist
• Mining Production Manager
• Mine Deputy
• Building and Engineering Technicians (other categories)

In order to apply under general Skilled Migration, they need to fulfil the following minimum criteria.

• Below 45 years
• Minimum IELTS 6 for all bands
• A positive skills assessment
• Need 65 points

The presentation touched on the above points in detail and also discussed how employer-sponsored visa can also be an option for mining professionals. The very engaging questions delved into areas such as; English exam options, how to get additional points for partners’ skills, time period and the best strategy to adopt when preparing to lodge the visa.

The Credentialed Community Language (CCL) test is an assessment of a candidate’s language abilities for General Skilled Migration.

This test is taken by the applicants who are looking to lodge a point-based visa application. On successfully passing the test, applicants are awarded five points toward the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190), or Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 489). NAATI CCL tests are delivered online, Monday to Friday. The test consists of two dialogue recordings. Each dialogue represents a conversation between a native English Speaker and a native Language Other Than English (LOTE) speaker. Each dialogue is approximately 300 words, with about half in English and half in the LOTE. The dialogues are divided into segments of 35 words or less. The dialogues used will reflect real-life situations in Australian society. They are designed to examine a candidate’s ability to understand both languages and communicate in them. The topics may include: A minimum of two examiners will assess a candidate’s ability to communicate effectively in English and a LOTE. Two significant factors that contribute to assessment are:

• Language Quality – competency in both English and LOTE
• Language Register – the level of formality with which a candidate transfers the meaning

Marks are deducted for errors.  Examiners consider the types of errors in your performance and how these impact on your overall communication. Errors for which the examiners deduct a candidate’s score are:

• Accuracy (correctness of information)
• Distortions (misrepresentation of information)
• Omissions (removal of information)
• Insertions (addition of information)

Each examiner awards your results individually. In situations where the examiners disagree about the performance of a candidate, additional examiners will assess your test to help determine your final result. The test comprises of two dialogues; each worth 45 marks. In order to pass the test, a candidate requires at least 29 marks in each dialogue and an overall score of 63 out of 90. The result for the CCL test will be given as:

• Pass: 63 or higher (marks out of 90)
• Marginal Fail: between 58 and 62.5 (marks out of 90)
• Clear Fail: less than 58 (marks out of 90)

In situations where a candidate achieves 23 out of 45 in Dialogue 1, 41 out of 45 in Dialogue 2 and an Overall Score of 64 out of 90, the result given will be CLEAR FAIL as the candidate hasn’t achieved the required score in Dialogue 1 (i.e. 29). Results are sent via email within 4-6 weeks of the test date and are valid for three years from the date of issue. Clear Fail results are unable to apply for a review of their test due to the statistical improbability of the result being overturned. To apply, you will need to register in our customer portal, myNAATI and lodge your application via your myNAATI account.

From July 6 2022, the way you ​travel to and from Australia has changed.

• People entering Australia do not need to provide evidence of vaccination status
• People entering Australia do not need to complete the Digital Passenger Declaration or Maritime Travel Declaration
• People leaving Australia will not be asked to provide evidence of their vaccination status
• Unvaccinated visa holders do not​ need a travel exemption to travel to Australia
• Masks are still required on flights travelling to Australia.

Of course remember that airlines, vessel operators and other countries may have specific requirements that travellers need to comply with. If you are traveling to or from Australia hope you have a wonderful flight.    

Applications for the COVID-19 Temporary Graduate replacement stream visa opened on 1 July 2022. The Temporary Graduate replacement stream visa will give current and former visa holders impacted by COVID-19 travel restrictions the same length of stay as their original visa. The COVID-19 replacement stream is a replacement for the initial Temporary Graduate visa. It is only available for Temporary Graduate visa holders impacted by the Australian travel restrictions. This means people who could not stay in Australia for the full period allowed by their previous Temporary Graduate visa. The replacement Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa will recognise the commitment made by international students to Australia. It will acknowledge the disruption to plans that COVID-19 and the associated travel restrictions caused.   Eligibility To be eligible, applicants must:

• currently hold, or have held a Temporary Graduate visa that expired on or after 1 February 2020; and
• have been outside Australia at any time between 1 February 2020 and 15th December 2021.

In normal circumstances, applicants can only be granted one Temporary Graduate visa, and a further visa is only available on the basis of regional work and study.  

The easing of COVID vaccination restrictions has gone much further, as Australia has said it will open borders to all travellers regardless of Covid-19 vaccine status.  From Wednesday the 6th of July those travelling to Australia will no longer need to fill in a DPD (Digital Passenger Declaration) before they fly.

Until now unvaccinated visitors were barred from entering the country, although Australian residents were able to travel regardless of vaccine status. The Australian Government said that the removal was a sign of confidence in the country’s ability to manage Covid-19 and to reduce delays at airports.

“As more and more of us travel internationally and we get more confident in managing our risk of Covid, our airports are getting busier,” said the minister.

To address a shortfall of skilled workers, the Australian immigration minister has directed the Department of Home Affairs to accelerate visa applications. On Wednesday the  15th of June, Andrew Giles, the new government’s minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services, and Multicultural Affairs, announced that clearing the backlog of visa applications is the primary concern. “Processing outstanding visa applications is a priority for the Australian government. I have raised my concerns with the current state of visa processing with the Department of Home Affairs, and we are committed to ensuring that visa applications are processed in a timely manner.” According to him, the previous government did not release data on the number of skilled worker visa applications that had been submitted. However, from a high of 195,000 in 2014 to 96,000 in 2022, the total number of skilled temporary visa holders in Australia has shrunk. Employers are dealing with “protracted” processing timeframes for skilled migrants, according to Andrew McKella.