Australia- UK Free Trade Agreement (AUKFTA)
The Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement officially came into effect on May 31, 2023, marking a significant milestone in the economic ties between these two nations.
Boosting Trade Relations
The United Kingdom stands as one of Australia's key trading partners, and the numbers speak for themselves. In 2022, the two countries engaged in a robust $10 billion worth of two-way goods trade. Thanks to this landmark agreement, over 99% of Australian products can now enter the UK market without incurring any duties or tariffs. Moreover, UK tariffs on Australian industrial goods have been completely eliminated. The agricultural sector also sees a positive shift, with products like beef, sheep meat, sugar, and dairy now enjoying duty-free transitional quotas, eventually leading to the elimination of all tariffs.
Strengthening Ties
Beyond the economic aspect, this agreement enhances the people-to-people connections between the two nations. Australian professionals now have access to the UK job market on par with their counterparts from the European Union, with the exception of the Republic of Ireland.
Facilitating Mobility
The agreement doesn't stop at trade—it also focuses on fostering mobility for skilled workers and young people in both directions. Starting from July 1, 2023, UK passport holders can apply for a Working Holiday visa between the ages of 18 and 35 years inclusive (up from the previous limit of 30). Additionally, beginning July 1, 2024, UK passport holders can obtain up to three separate Working Holiday visas without needing to meet specific work requirements.
Exemption from Labour Market Testing
A notable highlight of this agreement is the exemption of UK citizens (including UK Permanent Residents) from Labour Market Testing (LMT). LMT is a requirement for employers to demonstrate that they couldn't find a suitable Australian worker before sponsoring an overseas employee.
This free trade agreement is set to bring significant opportunities and benefits to both Australia and the United Kingdom, fostering economic growth and closer ties between the two nations.
Skilled Nominated visa (190) - NSW: updates 27 September 2023
Invitation rounds for the SKILLED NOMINATED visa (190) in NSW will commence next week.
What’s changing:
Due to high demand and limited places, to better address the skills shortages across the State, NSW will focus on priority sectors that need skilled workers, including:
Health
Education
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Infrastructure
Agriculture
Although the focus will be in key-industries, high-ranking Expressions of Interest (EOIs) in non-priority sectors may also be considered.
Temporary relaxation of working hours for student visa holders
The Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force has approved a temporary relaxation of working hours for student visa holders, when employed in specific sectors.
You can work for more than 40 hours a fortnight if you are:
employed in the tourism and hospitality sector
employed in the agriculture sector
enrolled in a health care related course and you are supporting the health effort against COVID-19 as directed by health officials
employed by an aged care Approved Provider or Commonwealth-funded aged care service provider with a RACS ID or a NAPS ID, before 8 September 2020
employed by a registered National Disability Insurance Scheme provider
The government will review these temporary measures regularly and will announce when these measures no longer apply.
Student visa holders do not have to apply to get these temporary measures but will need to contact their employers.
NEW PRIORITY MIGRATION SKILLED OCCUPATION LIST (PMSOL)
A new PRIORITY MIGRATION SKILLED OCCUPATION LIST (PMSOL) has been announced in order to allow sponsored skilled workers to return to Australia, fulfilling urgent skill needs in critical sectors and helping rebuild Australian economy.
The critical sectors included in the new PMSOL are healthcare, construction and IT; skilled workers who are sponsored in one of the PMSOL occupations, can get a travel exemption to move to Australia, but they must observe a 14 days quarantine once here (at their expenses).
Employers must advertise their vacancy in two national advertisements (included the Government’s jobactive website).
The 17 occupations in the PMSOL are:
- Chief Executive or Managing Director
- Construction Project Manager
- Mechanical Engineer
- General Practitioner
- Resident Medical Officer
- Psychiatrist
- Medical Practitioner nec
- Midwife
- Registered Nurse (Aged Care)
- Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency)
- Registered Nurse (Medical)
- Registered Nurse (Mental Health)
- Registered Nurse (Perioperative)
- Registered Nurses nec
- Developer Programmer
- Software Engineer
- Maintenance Planner
CRITICAL COVID-19 WORK IN THE HEALTHCARE AND MEDICAL SECTORS TO COUNT AS SPECIFIED WORK
The Department of Home Affairs has announced changes to the Working Holiday Visa program.
Working holiday makers, who have worked in critical healthcare and medical sectors in response to the COVID-19 emergency, will now be able to count work undertaken after January 31, 2020 as specified work to apply for a second and third working holiday visa.
Changes will also be made to allow those who had a working holiday visa and then switched to a COVID-19 pandemic event visa subclass 408, to continue doing critical COVID-19 works in the health and medical sectors, which will count as specific work for the purpose of a 2nd or 3rd WHM visa.
To make these changes effective, regulation amendments are required. Further updates will be available soon.
VISA FEE WAIVER FOR STUDENTS AFFECTED BY COVID-19
To support the recovery of the international education sector in Australia, a new student visa visa fee waiver has been introduced.
A NIL (= $0) visa fee will be available for international students who need to lodge an additional student visa application, to complete their studies.
International students who held a student visa on or after the 1st of February 2020 and who were unable to complete their studies within their original visa, due to covid-19, will be eligible for the new visa fee waiver.
Students must:
apply for a new student visa after midnight on 5 August 2020
attach a 1545 COVID-19 IMPACTED STUDENT form, provided by their educational institution.
Students can be onshore or offshore. The visa fee waiver applies to new student visa applications only.
NEW 494 VISA LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENT
It is no secret that the 494 visa will replace the 187 visa starting from 16 November 2019.
Several changes are made to the old program with the new definition of regional areas being probably the major one: Perth and the Gold Coast will be, in fact, regional and eligible areas for such visa.
Nearly 700 eligible occupations will pave the way for thousands of prospective migrants aiming at achieving permanent residency in Australia.
Similarly to the obsolete 187 visa, the new 494 visa will require the applicants to:
Have a nominating employer
Have a positive skills assessment in their nominated occupation
Have at least 3 years of experience in the nominated position (after qualification/skilled date)
Have competent English (IELTS 6 each band or equivalent test)
It is a 2 stage process, with the 494 visa granted for 5 years and the applicant potentially eligible for permanent residency through the 191 visa after 3 years WITHOUT being nominated by an employer.
Want to know more? Contact us.
Student visas - Increase to financial capacity
With the just released legislative instrument 19/198 the Department of Home Affairs has reviewed,
as of tomorrow 24th October,
the requested evidence of financial capacity for student visa applicants.
Not all student visa applications require the applicants to show evidence of funds, however, the Department of Home Affairs has the right to request such evidence.
The previous figures are updated as follows.
Student visa applicant must have access to:
$21,041 for a primary applicant (currently $20,290)
$7,362 for a spouse or de facto partner (currently $7,100)
$3,152 for a dependent child (currently $3,040)
Annual school costs (unchanged)
The Department will be satisfied that the requirement is met where the applicant can demonstrate an annual income of $62,222 (currently $60,000) where there is one only applicant;
$72,592 (currently $70,000) where there is a secondary applicant.
Make sure you meet the above requirement among the others before lodging your student visa application or ask for professional advice.
Temporary Skills Shortage 482 visa - Policy update
The Department of Home Affairs has just released an update to the Subclass 482 (short term stream) policy about the length of the employment contract. It is now specified that the contract of employment that is one of the requirements for the “Nomination” stage “…cannot be longer than the maximum period of stay for a TSS visa” (2 years).
A little detail of huge impact since the refusal of a nomination can determine the loss of the ever-increasing application fees (SAF levy included).
For a safe visa application, always hire a registered migration agent.
Far North Queensland DAMA rolled out
It’s now official, the Far North Queensland DAMA is operative with its 70 occupations in the list.
Similarly to the other DAMA, this DAMA will allow:
Pathway to Permanent Residency for most of the occupations
English language ability concession for several occupations (TSS 482 stage only with no concessions for ENS - permanent stage)
Salary concession for several occupations
Concession for qualifications and experience for some occupations
Further information can be found here:
https://www.cairnschamber.com.au/fnq-dama
The occupation list can be found here: