Legislative Updates

The purpose of the instrument is to amend the areas of Australia and the kinds of work that are specified in another instrument for the definitions of specified Subclass 417 work and specified Subclass 462 work

The new instrument "specifies the investments permitted for certain streams for Subclass 188 (Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional)) visa and Subclass 888 (Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent)) visa under Australia’s Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP)"

"The instrument operates to specify exemptions in relation to age, skills, employment history or English language requirements for the Subclass 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme) visa (Subclass 186), Subclass 187 (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme) visa (Subclass 187) and Subclass 494 (Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional)) visa (Subclass 494)".

The explanatory statement to LIN 20/029 reads: "The purpose of this instrument is to give domestic effect to Australia’s obligations under international trade agreements, to which it is a party, for the purposes of applying the labour market testing condition". Parts of LIN 20/029 commenced on 17 Jan 2020 and 11 Feb 2020. The remaining part of LIN 20/029, which concerns the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IACEPA), commenced on 5 July 2020. Understand why.

Additional areas where specified work can be carried out: Migration (LIN 18/197: Areas of Australia and Kinds of Specified Work for Subclass 462 (Work and Holiday) visas) Instrument 2018.

"The instrument operates to specify the requirements for making an application for a Subclass 494 visa. For the purposes of subitem 1242(1) of Schedule 1 to the Regulations, the instrument specifies the approved form for making a valid application. For the purposes of paragraph 1242(3)(a) of Schedule 1 to the Regulations, the instrument also specifies the manner in which an application must be made".

The new instrument adds a person to the list of persons who are able to receive the Pledge of Commitment for Australian citizenship

"This Bill seeks to amend the Migration Act 1958 to enable applicants for Subclass 309 (Partner (Provisional)) visas to be granted the visa onshore,...

"The Government is taking action to strengthen the legislative framework in the Migration Act to improve employer compliance and protect temporary migrant workers from exploitation. The ... amendments ... seek to ensure employers do not misuse migration rules to exploit temporary migrant workers ..."

The Bill is scheduled to be debated in the Senate on 19 September. It introduces a framework that facilitates the sharing of personal information, requires approval of persons as family sponsors and imposes obligations and sanctions on them.