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"The amendments limit the adverse impact of COVID-19 related travel restrictions on holders of Subclass 870 visas who were outside Australia on 1 July 2021. These visa holders may have been granted the visa while outside Australia and now have difficulty in travelling to Australia, or may have left Australia while holding the visa but now have difficulty in returning.  The amendments assist these visa holders by allowing them additional time to travel to and stay in Australia when travel resumes."

The purpose of the instrument is to update the specified place and manner for making an application for the following visas subclasses: 101 (child), 102 (adoption), 117 (orphan relative), 802 (child), 837 (orphan relative) and 445 (dependent child).

The new regulations "amend the Customs Regulation 2015(Customs Regulation) and the Migration Regulations 1994 (Migration Regulations) to facilitate the introduction of a digital passenger declaration (DPD), for use by travellers on a voluntary basis... The DPD may also be used to provide COVID-19 vaccination information and related declarations, which is the information that can currently be provided using the Australia Travel Declaration"

The new Regulations will replace the Migration Agents Regulations 1998

The new instrument: "extends previously granted temporary skilled and temporary graduate visas (Subclasses 457,482, 485), and provides for future grants of those visas to be for five years, if ..."; "creates pathways to permanent residence for temporary skilled and temporary graduate visa holders from..."; and "brings forward the commencement of Schedule 3 to the Migration Amendment (New Skilled Regional Visas) Regulations 2019 from 16 November 2022 to..."

"The [new Regulations] exclude work for specified businesses, which would be listed in a legislative instrument signed by the Minister, from counting towards eligibility for a second or third working holiday maker visa. The exclusion would only apply to work undertaken after the business is listed in the legislative instrument."

"The amendments allow the person making the nomination to use an alternative methodology for determining the [Australian Market Salary Rate] ..."

The new instrument expands the Frequent Traveller stream under subclass 600 to several countries, and also makes changes relating to Chinese nationals

The purpose of the new instrument is to "gradually close the COVID-19 pandemic event 408 visa to new applications from ..."

The new instrument makes several changes to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) and the Australian Citizenship Regulation 2016 (Cth). Part of the changes commences on 14 Nov 2020.