Does the Migration Zone include pre-clearance area?

Tip Series - the Migration Zone (MZ): many practitioners believe that a person only enters the MZ after that person is immigration cleared. With respect, that is wrong, which is good for some Tribunal applicants.

Time extension for sub 870 visa holders

"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."

Subclass 191: time spent on either 491 or 494 counts?

Applications for the new subclass 191 visa will be open from 16 November 2022. One of the Schedule 1 requirements for that visa is that the applicant has held a 491 visa for 3 years or a 494 visa for 3 years. But if, for instance, a person has held a 491 visa for 2 years and a 494 visa for 1 year, will that person be eligible for visa 191?

AMEP: tuition eligibility for Afghan citizens

"As part of supporting this cohort, this instrument expands eligibility for tuition in approved English courses, known as the Adult Migrant Education Program (AMEP), to holders of Subclass..."

Health workforce certificate: new exemption

"The instrument amends LIN 19/048 and LIN 19/219 to introduce ... a certificate exempting sponsors who are hospital employers from the requirement of obtaining a Health Workforce Certificate (HWC) each time the sponsor nominates a hospital-based position in one of the following medical occupations ..."

“Deregulation” Bill (not just deregulation) introduced in the Senate

The "Deregulation" Bill passed the House of Reps on 12 Feb 2020 and was introduced and read a first time in the Senate on 13 Feb 2020. On 28 November 2019, the Senate referred the provisions of the Bill to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 18 March 2020. As a result, it is unlikely that the Senate will debate the Bill before 23 March 2020, which is the first sitting day following the report's deadline. We discuss in this article that the Deregulation Bill is not just about the deregulation of lawyers, but also includes other important changes.

Cessation and grant of bridging visas

The new regulations amend the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) to "to cease certain bridging visas, held by a non-citizen if they have been determined by the Foreign Minister or their delegate, as a person whose presence in Australia may be directly or indirectly associated with ..."

Direction No 81: order of consideration of skilled visas

New Direction No 81 (Order of Consideration – Certain Skilled Migration Visas): replaces Direction No 74; sets the order of processing of applications for visa subclasses 189, 190, 489, 186 and 187; sets the order of processing of nomination applications for visa subclasses 186 and 187

Labour Market Testing: new agreement

The new instrument includes an agreement "alongside the other agreements determined as an international trade obligation of Australia for the purposes of labour market testing requirements"

Instrument amends new instrument for visitor visas

This further new instrument amends a drafting error contained in the new legislative instrument about visitor visas which commenced on 24 August 2019