Premium

The new regulations "clarify the circumstances in which the Minister may grant a Bridging R (Class WR) visa (BVR) without application to certain eligible non-citizens who may be unlawful non-citizens at the time of grant, or who already hold a visa other than a substantive visa, a criminal justice visa or an enforcement visa"

"Under paragraph 050.212(8)(c) of Schedule 2 to the Regulations, the reasons for the delay in making an application for a Protection (Class XA) visa must be acceptable to the Minister. The instrument operates to specify a class of persons who are not required to satisfy the Minister with an acceptable reason for a delay in making an application for a Protection (Class XA) visa".

The instrument specifies a new event for the purpose of paragraph cl 408.229(b) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)

"... the amending Regulations will allow ... to not be immigration cleared as required under section 166 of the Migration Act, so long as they do not leave the airport lounge except to continue their departure journey within 90 minutes of the arrival into Australia"

"The Regulations specify the Federal Circuit Court application fee for migration litigants is increased from $690 to..."

Common mistake: It is commonly said that a BVA can only be granted if a person makes a substantive visa application while that person is onshore, but a closer look at the relevant legislative provisions reveals otherwise.

"Subregulation 2.12H(1) of the Regulations provides that the Minister must refund the amount paid by way of the second instalment of the visa application charge (VAC) in relation to an application for a visa if any of the circumstances mentioned in subregulation 2.12H(2) exists and the Minister has received a written request for a refund."

"Schedule 1 amends visa conditions 8104 and 8105 to allow student visa holders and their dependants to work full-time before the student’s course of study commences, where they...". Changes are also made to subclasses 445, 155 and 157.

The new instrument commences on 5 Mar 2020: "One of the purposes of the instrument is to specify... areas of Australia affected by bushfires occurring after 31 July 2019 and before 1 March 2020 as regional Australia. Another purpose of the instrument is to specify ... bushfire recovery work carried out after 31 July 2019 in an area specified [in the instrument] either as paid employment or voluntary work, as specified work. Bushfire recovery work is defined in ... the instrument".

The new Regulations "simplify the Temporary Graduate visa program as outlined in the Migration Strategy released 11 December 2023 and combined with other policy measures, will help return migration to near pre-pandemic levels by next financial year. Specifically, this involves changes to the Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa, including the streams, and..."