Premium

The new instrument "repeals the Migration (LIN 21/002: Places and Currencies for Paying of Fees) Instrument 2021 as in force on 1 January 2021 and operates to specify the place in which a fee (excluding visa application charges mentioned in subregulation 5.36(3A) of the Regulations) must be paid and to specify the currency in which a fee must be paid in that place, being Australia or a foreign country, for the purpose of paragraphs 5.36(1)(a) and (b) of the Regulations as at 1 July 2021"

On 15 Feb 2020, the Labour Party introduced a Bill in the House of Reps that seeks to suspend the requirements under the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) that some visa applicants be in Australia or overseas at the time of decision for applications decided within a certain time period 

'Businesses in Victoria's Great South Coast region will receive the boost they need with the Morrison Government finalising a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) with Warrnambool City Council'

"The purpose of this instrument is to specify the ... as an AGEE under clause 408.229 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations"

The new legislation supports "the trial of the Australia Travel Declaration (ATD) as a digital version of the passenger card, also known as the ‘incoming passenger card’"

"The purpose of the instrument is to amend the areas of Australia and kinds of work specified in LIN 22/012 and LIN 22/013 for the definition of specified Subclass 417 work and specified Subclass 462 work in regulation 1.03 of the Regulations, respectively"

According to the explanatory memorandum to the Bill introduced on 19 September 2019, "a person who is a national or citizen of a country other than Australia ceases to be an Australian citizen if the person acts inconsistently with their allegiance to Australia by" engaging in certain type of conduct. Is this Bill a further erosion of the "sacred" concept of citizenship? Could it become a "slippery slope" towards citizenship cancellation on less serious, more subjective grounds?

"The purpose of the instrument is to specify Australia and a number of foreign countries for paragraph 5.36(1)(a) [of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)] and the associated currency, or currencies, in which a fee may be paid in that country for paragraph 5.36(1)(b)... It is noted that the instrument has an additional purpose for the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 ..."

The new regulations remove a duplicated requirement to provide English language translations as part of citizenship applications

The intent of the new instrument "is to ensure that the Department can process the ‘complying investment’ criteria in Subclass 188 and Subclass 888 visa applications that were made prior to 31 July 2024 but are not yet finally determined"