Persons and events specified for subclass 408

The new instrument specifies the Australian Government Endorsed Event (AGEE) and classes of persons for the purposes of a Subclass 408 visa.

Bill to protect disclosure of confidential information

"The Bill amends the Migration Act to protect disclosure of confidential information provided by gazetted intelligence and law enforcement agencies where the information is used for decisions made to refuse or cancel a visa on character grounds, or revoke or set aside such decisions (Protected Information)... The Bill also amends the Citizenship Act to introduce provisions (which are substantially similar to the provisions in the Migration Act described above)..."

Income threshold & exemptions for visa subclass 189

The purpose of the new instrument is to "include an exemption for New Zealand citizens who are unable to meet the income threshold requirements for the 2020-21 income year due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic"

Changes to subclass 200 and 201 visas

The new Regulations "allow for the power to certify an applicant for a Subclass 200 (Refugee) visa or a Subclass 201 (In-country Special Humanitarian) visa as being a member of a class of persons specified by the Minister and as being at risk of harm as a result of the person’s membership of that class to be delegated by ‘relevant Ministers’ to senior executive-level staff within ..."

New occupations for visa subclass 187 (RSMS)

8 occupations have moved from the ROL to the MLTSSL, but that makes no practical difference for visa subclass 187 (RSMS); that change merely aligns subclass 187's MLTSSL with the MLTSSLs for subclasses 482 and 186; error in explanatory statement regarding caveats

Citizenship Cessation Bill

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?

Refund of VAC

The new instrument specifies "an additional circumstance where the first instalment of VAC may be refunded, to encourage visa holders in nominated subclasses to travel to Australia and participate in the Australian economy"

Daily Maintenance Amount for Persons in Detention

"The instrument operates to determine the daily amount applicable to a person for the cost of keeping and maintaining the person in immigration detention at a specified place for a specified period. Subsection 262(3) of the [Migration] Act requires the amount to be no more than the cost to the Commonwealth of detaining a person at that place for that period".

Deregulation: OMARA fee “refund” is possible

The OMARA has recently informed practitioners that it will not be able to refund registration (or repeat registration) application charges for legal practitioners who will no longer be regulated by the OMARA. Although the OMARA is not itself able to offer refunds, we carried out research for our readers and found a piece of legislation which gives the Commonwealth government the discretion to make payments to individuals in certain circumstances, which in the case of OMARA fees could effectively work as a refund. We also discuss the government's policies on such circumstances and how to make a "refund" request.

Replacement subclass 485 visa

The new regulations "provide an opportunity for former international students to obtain another Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa - a kind of temporary work visa granted after study in Australia - in circumstances where they were unable to stay in Australia for the full period of grant of their previous Subclass 485 visa due to COVID-19 international travel restrictions"

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