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Number of invitations reduced drastically from 1,500 to 110; invitation threshold raised from to 75 to 80 points for visa subclass 189 and threshold for visa subclass 489 remained the same at 80 points

Among the new considerations to determine whether an applicant is a genuine applicant for entry and stay as a student, one of the two new Direction requires decision-makers to consider whether visa applicants "participated in assessment activities for the course"

"The purpose of the instrument is to update the information previously contained in [the instrument to be repealed on 31 March 2020] to ensure all officers, agencies and their employees who require access to movement records for various purposes are authorised to do so. Accordingly, changes have been made to the legislation specified under subregulation 3.10A(1) and the agencies, employees and purposes specified under subregulation 3.10A(2)".

"The Bill strengthens the integrity of the migration system by requiring non-citizens who are on a removal pathway and have exhausted all avenues to remain in Australia to cooperate in efforts to ensure their prompt and lawful removal..."

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..."

The new instrument specifies the assessing authorities for the new subclass 494 (regional) visa. For some occupations, the assessing authorities will depend on the date of the assessment, as we explain in this article.

"The purpose of the instrument is to specify the class of persons for whom the base application charge (payable at the time a visa application is made) for a subclass 417 visa or subclass 462 visa is nil, for subparagraph 1224A(2)(a)(i) and 1225(2)(a)(i) of Schedule 1 to the Regulations"

"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 "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.

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"