Changing Immigration Rules for Australia PR Applicants

Australian Immigration rules are constantly changing and PR applicants have to be made aware of the rules much ahead of time to make the necessary changes in their application process. Recently, the immigration department did some major overhaul of the visa. They pulled out certain jobs from their Combined Occupations Demands List and made some stringent visa rules.

As of now, Australia has the General Skilled Migration (GSM) Program divided into 3 subclasses namely, 189, 190 and 489. The clearances required by applicants are Language Proficiency, Medical Clearance, and Police Clearance. To apply for Australia PR, your occupation has to be listed under the Occupation Demand List which is updated every 6 months. Highly skilled workers are much in demand but depending on the labor market demand for workers in certain other occupations can change which might have been in demand previously.

The earlier option of applying for permanent residence after three years in Australia is not available anymore as they have made the rules stricter. There is also a higher standard for English language proficiency and those who don’t qualify can take another test only after two years. There is also a need to make your finances visible under two of the visa subclasses to show you are capable of taking care of yourself while you are abroad.

The major change initiated by the Australian Immigration Department is the overhaul of the 457 visas from March 2018. The abolished visa allowed sponsorship of skilled talent for up to four years earlier. It has been replaced with the new hard-to-get TSS (Temporary Skills Shortage). The ENS (Employer Nomination Scheme) and RSMS (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme) are also going major changes and are sure to limit the number of future applicants for Australia PR.

Under the TSS visa, there will be STSOL (Short-term Skilled Occupations) and MLTSSL (Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List). Advertising jobs, HR and consulting jobs and marketing jobs will be high on the priority list. TSS visa holders

will be allowed to change employers or occupations via sponsorship before completing visa tenure.

Many of these changes have been implemented by the immigration department to make the application process more stringent. Under the new rules, you’ve to be skilled in certain occupations and can only stay for a shorter period before applying for PR. Even then, the country presents a lot of opportunities for ambitious professionals. You just have to make sure you are aware of the visa changes and also get advice from migration specialists before you apply for your PR.