Immigration trends in the 2023 Federal Budget
Greetings.
We are pleased to announce that our news catalogue will be resuming with the latest Australian Immigration news, updates, and information. Due to the relocation and realignment of our organisational changes, we were not able to provide any immigration news for the past few months. However, as part of this update, we will provide the latest immigration news on our website and our social media channels.
In this article, we will look at the major change seen in the Migration Program, and the Immigration Trends of the 2022-23 Federal Budget recently announced in early April.
As shown, the biggest change seen in the Migration Program is the major decrease in the places for Business Investor visa, Global Talent visa, and Partner visas and a significant increase in the places of Skilled Immigration and Employer visas.
The Business Investor visa and Global Talent visa are experiencing significant reductions in the new places announced, and it is surprising news for the prospective applicants for these visas. In particular, the numbers look more dramatic compared to 2021 and the year before, when the places increased three times for the Global talent visa and doubled in 2021 compared to 2020 for Business Innovation visa. Also, compared to past places during the covid pandemic, there is a big decrease for Partner Visa as well.
It can be assumed that,
▶ There was a need to secure more places in the Skilled Migration visas for the 482 short-term list occupation. As briefly mentioned in the previous post, 482 short-term list occupations were impossible to apply for a Permanent Residence but as of the new regulations, they are now eligible to apply through the 186TRT stream.
▶ The significant increase in Regional visas can be seen as a positive reflection of the strategies for regional growth and development that the Australian Government has pursued for several years.
▶ The significant increase in the State/Territory Government-sponsored visas also allowed the Federal Government to grant powers to each State/Territory Government, allowing them to select the required occupations, skill levels, and age that can contribute to the growth of the government.
The Migration Program plays a significant part in the Australian Federal Budget announcement. It plays a big role because it balances the development in each State/Territory Government.
A key aspect of the Federal Budget for 2023 is it has expanded the opportunity to apply for a permanent residency to non-permanent residents who have contributed to the Australian economy and stayed in Australia during the Covid-19 period. The Government has increased the places of the Skilled Independent visa, Regional visa, and State/Territory Government-sponsored visas to revive local and regional economies that have been affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, to maintain the ceiling of 160,000 places, the Government had to reduce the numbers of Business Investment visas, Global talent visas, and partner visas, which have benefited from increased places over the past two years. In the case of partner visas, which increased numbers during the Covid-19 period to help reunite family members, the reduction in numbers does not seem to have a significant effect as much as foreigners are able to enter Australia.
Based on the past processing times and requirements for when the Business Investment visa places were more significant, it is now reasonable to expect a higher EOI score requirement to receive a sponsorship from the State/Territory Government and a more extended processing period.
Especially, with the revised criteria in 12 years since 1 July 2021, the qualification requirements to grant a State/Territory sponsorship is expected to greatly affect prospective visa applicants with the processing period and EOI score needs.
Over the past 13 years of processing many clients’ permanent residency visas, there were hardly any times I recount a positive change in immigration laws for those who want to immigrate to Australia. As I emphasise in every consultation, if you are eligible to apply, we recommend that you do so as soon as possible without any delay. If you are thinking of immigrating for a business investment visa, I recommend applying as soon as possible before the financial year 2022 is over.
The criteria for calculating the Business Investment visa score and qualification requirements that will be applied from July 2021 will be explained in detail in the following article.
