 |
|
Skilled Migration: Update - Offshore Applicants - Priority Processing Group 5
|
| Author: |
Alan Collett |
| Date: |
Thursday, December 03, 2009 |
| |
Although information is being released slowly, it appears likely that certain offshore State/Territory Sponsored skilled visa applicants with non-Critical Skills List occupations are going to be processed in the next few months.
By way of background, Australia's Immigration Minister announced changes to the processing of general skilled visa applications on the 23rd of September, 2009. This announcement effectively relegated State or Territory sponsored skilled visa applicants with a skilled occupation that does not appear on the Critical Skills List, as such applicants were being processed in a higher priority category prior to the Minister's most recent change.
Particularly badly affected were non-CSL occupation applicants with State or Territory sponsorship who had been asked prior to the Minister's announcement to arrange their medical examinations and police clearance certificates by a case officer at the Adelaide Skilled Processing Centre: the Minister's announcement of 23/09/2009 indicated that such applicants could not expect the finalisation of their visa applications before 2012. As medical examinations and police clearance certificates have a validity of 12 months such applicants were faced with the additional cost of arranging repeat medicals and police certificates.
This is clearly an unfair consequence of the Minister's 23/09/2009 announcement.
Representations have been made to the Department of Immigration by many of those affected, including their advisors. These appear to be bearing fruit, as a senior representative at a Migration Institute of Australia seminar in Adelaide advised on Weds 25/11/2009 (attended by the writer of this article) that Priority Category 5 offshore skilled visa applicants who have been asked to attend medical examinations by a case officer will now be processed with a view to visa grant.
This was reinforced at a meeting at the Australian High Commission in London on Monday 30/11/2009 that was attended by persons affected by the Minister's annoucement, and a senior representative of the Department of Immigration.
At that meeting representatives were advised that:
- There are about 3,500 visa applications in Priority Category 5.
- The Department of Immigration is now in a position to make a start on processing these applications.
- Such applications are to be processed in chronological order of receipt, irrespective of the visa subclass being applied for (ie subclasses 176 and 475).
- It is not yet possible to determine whether all of these applicants will be processed from the 2009/10 skilled visa program, or from the program year commencing on 01/07/2010. This is likely to be a function of the number of visa applications lodged in the higher priority categories in the remainder of the 2009/10 program year.
The Migration Institute of Australia (the principal representative body of Australia's Registered Migration Agents) has also issued a communication to its membership this week, which reads as follows:
Processing of some State sponsored non-CSL GSM applications
There have recently been reports and speculation about the processing of some State sponsored non-Critical Skills List (CSL) General Skilled Migration (GSM) applications.
These are the Tier (or Category) 5 applications: that is, applications from people who are nominated by a State/Territory government and whose nominated occupation is not listed on the (CSL).
In order to provide realistic expectations for your clients, the MIA has been discussing the matter with DIAC to obtain an accurate statement of what is happening.
DIAC has today provided the MIA with the following statement:
"The Department is processing applications according to Ministerial Direction No. 42 - Order of consideration - certain Skilled Migration visas.
The Department anticipates that a small number of State sponsored non-CSL applications will be finalised this program year.
Finalisations will focus on applications where health and character checks have been requested by the case officer."
Comment
We think this is excellent news, particularly if the Department of Immigration is also able to extend the validity of medical examinations and police clearance certificates to (say) 15 or 18 months for those who have lodged requested medicals but whose visa applications will not be decided until the middle of next year.
We await further authoritative information from the Department of Immigration - an update on the Department's website would be welcome - and upon sight of such details and/or a clear pattern emerging in our skilled visa client caseload we will post a further update on Go Matilda News.
|
| Weblink: |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
