Visa Updates from the Department of Home Affairs

There have been some exciting announcements made over the last couple of months by the Department of Home Affairs to address skill shortages as a result of COVID-19 and closed borders over the past two years. This will benefit both those already on a Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa, and prospective applicants looking to fulfil Queensland State Nomination requirements.

These have included an announcement that the Government is extending the Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489, 491 and 494) visas by 3 years if the visa holder was affected by COVID-19 restrictions. Read more here.

485 visa holders have also seen some changes and extension benefits due to COVID-19. A summary of the key changes are as follows:

From 1 December 2021, the stay period for Masters by Coursework/Masters extended graduates is permanently increased from two to three years same as Masters by Research graduates.
From 1 December 2021 as a concession during the COVID-19 pandemic, the stay period on the Graduate Work stream, will temporarily increase from 18 to 24 months.
The requirement for graduates of VET courses to nominate an occupation from the skills occupation list will be temporarily removed from 1 July 2022 till 30 June 2023. This means if your client studied any Diploma or Advanced Diploma in Australia for at least 92 weeks and finished their course before June 2023, they can obtain a 485 graduate work visa for 2 years.