New Regional Visas, including employer sponsored visas
The new skilled regional provisional visas will be for skilled migrants, and dependent family members, who want to live and work in Australia, and will replace the existing 187 visa.
There will be two new skilled regional provisional visas introduced in November 2019:
- Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa: for people sponsored by an employer in regional Australia.
- Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa: for people who are nominated by a State or Territory government or sponsored by an eligible family member to live and work in regional Australia.
Holders of the new skilled regional provisional visas will need to live and work in regional Australia. Visas will be granted with a validity period of up to five years.
Holders of the new skilled regional provisional visas will be able to apply for a Permanent Residence visa. The Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) Visa will commence in November 2022.
Importantly, to be eligible for permanent residence, holders of the new skilled regional provisional visas will need to demonstrate they have lived and worked in regional Australia while holding one of the new Skilled Regional Provisional visa.
Advantages/changes
Regional employers will have access to additional regional occupations to sponsor migrants and priority processing of regional visa applications. There will also be additional points for certain points-tested migrants who are sponsored to settle in regional Australia.
- Employers in regional Australia, as well as State and Territory governments, who sponsor regional skilled migrants will have access to more occupations than equivalent non-regional visas.
- Based on current occupation lists, the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa will have access to over 450 more occupations than closest non-regional equivalent visa, and the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa will have access to over 70 more occupations than the closest non-regional equivalent visa.
- Priority processing arrangements will be expanded to include all visa applications sponsored by regional employers as well as other visa applicants who will live and work in regional Australia.
- Five additional points for regional nomination or sponsorship provide an extra incentive for potential migrants to consider settling in regional Australia.
Extra options for international graduates from regional institutions
This initiative provides for an additional Temporary Graduate visa with an extra year of post-study work rights for international students who:
- graduate from the regional campus of a registered university or institution with a higher education or postgraduate qualification; and
- maintain ongoing residence in a regional area while holding their first Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa
The second Temporary Graduate visa will require ongoing residence in a regional area.
The definition of regional Australia for this purpose will be the same as the definition for skilled migration – all of Australia except Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
As students need to graduate from a regional campus and then spend at least two years residing in a regional area to qualify, the additional Temporary Graduate visa will be available to the first eligible cohort of graduates from 2021.
Existing Temporary Graduate visa holders may be eligible, provided they can meet these requirements.
There is no change to Student visa arrangements. This initiative simply provides an additional incentive for international students to study and live in regional Australia.
Changes to existing visas
The introduction of the two new regional visas in November 2019 will not affect people who already hold existing visas, or who have applied for existing visas prior to November 2019. Applications lodged prior to November 2019 will continue to be processed as normal. There will be no impact on the permanent residence of current permanent visa holders.
Reduction of Skilled Independent (s189) Invitation rounds for last quarter 2018/19
The Migration Institute of Australia has received the following information from the Department:
‘As background information, we carefully manage invitation numbers each month against the application pipeline, which includes both the subclass 189 Skilled Independent and New Zealand streams. We are also calculating forward against the reduced Skilled Independent category planning ceiling for the 2019-20 Migration Program. We have now completed two invitation rounds at the reduced invitation levels and uploaded the results onto our website.’
The Department further advises “.. As we have held a steady high rate of Skilled Independent (subclass 189) invitations in the first three quarters of the 2018-19 Migration Program year we now have a solid pipeline to take us through to the end of this program year and enter into the 2019-20 program year.
‘Furthermore, the 2019-20 Migration Program planned ceilings have been announced with the Skilled Independent category reduced to 18,652 places, which includes the subclass 189 New Zealand stream and the points tested stream’
We will now reduce our skilled independent invitation rounds for the remaining last quarter of 2018-19 program year to 100 invitations per month for the Independent Skilled stream and continue with 10 invitations per month for the Skilled-Regional Provisional (subclass 489) Family Sponsored stream.
This will keep us with a good pipeline of applications and the ability to keep inviting each month in 2019-20, and support applicants by not increasing processing times..”
Adrian Felton
Migration Consultant (MARN:0105680)
Please Note: Many of the comments in this publication are general in nature and anyone intending to apply the information to practical circumstances should seek professional advice to independently verify their interpretation and the information’s applicability to their particular circumstances.