Complete guide on Australia visa changes 2024-25

Highlights: A comprehensive guide on Australian Visa Changes 2024-2025

• The Australian government introduced changes to certain Australian visas.
• The changes are aimed at improving the migration system and meet the labour market needs in Australia.
• Changes apply to foreign students, workers, and immigrants willing to migrate to the country
• The new Australian visa changes are effective from July 01, 2024.

 

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Australian Visa Changes effective from July 01, 2024

The following are the changes introduced by the Australian government, which has come into effect from July 01, 2024: 

 

Visa Ballot Process

 A pre-application ballot process has been introduced for specific Australian visa types. Working Holiday via applicants from China, India and Vietnam are now required to apply for one of a limited number of places through a ballot first. An amount of $25 has to be paid for this process. Selected applicants will be eligible to apply for a Subclass 462 Work and Holiday Visa in Australia.

 

The government has replaced the ‘first-come-first-served’ system to ensure efficiency and fair means of selection. The Australian Work and Holiday has a cap count for the number of places for Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese applicants. The table below provides details of the cap count of places for the three countries:

Country	No. of Places
China	5000
Vietnam	1500
India	1000 (expected)

 

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New Visa for Young India Professionals

The Australian government has introduced a new visa for talented Indian professionals in the technology field. Indians between 18 and 30 years old with relevant skills and qualifications can apply for the Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professional Scheme (MATES) visa. The new visa is introduced under the Australia-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement.

 

There are 3000 places for primary applicants who are qualified in the following streams:

 

• Mining
• Renewable energy
• Engineering
• Artificial intelligence
• Information and Communication technology
• Financial technology
• Agricultural technology

 

Applicants who secure a place in the ballot process will then be eligible to apply for the visa against a fee of $365.

 

Note: Immediate family members of the applicant are not considered for the 3000 place cap.

 

Onshore Student Visa applications

The federal government of Australia has announced restrictions on the eligibility of onshore student visa applicants. The following visa holders can no longer apply for an Australian student visa while they are in Australia:

 

• Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa
• Medical Treatment (subclass 602) visa
• Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601) visa
• eVisitor (subclass 651) visa
• Maritime Crew (subclass 988) visa
• Medical Treatment (subclass 602) visa
• Visitor (subclass 600) visa

 

Temporary Graduate Visas in Australia

Australia has reduced the maximum stay period allowed for the Temporary Graduate Visa. The government has also introduced a new age limit for the visa applicants. The Subclass 486 visa now has three streams instead of the previous four, as the Replacement Stream has now been removed.

 

 The table below has the new names of the streams:

Previous Stream name	New stream name
Graduate Work Stream	Post-Vocational Education Work Stream
Post-study Work Stream	Post-Higher Education Work Stream
Second Post-Study Work Stream	Second Post-Higher Education Work Stream

 

Note: The new age limit for a Temporary Graduate Visa has been set at 35 years or below.

 

Master’s or PhD candidates under the age of 50 years are still eligible to apply for the Temporary Graduate Visa. Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders below 50 years can also apply for the visa.

 

Read more…

Australia's Subclass 485 Visa is now open to applicants aged below 50

 

Temporary Skills Visas

Under the new changes, certain temporary visa holders are allowed a longer time to arrange for a new visa in case of a job switch or change of their sponsoring employer. The changes are applicable to the following visa holders:

 

• Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457)
• Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (provisional) (subclass 494)
• Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482)

 

Visa holders having the above-mentioned visas now have a consecutive 180-day period or a maximum of 365 days to arrange for a new visa or deportation from the country.

 

Read more…

Australia announces new changes for Skilled Worker Visas, effective from July 01, 2024

 

Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP)

The Australian government has replaced the provisional Business innovation and Investment (Subclass 188) via with the National Innovation Visa which will be available by the end of 2024. Eligible BIIP visa holders can apply for the Subclass 888 visa or the permanent equivalent of the BIIP visa even after July 2024.

 

Other Australian Visa Changes in 2024

The government of Australia is planning to implement the following changes in certain visas in 2024:

 

Skills in Demand visa

The Australian government is to introduce a Skills in Demand visa under the new Migration strategy. The new four-year temporary skills worker visa would be introduced towards the end of 2024 and would replace the Temporary Skills Shortage visa (Subclass 482).

 

The three targeted pathways for the Skills in Demand visa are:

 

• Specialist Skills: focuses on skilled high-earning professionals from fields like technology and green energy industries
• Core Skills: targets shortage areas to ease the application procedure and create a job list to be updated regularly
• Essential Skills: focuses on low-paid workers in fields like aged care

 

A new national Innovation visa

Australia is planning to introduce a new National Innovation Visa, which will combine and replace the BIIP and the Global Talent Visa (Subclass 858). The visa is aimed to attract highly skilled investors and researchers to migrate to Australia.

 

*Are you looking for step-by-step assistance with Australia Immigration? Contact Y-Axis, the world’s No. 1 overseas immigration consultancy, for end-to-end support. 

 

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