Thread for Agents ONLY re the new GSM changes

[George Lombard]

Peter Mares has written a balanced and insightful piece about the capping legislation, see Capping and culling the migration queue | Inside Story . No prizes for guessing which topic he will also cover in his ABC program tomorrow at 6pm: The National Interest . (sorry, just realised Alan has a non-sticky thread with commentary on this, see below)

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[George Lombard]

Peter Mares will address capping and culling issues in his ABC Radio Program The National Interest which goes to air tonight. The link for making an input to his program is The National Interest - Contact Us . We're advised that the Minister will be making an appearance to defend the legislation. Program goes to air 6pm AEST.

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[Alan Collett]

ABC Radio National

 

Click on Listen Live. Hope this works for you!

 

Best regards.

[Alan Collett]

New immigration powers cause concern - The National Interest - 4 June 2010

 

Relevant content ...

[George Lombard]

Just when you thought it couldn't get more interesting, this new discussion paper indicates that the government is dedicated to reforming the migration system: http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/pdf/simpler-visas.pdf .

 

They've tried this before, the difference is that this Government isn't going to be deterred from reform.

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[Alan Collett]

Did you notice the proposed complete abolition of the subclass 405 visa, George?

 

Not sure whether you do many of them, but they are at least a pathway for independently wealthy mature overseas citizens.

 

Best regards.

[George Lombard]

Alan, I have to say that the whole retirement visa program must have sounded pretty good 20 years ago but the grief being created by parents who are sliding into senescence without being able to sponsor children to care for them shows just what a short-sighted planning went into it. Anyway, this is a public consultation, let's see what that throws up.

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[Les Mighalls]

As requested, some of my notes from the DIAC briefings of last week;

 

Points test changes to come in a few weeks.

Cap & cease by occupation to be introduced.

DIAC wants to reduce the number of applications.

Transitional arrangements for current students but must lodge 485 before 31DEC2012.

SMPs should be in place by 01JUL2010 but still part of overall plan.

Independent GSM places being reduced, Govt. wants flexibility, and not preclude very good applicants. More value being placed on English, academic qualifications and work experience.

One of motivators for change is that economic benefits decreasing from migration program as number of applicants from HR countries increases with consequent drops in skill levels and average income earned by migrants decreases.

Therefore decrease n GSM, increase in ENS/RSMS planned and intend to make it easier fro 457s to progress to PR.

Family sponsored skilled migration is giving poorest employment outcomes.

Current concerns include bogus spouse applications being attached to on-shore applications.

Business skills applications are currently paused.

New SOL will have new skills assessment bodies and spell out points.

New SOL does not affect students on 572/3/4 as at 08FEB2010 provided they apply for a 485 before 31DEC2012. If no 485 need to nominate for New SOL occupation.

Visa capping Bill allows for Cap & Cease by occupation but power will not be used lightly.

No new points test for several months yet.

Flagged possibility that at some time in the future ALL applications will go into a pool for employers and Governments to dip into and select nominations from.

Govt. favouring 457s to address skills shortages and numbers of 457s have been increasing since SEP2009 with 457 processing times taking between 16 and 56 days depending on skills grouping.

Some amendments still to come in SBS and Training Benchmarks

Sponsorship accreditation process and outcome to be changed so that if approved can sponsor across entire category.

ANZSCO 5-7 will require Labour Agreements

ENS/RSMS under review with respect to English language standards, exceptional circumstances exemptions, skills assessments and possible introduction of a Regional SOL.

New SMPs will cut off-list nominations for each State from 500 to 100 per year.

[Christopher McGrath]

George and Alan, I’m sure you both remember when the retirement visa was a permanent visa a long time ago.

The previous one I thought worked well, even though a words that appeared in the old criteria "the applicant intended to settle in Australia" were still included when it became a temporary visa. It had no work conditions therefore it was a win-win situation as these people lived in Australia, (1..usually purchased a home, could not work, did not get Medicare or social security of any kind, and spend money.) Absolutely no downside at all.

Then the meddling, gave them permission to work 20 hours each week. Why, in any case I never had a client who did work.

Then scrapped it and brought in the investment visa, thereby blocking many people who would (see 1 above). What an intellect thought of that one. But better is to come; now they may scrap it totally!!! Must admit I haven’t read the Bill, will do soon.

 

George you complain of "short sighted planning". Is there any other kind with this DIAC?

[Jag Khairra]

Immigration minister uses veto rarely

 

Immigration Minister Chris Evans says he would very, very rarely use his new powers to veto skilled migration applications.

 

 

The Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee is considering a government bill that would give the minister the right to terminate future bids for residency.

 

 

Senator Evans could be granted extra powers if the committee agrees with the bill.

 

 

This could lead to a possible Senate vote in June.

 

 

But Senator Evans insisted he would exercise his power judiciously.

"This is a power that we would use very, very rarely if we need to manage the program in that way," the minister told ABC Radio.

 

 

The government wants the power to terminate future applications made when the independent body, Skills Australia, updates its skilled occupation list.

 

 

Senator Evans said the government needed to be able to select people based on skills needs rather than rely on applicants who thought they could study in Australia and buy a place in the migration program.

"This is a bill that gives the minister the power to deal with situations where we're getting too many people in one occupation distorting the program," he said.

 

 

Asked about giving a future minister too much power, Senator Evans said it would be up to any successor to argue their case in public.

 

 

The Migration Amendment (Visa Capping) Bill 2010 passed the lower house in May.

From July, the number of occupations under the skilled migration program will be slashed from 400 down to 181.

 

 

Occupations removed from the list include cooks, hairdressers, acupuncturists, piano tuners, journalists and naturopaths.

[George Lombard]

Hi Jag,

 

That's a quote from the Peter Meares interview - the problem is that Evans may not be Minister when the time comes for exercising the power, and just as with the cancellation of the pre-September 2007 applications, there are no controls.

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[Guest Susan Wareham McGrath]

"This is a power that we would use very, very rarely if we need to manage the program in that way," the minister told ABC Radio

 

Regardless of who becomes its Minister, it will be interesting to see how DIAC redefines "rarely" when the time comes - it's already redefined "good public policy", "strategic policy making", "People our Business", "compassion", "respect", "natural justice" and "certainty", to name just a few .....

 

DIAC - there's nothing like it!

 

Regards

Susan

[Les Mighalls]

Regardless of who becomes its Minister, it will be interesting to see how DIAC redefines "rarely" when the time comes - it's already redefined "good public policy", "strategic policy making", "People our Business", "compassion", "respect", "natural justice" and "certainty", to name just a few .....

 

:biggrin:

[George Lombard]

VACs (visa application charges) for July now announced, these are the major ones:

 

 

Old

New

 

 

$2 525

$2 575

 

$3 510

$3 575

 

$1 705

$1 735

 

$230

$235

 

 

$13 730

$15 185

 

$12 430

$13 745

 

$1 485

$1 640

 

$34 330

$37 965

 

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[SD_MOA]

Here is a link to the full list.

 

Regards

[George Lombard]

Vetassess has just sent out this important announcement, which, if literally true, suggests that the new SOL is not going to bite immediately and that the DIAC transitional legislation will be humane:

 

RE: Applications for skills assessment received before 1 July 2010

This advice applies to skills assessments received before 1 July 2010 when the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) and the new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) will be introduced by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

It is expected that skills assessments for nominated occupations in the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) will continue to be accepted for migration purposes from 1 July 2010 if the application for the skills assessment was received before 1 July 2010. This is the case even if the skills assessment was finalised after 30 June 2010 and the nominated occupation is not on the new SOL.

 

This is all the information available on this announcement and Monday is a holiday here, but I'm sure that clarification will be made on Tuesday. In particular, does this announcement apply only to Vetassess assessed occupations or all occupations?

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[George Lombard]

DIAC yesterday confirmed that 1 July will be the start date for the new SOL. They've very helpfully suggested that people needing to apply before midnight on 30 June do so well in advance as the DIAC systems will be very busy. See What's New? Recent Changes in General Skilled Migration .

 

My own view is that this date is now looking too early, since the State Migration Plans should all have been well advanced by now, but indications are that DIAC has failed to reach consensus with the states about methodology - ie we could be waiting some time to see an operative SMP even in draft.

 

Also, the confusion among the assessing agencies as to what they're assessing people against and what transitional measures there will be is quite unacceptable. The Vetassess message sent to agents by email and pasted on its website (see post #91) is not consistent with what the Minister has been saying or what other agencies have been saying, and if even only partially true is such a complete departure from appropriate protocol, albeit a welcome one, that the whole situation is descending into farce. If Vetassess is saying that the date of application for skills assessment is going to be the cut-off for the new SOL then that needs to be a message on the DIAC site for everyone, and endorsed by the Minister.

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[George Lombard]

Complex regulations implementing the relevant General Skilled Migration changes have been promulgated today. Unfortunately the new SOL is not yet available, but what we have will clarify many questions. See ComLaw Legislative Instruments - Migration Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 6) (SLI 2010 No. 133) .

 

In particular, the regulations introduce the mechanism for a SOL which will have independent and state sponsored occupations, create a framework for applying ANZSCO to general skilled migration applications and 457 applications, and break the nexus between sponsored and unsponsored general skilled migration applications. On a first reading it seems that applicants will have to choose at the outset whether they are to be family sponsored, state sponsored, or independent. That is, new applications for subclass 175, 176, 475, 487, 885 and 886 from 1 July (existing applicants are safe) won't be able to shift between those subclasses.

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[George Lombard]

Vetassess clarification on the continuation of old SOL occupations:

 

VETASSESS sent you an e-mail on 11 June. It concerned our expectation that from 1 July DIAC would continue to process applications for skills assessments received by VETASSESS before 1 July even if the nominated occupation was no longer on the new Skilled Occupation List for the General Skilled Migration Program (GSM) to be implemented on 1 July. That e-mail was sent in good faith and was our understanding based on advice we sought about our pipeline cases.

We have now received further clarification that from 1 July, applicants for the General Skilled Migration Program (GSM) will need to nominate an occupation on the new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) unless they are covered by a transition arrangement announced by DIAC on 17 May 2010. Those transition arrangements apply to international students in Australia. Please check the DIAC website for details of that announcement.

VETASSESS skills assessments may also be used to support an application to migrate under a State or Territory sponsorship scheme under the GSM program. There are separate occupation lists for these schemes. Please check state and territory websites for information.

We plan to finalise all our skills assessments for the GSM by 30 June provided there are no missing required documents. On request, we will fax the assessment to clients or their agents.

The Employer Nomination Scheme Occupation List (ENSOL) is a different list to the SOL for the GSM. VETASSESS will continue to process skills assessments for applicants seeking to migrate under the Employer Nomination Scheme who nominate an occupation on the ENSOL.

 

 

 

Sorry, the whole thing seems to have been a false alarm.

[Jag Khairra]

This information is regarding ICT Recent Graduates.

 

I emailed ACS assessor this morning about transitional arrangements for students who have applied for skills assessment and will be applying after 30th June. Below is the reply from the assessor:

 

 

Hi,

 

Thank you for your email. The application is currently with the assessor. You need to wait until new GSM program is announced on 01 July 2010.

 

The ACS will introduce provisional arrangements for applicants like you; please check the ACS Migration Skills Assessment website on the date.

 

Miss R*****

Skills Assessment Officer

[George Lombard]

The DIAC announcement concerning transitional arrangements to ANZSCO is here: http://www.immi.gov.au/employers/_pdf/asco-anzsco-sol-correlations.pdf

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[George Lombard]

Judging by the new content at Skilled Regional Sponsored Migration: Business Migration: Industry & Investment NSW, the NSW State Migration Plan seems to have been finalised, particularly in terms of occupations and criteria for subclass 176 - http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/migration/pdfdocuments/STNI_Criteria_STNI_Skilled.pdf - and 475 - http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/migration/pdfdocuments/SIR_skills_in_demand_summary_25052010.pdf - sponsorship.

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[Alan Collett]

http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/legislation/LegislativeInstrument1.nsf/0/490CB4F69A2A8882CA25774C0023BA87/$file/10028LI.pdf

 

New Employer Nomination SOL.

 

Best regards.

[George Lombard]

ACS has today announced new guidelines for skills assessment which appear to take into account the differential value of IT experience under the new SOL, ENSOL and State SOL. See ACS (Australian Computer Society) - Membership, Professionalism and Leadership for ICT Professionals and the ICT Community and in particular, http://www.acs.org.au/assessment/docs/SUMMARY_OF_CHANGES_PASA_GUIDELINES_FOR_APPLICANTS.pdf .

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[Alan Collett]

State Migration Plans and State Sponsorship

My present understanding based on conversations I have had is that:

 

* Those with "old style" subclass 176 visa sponsorship will not automatically transition to the higher priority SMP sponsorship.

 

* As such those who wish to be pushed up the processing pecking order will be required to seek sponsorship again, once the SMPs are published.

 

* It remains to be seen whether DIAC will allow sponsorship under a SMP to replace "old style" sponsorship on subclass 176 visa applications that are already lodged.

 

* It appears that subclass 176 visa applications supported by "old style" sponsorship will not be possible once the SMPs are in issue. Hence the SA Government's communication of earlier today requiring all visa applications with old style sponsorship to be submitted before 07/07/2010 (I will write an article for Go Matilda News discussing this later today).

 

This appears to stem from the Department of Immigration's use of quotas within the SMP sponsorship regime to control the number of applications under this higher priority category.

 

I hasten to add that in the absence of published material from DIAC I can only interpret what I am hearing, but I hope the above gives some direction in the fog of confusion that currently exists.

 

Best regards.