The sensation spread today when the immigration industry witnessed an updated report from the Minister, Chris Evans, Department of Immigration and Citizenship- Australia. The announcement stated that the Priority Processing will take effect from today, 23rd September. The document issued by the Minister for immigration and Citizenship, Chris Evans stated that there will be new ‘priority processing’ arrangements for certain Skilled Migration Visas from now on. Due to the rise in immigration fraud and genuineness of the cases, these new arrangements are designed to compensate those who suffer because of this.
Australia still suffers from skill shortages inspite of so many people immigrating to Australia every year. This brought the government in doubt and in order to address the needs of the skill shortage industry according to the Critical Skilled List the government came up with new rules and regulations. The updated priority processing directions would be commenced on 23rd September 2009.
What is more surprising is the fact that these rules would be applied to the cases in pipelines as well. The cases which are not yet finalised would also be treated with the updated priority processing directions and all the applications lodged on or after 23 September this year would be considered with the same instructions.
Now the question arises as what is priority processing and why did it take place? According to the section 51 of the Migration Act 1958, the Minister for immigration and citizenship has the powers to consider and finalise visa applications in an order of priority in which way it is considered appropriate. The ministerial directions must be followed by the departmental officers. It would be valid to the new applicants as well, along with the old applicants waiting for a decision from the same. One would wonder that why these processing are changed, then, it is purely a directive response to the needs of the Australian economy.
The directions for the priority processing would give priority to people who wish to immigrate to Australia with the required skills and qualifications, whose nominated occupations fall under the current CSL (critical skilled list). The following amendment would take effect from today, and also applies to the applications which are already been lodged and are yet not finalised with the department. The present directions would be applicable equally for onshore as well as offshore applications.
The occupations that are not included on the CSL would not be considered as priority processing unless the applicants are directly sponsored by an employer under ENS or RSMS. The applications already in process would be put on hold if they do not come under the ‘priority processing’ list as high priority cases would be processed with urgency.
The application under priority processing would take about 12 months from the lodgement date to be considered, given that they come under CSL list. The occupations that are non- high priority would not be finalised before the end of 2012. If the present applicants with their ‘nominated occupations’ in non- high priority list do not wish that their applications would be processed any further till 2012, they can simply withdraw their applications, however, only in limited circumstances their visas fees would be refunded.
The updated priority list highlighted the occupation of an Accountant in the CSL list. With the minimum eligibility criteria, it is made notable that a person applying for immigration must have a proficient IELTS test result with a minimum of 7 bands in all the four components. Applicants with the same or higher score would be considered as high priority.
The Minister has set priority processing arrangements which apply to the following visas from 23 September 2009:
Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS)
Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS)
General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas except for:
Skilled – Recognized Graduate Subclass 476
Skilled – Designated Area – Sponsored (Residence) Subclass 883
Skilled – Regional Subclass 887.
Under the Ministerial Direction, the following processing priorities (with highest priority listed first) apply:
1. Applications from people who are employer sponsored under the ENS and the RSMS
2. Applications from people who are nominated by a State/Territory government and whose nominated occupation is listed on the Critical Skills List (CSL)
3. Applications from people who are sponsored by family and whose nominated occupation is listed on the CSL
4. Applications from people who are neither nominated nor sponsored but whose nominated occupation is listed on the CSL September 2009 1 of 6 September 2009 2 of 6
5. Applications from people who are nominated by a State/Territory government whose nominated occupation is not listed on the CSL
6. (i) Applications from people whose occupations are listed on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) and
(ii) Applications from people who are sponsored by family and whose nominated occupation is not listed on the CSL.
7. All other applications are to be processed in the order in which they are received.
______________________________________________
Australia still suffers from skill shortages inspite of so many people immigrating to Australia every year. This brought the government in doubt and in order to address the needs of the skill shortage industry according to the Critical Skilled List the government came up with new rules and regulations. The updated priority processing directions would be commenced on 23rd September 2009.
What is more surprising is the fact that these rules would be applied to the cases in pipelines as well. The cases which are not yet finalised would also be treated with the updated priority processing directions and all the applications lodged on or after 23 September this year would be considered with the same instructions.
Now the question arises as what is priority processing and why did it take place? According to the section 51 of the Migration Act 1958, the Minister for immigration and citizenship has the powers to consider and finalise visa applications in an order of priority in which way it is considered appropriate. The ministerial directions must be followed by the departmental officers. It would be valid to the new applicants as well, along with the old applicants waiting for a decision from the same. One would wonder that why these processing are changed, then, it is purely a directive response to the needs of the Australian economy.
The directions for the priority processing would give priority to people who wish to immigrate to Australia with the required skills and qualifications, whose nominated occupations fall under the current CSL (critical skilled list). The following amendment would take effect from today, and also applies to the applications which are already been lodged and are yet not finalised with the department. The present directions would be applicable equally for onshore as well as offshore applications.
The occupations that are not included on the CSL would not be considered as priority processing unless the applicants are directly sponsored by an employer under ENS or RSMS. The applications already in process would be put on hold if they do not come under the ‘priority processing’ list as high priority cases would be processed with urgency.
The application under priority processing would take about 12 months from the lodgement date to be considered, given that they come under CSL list. The occupations that are non- high priority would not be finalised before the end of 2012. If the present applicants with their ‘nominated occupations’ in non- high priority list do not wish that their applications would be processed any further till 2012, they can simply withdraw their applications, however, only in limited circumstances their visas fees would be refunded.
The updated priority list highlighted the occupation of an Accountant in the CSL list. With the minimum eligibility criteria, it is made notable that a person applying for immigration must have a proficient IELTS test result with a minimum of 7 bands in all the four components. Applicants with the same or higher score would be considered as high priority.
The Minister has set priority processing arrangements which apply to the following visas from 23 September 2009:
Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS)
Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS)
General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas except for:
Skilled – Recognized Graduate Subclass 476
Skilled – Designated Area – Sponsored (Residence) Subclass 883
Skilled – Regional Subclass 887.
Under the Ministerial Direction, the following processing priorities (with highest priority listed first) apply:
1. Applications from people who are employer sponsored under the ENS and the RSMS
2. Applications from people who are nominated by a State/Territory government and whose nominated occupation is listed on the Critical Skills List (CSL)
3. Applications from people who are sponsored by family and whose nominated occupation is listed on the CSL
4. Applications from people who are neither nominated nor sponsored but whose nominated occupation is listed on the CSL September 2009 1 of 6 September 2009 2 of 6
5. Applications from people who are nominated by a State/Territory government whose nominated occupation is not listed on the CSL
6. (i) Applications from people whose occupations are listed on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) and
(ii) Applications from people who are sponsored by family and whose nominated occupation is not listed on the CSL.
7. All other applications are to be processed in the order in which they are received.
______________________________________________
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment