Exciting news for anyone looking to immigrate to Australia! Normalisation is now back in the Australia Immigration Management System. The Australian government is reintroducing the normalisation process to ensure your application is processed efficiently.
Australia Immigration authorities have fully embraced normalisation after the Covid-19 pandemic. The temporary concessions offered by the Australian Government’s Department of Home Affairs responsible for Immigration due to the COVID-19 effect ceased on November 25, 2023. Now standard immigration rules will be implemented to organise the system better.
Reacting to COVID-19 travel restrictions worldwide from the start of 2020, affecting business, employment, and overall economy, the Australian authorities took specific measures to encourage Immigration. To fulfill visa requirements, they introduced an initial concession period for applicants of specific visa subclasses affected by COVID-19 travel restrictions. These requirements included the mandatory location of the applicant at the time of application.
With international travel restrictions no longer in place, the concessions no longer remain relevant. The end of concessions means the migration system can manage things with integrity like before.
Concessions lifted on major visa programs
The concessions in specific visa categories including some streams of Australia skilled migration, like work experience age requirements, are included in the February 2020 to December 2021 documentation.
Employer-Sponsored visas
Starting November 25, 2023, individuals holding Temporary Skill Shortage visas must have worked with their sponsoring employer or in the occupation of certain executives and medical practitioners for at least 2 years out of the previous 3 years.
It applies to new nominations for the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS), Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS), and Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) visa streams.
Skilled Regional Visa
The concessions for eligible skilled provisional visas subclass 887 allowed visa applications from within or outside Australia and permitted access to smaller periods of employment and residence requirements in regional Australia. Applicants must be in Australia but not in immigration clearance when applying.
Family visas
The COVID-19 concessions had removed the requirement for certain family program visa applicants to be in a specific location when the visa was granted. However, certain exceptions can avail concessions upto a limited period depending on individual cases.
Business Innovation and Investment Program visas
COVID-19 concessions were implemented for the Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) under the provisional subclass 188 visa – Business Innovation Extension stream permanent subclass 888 visa under all streams.
There can be a 3-month grace period for eligible applicants.
Temporary Graduate visa
All Temporary Graduate Visa (TGV) 485 stream applications must be submitted within Australia starting November 25, 2023. Applications for subsequent entrants can be lodged within or outside of Australia. Authorities can grant visas to applicants irrespective of whether they are in or outside of Australia, but this does not include immigration clearance.
