Nab That Job in Australia!

The Australian Government have announced that they have temporarily closed certain General Skilled Migration Programs, commencing May 8, 2010, and will remain suspended until the end of June, 2010.

This temporary suspension applies only to primary (main) applicants for the following visa subclasses:

• Subclass 175 – Skilled Independent (Migrant) visa
• Subclass176 – Skilled Sponsored (Migrant) visa
• Subclass 475 – Skilled Regional Sponsored (Provisional) visa

We were meant to hear an announcement about the changes to the Skilled Occuppation List in late April, however, this announcement has been put on hold, until later this month, when the announcement will be made and publication of the new Skilled Occupation List for Migration purposes will be made.

The reason the Government has made this decision to suspend Subclass 175, 176 and 475 visa applications, is because "the number of pending GSM applications continues to grow as the demand for GSM places exceeds the available supply". The temporary suspension is being implemented to ensure that "the occupational profile of applicants for GSM clearly reflects the needs of the Australian labour market".

If you submit your application for one of the above visa subclasses on or after 8 May 2010, your application will be considered to be invalid, and will be returned to you with your Visa Application Charge refunded.  However, associated fees such as those incurred for medical examinations, English language tests and skills assessments cannot be refunded as these payments were not made to the Government.

If you are about to submit your application for oneof the visa subclasses affected by this suspension, you are better to wait until the suspension has been lifted, which at this stage, will be after June 30, 2010. 

More information on this change andother initiatives affecting the GSM program is available on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s website at: www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/whats-new.htm

If you would like professional migration advice during this time, please feel free to contact our Registered Australian Migration Agent, Danielle Ferris, by clicking here.