review of our migration system

Migration, Pathway to Nation Building

In November 2022, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration accepted a request by the federal government to inquire into the role of permanent migration in building Australia to be a prosperous nation.  A review of the current migration system was judged as ‘neither fast nor efficient and is often perceived as unfair’. Further, it found the system unnecessarily complex and difficult to navigate. The committee completed the final report from the inquiry and over 70 recommendations were given to be investigated, worked on or implemented.

​To put it all into context, I have noted some of the recommendations and included an additional explanation as to how I believe these may affect you as a visa applicant.  It will be interesting to see when these things will be actioned.

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Recommendations

Recommendation 8.   …explores simplifying the health requirements to a single Public Interest Criterion that incorporates an entitlement to apply for a waiver of the health requirements.

Recommendation 9.   …removes specialised education services from the description of ‘community service costs’ in the policy settings for the Australian visa Significant Cost Threshold...
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Recommendation 10. …increases the Significant Cost Threshold to an amount that will enable Australia to remain competitive with comparable countries…
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At this time, different visas have different health requirements to be met – some as an individual and some as a whole family… and sometimes even includes members of the family who are not migrating!  At times, the Department allows for an exemption to be applied for on some visas, and for others it does not.  This can make for planning of visa pathways difficult and confusing.  This should hopefully make it easier for ultimate visa pathway planning.

Also, if a persons’ medical diagnosis requires special schooling measures to assist (usually for a child), this is deemed a cost on the community and generally pushes the families allowable limit to be exceeded. By removing this it may mean that families will be able to meet the health threshold and migrate to Australia permanently, in support of their child – not as a burden. 
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Increasing the threshold altogether will also assist families in having their visa granted, rather than refused and at times seeking review of the decision through the Tribunal and ultimately pleading with the Minister to intervene.

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Recommendation 11. …undertakes a digital English language testing pilot in the higher education sector, to examine the robustness of a digital system to withstand or detect fraud…

Recommendation 12. …empowers jobs and skills in Australia to review the English language requirements for a range of occupational roles to ensure that they align with the work and safety requirements of the position. 

Recommendation 13. …removes the requirement to retest the English language proficiency of visa applicants already in Australia, where the level of proficiency required is the same or lower than the English language requirement that the applicant had previously satisfied.

These recommendations all relate back to an overhaul of how the level and testing of English is done.  For many, the English test is costly.  The test is expensive and sometimes requires the person to travel to undertake the test.  Also, many times people do not pass on the first go. There needs to be flexibility on being able to access the testing sites more easily; allow for the tests to be taken more than once at a reduced cost; and looking to establish better security measures for online processes.  The level of English required should also reflect the level of schooling or work that will be undertaken.

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Recommendation 15. …amends the Migration Act 1958, and any other relevant subordinate legislation, to enable recognition of the skills, and qualifications of secondary applicants when considering the primary applicant’s visa suitability.

Recommendation 45. …amend the Migration Act 1958, to better account for the skills and experience of secondary applicants in the points test for skilled migration visa applicants.
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Rather than just being a family member, in particular a primary applicants significant other, they too can add value to the community in their capacity to work, pay taxes etc and therefore should be better reflected in the application of a visa.  Society has changed and so too should our visa system.

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Recommendation 18. …provides greater transparency to applicants, agents, and sponsors regarding the progress of visa applications.

Recommendation 19. …requires external agencies contracted to perform assessment services for visa applications to abide by a best practice service level agreement for processing times.

Recommendation 23. …commitment to ‘modernise the visa system experience for migrant and employers’ includes automation of low-risk processes, and a real time tracker for applicants to chart the progress of their application.
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Recommendation 24. …conducts a feasibility study into the creation of a secure digital portal for visa application documentation and investigate legislative changes that would enable sharing of this information with trusted partners.
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It’s easy to say that current visa application methods, document collection, and processing times are outrageous and trying to obtain clarity on where you are in the visa processing stage is impossible.  The same can be said for some skills assessing authorities, however in my opinion they are doing much better.  Any changes that can be implemented to making these processes easier is very much welcomed.

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Recommendation 25. …recognising that the current permanent parent visas fail to offer realistic completion time frames, considers whether to cease to offer permanent parent visas to new applicants, and expedite the development of appropriate visa settings for the family migration stream.
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If a client asks me “What can I do to bring my parents out to Australia to live with me permanently?” I usually reply, “Unless you planned and saved for this from the moment you considered migrating to Australia, now it’s too late.”

Standard Parent visa waiting times are in excess of 25 years; or to have it processed in half the time will cost a fortune.  I too wonder why offer such a visa?  For many the cost is not affordable ($50K+ for one parent).  For others, once the time comes to grant the visa their parent is refused due to their ill health, having waited so long already!

​And then in some other cases the visa is never granted due to their unfortunate passing. What a waste of time, money and emotion… I say to these people, have your parents stay home where they are comfortable and happy within their society.  Have them travel to visit and enjoy their time here.  Take the money saved for you to also have a break and return home to visit them.  Life is too short waiting and paying for a visa of this kind!

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Recommendation 27. …undertakes modelling to identify a new age limit for Employer Nominated Scheme visas, between 50 and 60, that considers tax, fiscal, pension, and relevant ageing population factors.

Finally someone sees sense!  The cut off age of 45 years is far too low.  Many people are entering their 2nd, 3rd or even 4th wave of career change and halting the migration program at this age cuts off the opportunities to well-educated and skilled people.  Considering our aging population, more people are working well beyond 65 years as their superannuation is not high enough, they do not want to be on a government pension and in general, still want to work! 

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If you want to take a further look into the recommendations and general information found by the committee – this is the link to follow: Migration, Pathway to Nation Building – Parliament of Australia (aph.gov.au)
 
As always, I will be keeping you up to date with any migration policy, visa or citizenship changes and I will ensure that my knowledge bank is in tip top shape!  

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