News
160,000 visa places are expected to be issued in the coming year before increasing again to 213,000 places in 2023-24 after the Australian Government handed down the federal budget for 2022-23 yesterday.
There will be more places for skilled visas, places for partner visas have been reduced, the budget says, “partner visa granting arrangements will move to a more demand-driven basis going forward.”
Some 10,000 places were moved to the skilled stream from the partner visa allocation, plus another 20,000 places on top of that, totalling 109,900 places.
As unemployment in Australia dips below 4%, more room for skilled visas is evident in this budget, Australian businesses are sorely missing the working holidaymaker and student visa workforce of 3-4 years ago.
The skilled stream will count for a whopping 70% of all visas issued, the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), Employer-Sponsored visa (subclass 186) and the State and Territory Nominated visa (Subclass 491 and 190) are all skilled visas.
There was a small increase of Parent visa places of 1,500 places up to 6,000.
The government announced the fiscal plans for its humanitarian program as well, outlining further spending to assist visa holders from Afghanistan and Ukraine, $9.2 million will be allocated to youth transition services and $1 million will be available over 5 years from 2022-23 to offer grants to organisations who advance Australia’s human rights priorities.
Places will increase for working holiday-makers who will be allocated another 11,000 of them and visa holders who arrive in Australia between the 9th of January 2022 and the 19th of April 2022 will be eligible for a refunded Visa Application Charge.
The future is looking bright in Australia, with unemployment at record lows, jobs are everywhere and this budget shows the government’s plans to increase the number of skilled visa places in stark reality.
The time to make the call is now, get your application in early and don’t miss out on a wonderful future in a beautiful country!
The Australian economy badly needs more skilled workers to grow, now is the time to make the secure, safe decision and start planning your Australian migration.