News
The Department of Home Affairs of Australia has unveiled new changes to some popular Skilled visa categories due before the end of the year.
The new Skills in Demand (SID) visa (subclass 482) and the National Innovation (NIV) visa (subclass 858) aim to attract highly skilled migrants to Australian shores and fill positions in which the country is lacking a deep enough talent pool.
The SID visa will effectively replace the Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) visa with the existing short and medium term streams closing for new applications. The SID visa will have 3 streams, Specialist Skills, Core Skills and Labour Agreements.
Applicants for the Specialist Skills stream must earn at least $135,000 in any occupation except trades workers, machinery operators, drivers and labourers while there will be a new Core Skills occupation List and a Core Skills Income Threshold set for the Core Skills stream.
The Labour Agreement stream will essentially be a continuation of the TSS Labour Agreement stream with the work experience period for all SID streams reduced to 1 year.
The NIV will replace the Global Talent visa but retain the sub-classification number of 858. It aims to attract applications from global researchers who may have been published in leading journals and who have been cited many times and recipients of top awards in their respective fields.
The visas will apply learnings from successful State and Territory-led initiatives to attract both established and emerging entrepreneurs, focusing on the quality of investment along with athletes and creatives, particularly those that represent Australia internationally.
Both visas offer pathways to permanent residency and the SID requires a competent level of English language fluency. NIV applicants can elect to pay a second VAC (Visa Application Charge) if they do not possess a functional level of English fluency.
There are no occupation restrictions on the NIV but SID applicants must not work in trades, as machinery operators and drivers or as labourers while in Australia.