Yesterday Australian PM announced a number of changes in relation to the temporary and permanent skilled migration programmes, all going into effect from April the 19th of 2017. The SubClass 457 visa as we know it will be abolished, Australian PM stated.

These changes affect a range of temporary and permanent visas, including:The Direct Entry stream of the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) (subclass 186)

• The Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489)
• The Skilled Nominated (subclass 190)
• The Skilled Independent (subclass 189)
• The Training visa (subclass 407)
• The Graduate Work stream of the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485)
• The Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457): no visa applications can be granted and no nomination applications can be approved on or after, 19 April 2017

There will be new temporary visa streams by 19/04/17 but the list of occupations will be reduced by 216 job types. There will be 2 new streams:

1) Targeting of higher skills (4 years visa), with stronger English language criteria
2) Shorter term that does not lead to permanent residency (2 years visa).

This is a split to 167 occupations for the 4 years visa, and about 200 occupations for the 2 years visa.

The Skilled Regional (Provisional); will still have important consideration. Those currently on Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457), will have a grandfathering arrangement, which means they will be able to continue their visa. If an applicant is working in one of the removed occupations and they have already lodged a visa application, their application will be finalized as normal.

The Skilled Occupation List (SOL) will be replaced by the Medium and Long term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL). Occupations that remain on the SOL will remain available for; the Skilled Independent, (subclass 189), the Graduate Work stream of the Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) and the Eligible Relative Nominated stream of the Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489).

For all other visas that use occupation lists, there will be 16 occupations removed from the MLTSSL.

The Consolidated Sponsored Occupation List (CSOL) is being replaced by the Short term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) and will have a removal of 200 occupations. In addition, 24 occupations listed on the STSOL will now only be eligible for positions located in regional Australia (for the subclass 457 and the subclass 186) and for the State and Territory Nominated stream of the subclass 489.

Official changes can be found, here.

The Minister for Immigration, The Hon. Peter Dutton, has also flagged changes to work experience and labor market testing.

The implementation of these reforms will begin immediately and to be completed in March 2018.

For more info:
https://www.border.gov.au/

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