Australia PR Visa pathway declared for Regional SC482 Visa Holders

The Department of Home Affairs has declared the Australia PR Visa pathway for Subclass 482 TSS Visa holders. This is in line with the earlier changes related to TSS Visa holders whose occupations were included in the STSOL List.

Eligible candidates seeking to migrate to Australia can utilize this opportunity. It is also applicable to immigration hopefuls seeking to apply for Australia PR Visa from India.

DHA has said that Subclass 482 Visa holders who stayed in Australia for a minimum of 1 year between February 1, 2020, and December 14 2021 will qualify for Subclass 186 ENS Visa. This is through the stream TRT - Temporary Resident Transition. Further, they must be legally employed while filing the application.

Australia PR Visa pathway declared for Regional SC482 Visa Holders

The concession has now been extended to Visa holders with sponsorship and whose occupations are included in the ROL - Regional Occupation List. These were earlier not eligible. Applicants are required to fulfill the rest of the eligibility requirements. It included having worked full-time in their occupation nominated for the employer for a minimum of 3 in the last 4 years as ROL Subclass 482 Visa holders.

The employer has to be qualified to sponsor them for the PR Visa. DHA has confirmed the current availability of this pathway for qualified Visa holders. Their occupations have to be included in the ROL. The details of the manner of implementation are yet to be published.

According to DHA, the pathway will be accessible for 24 months from July 1, 2022.

40% of overall immigration to regional Australia: RAI

The Regional Australia Institute has advised that the Government of Australia must aim at diverting 40% of the total overseas immigration to regional areas. It must be implemented from the next program year said the independent think tank.

Liz Ritchie the CEO of RAI said that the Population Statement for 2022 estimates that less than 17% of overall overseas immigration will be to regional Australia in 2022-2023. She added that regions in Australia deserve a much higher proportion of the total % of immigration to Australia.

The towns and cities in regional Australia are facing a scarcity of labor and skills and recorded 96,000 plus job openings by the end of 2022. The need is to collectively assess the processes and systems that support immigrants. This will help in increasing immigration to the regions said Ritchie.

The advisory comes amidst times when DHA has enhanced the processing times for select Regional Visa streams. However, it has decreased the processing times for some Independent Visa streams such as Subclass 189 Visa.

90% of regional immigration applications need 2 plus years

As per the official statistics, by December 31, 2022, the number of applications to be processed for Subclasses 887, 491 and 489 Visas were 52,428. It included 23, 247 chief applicants and 29, 181 secondary applicants.

Among these, 22, 569 applications were from Indian nationals for Subclasses 887, 491, and 489 Visas inclusive of chief applicants and secondary applicants. 90% of these applications need over 24 months for processing.

Currently, the processing times for Subclass 887 Visa are a maximum of 27 months and 30 months for Subclass 491 Visa applications. The Government of Australia has recruited additional staff for reducing processing delays. The maximum impacted Subclass 489 Visa has now been discontinued.

Nevertheless, for present Subclass 489 Visa applicants, the processing times have been updated to a maximum of 48 months by DHA. It is a significant increase in comparison with just 8 months in 2019.

As of now, Subclass 489 Visa has 3, 096 applications to be processed inclusive of both significant and secondary applicants. 1500 plus of these applications are from India.

Considerable backlog of Regional Visa applications

13,600 plus applications from Indian nationals are waiting for processing for immigration to regions in Australia through Subclass 491 Visa. Meanwhile, 7,300 plus applications are to be processed through Subclass 887 Visa.

Immigration Experts in India have said that several candidates are awaiting approval for their Australia Regional Visas which is unjust. Applicants of Subclass 491 Visa have to wait for more time in comparison with Subclasses 190 or 189 Visas. Further, they must also fulfill the criteria of working and residing in regions for another 3 years.

The Government of Australia has to make efforts for reducing the processing times for Regional Visas according to the Experts. This is something that is already implemented for Subclass 189 Visa, they add.

DHA recently decreased the processing times for Independent Subclass 189 Visa to a maximum of 3 months. However, for Subclasses 190 Visa, the processing time is a maximum of 15 months.

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