An amalgamation of the Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) and the Seasonal Worker Program (SWP), PALM will give employers easier access to workers with a single application process for the scheme and enable more regions to recruit workers from the Pacific region.

Reforms to the scheme mean the validity period for labour market testing has increased from 6 months to 12 months, recruitment caps for SWP approved employers with a good record and financial capacity have doubled and accommodation businesses like hotels and resorts are now allowed to employ SWP workers.

PLS workers who have spent 3 years in Australia are able to continue working for an additional 12 months while COVID-19 travel restrictions remain in place and COVID-related flexibilities continue, allowing redeployments of workers to other approved employers.

The upper age limit of 45 for workers has been removed completely, allowing anyone over the age of 21 to participate in the scheme.

There will be further reforms to PALM later this year which promise to remove even more hurdles for Australian employers who would like to utilise the seasonal labour market available in the Pacific region.

These reforms are part of the continued economic response to the Covid-19 pandemic and are a good indicator of what regions and which Australian industries will increase recruitment of migrants in 2022.

Thinking of looking for work in Australia? 

Scared of the visa process? 

Make it easy with Easy Migrate, the Australia-based migration experts.

The post Pacific Seasonal Workers Given New Opportunities in Australia appeared first on Easy Migrate.

These industries are crying out for workers and there are many who think this skills shortage could significantly disrupt Australia’s economic recovery.

As part of the budget on May 4, the government decided that they would remove the cap on working hours for over 350,000 student visa holders.

Sommeliers, Chefs and Managers are in high demand in restaurants around Australia as these positions are often filled by foreigners on study or working holiday visas.

Victoria is one state in Australia where tourism operators are really starting to feel distressed about the future of their livelihood.

A  Victoria University and Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) report found that only 30% of businesses feel confident recruiting an adequately skilled workforce in the next 12 months and almost half of owners were struggling with their mental health, and had limited access to or were reluctant to seek help from health services

There has never been a better time to find more hours as a student or find someone on a student visa to work in your business. 

Is your visa running out soon? Choose to talk to an Easy Migrate representative in order to make sure your future in Australia is secure and legitimate.

You can call us on +61 (08) 9221 4888 or schedule an appointment at https://easymigrate.as.me/schedule.php

The post UNLIMITED WORKING HOURS for Student Visas appeared first on Easy Migrate.

​Since 1st January 2020, Australian businesses in the horticulture industry can apply for the new Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement. The Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement increases access to skilled and semi-skilled migrant workers for the horticulture industry, where appropriately qualified Australians are unavailable.
Australian employers can use the Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement for the following:

• Sponsor overseas workers for the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) (subclass 482) visa for a total of 31 approved occupations.
• Sponsor overseas workers for permanent residency under the:
  • Skilled Employer-Sponsored Regional (SESR) (subclass 494) visa program with a stable pathway to a Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa (subclass 191) available after three years; or
  • Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) (subclass 186) visa program after a three or four year transitional period on a TSS visa—three years for approved Skill Level 1-3 occupations and four years for approved Skill Level 4-5 occupations.
• Access the following concessions to standard skilled visa requirements:
  • A discount of up to 10% on the Temporary Skill Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) where it is demonstrated that equivalent Australian workers do not receive annual earnings of $53,900.
  • A broader range of monetary payments (e.g. regularised over time) and non-monetary benefits (e.g. accommodation) can be counted as guaranteed earnings.
  • For the TSS visa—overseas workers must score at least IELTS 5.0 overall, and at least IELTS 4.0 in each individual component score. For the ENS and SESR visas—foreign workers must score at least IELTS 5.0 overall, and at least IELTS 4.5 in each individual component score.
  • Overseas workers can be up to 50 years of age when they apply for an ENS or SESR visa.

Horticultural industry employers can speak with our team of Registered Migration Agents who will be able to confirm if you are eligible to apply for a labour agreement. 

To read the full list of terms and concessions of the Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement, click here. 

Online Assessment form

Book an Appointment

The post Horticulture labour agreement – Applications are now open appeared first on Easy Migrate.

Australian Capital Territory Open For Migration

Words by Emma Gallagher and Paul Mc Hugh

Have you ever wondered what’s it’s like to live in Canberra?

Canberra is the capital of Australia and over 100 years old. It can sometimes be named the bush capital because of its nature reserves and ranges of mountains, which adds to the scenery.

Canberra is famous for being the only place in Australia where you can experience a hot air balloon ride and view the breathtaking views, also a great place to enjoy the views of the balloon festival. The area has attracted so much love for balloons that thousands visit for the yearly event to enjoy a skyline full of colour.

For any adventure goers, this is the only city you can skydive over the houses of Parliament.

Canberra was ranked one of the loveliest places to visit and live due to vibrant culture, food and wine and its beautiful views and landscapes.

Canberra is perfect of wine lovers with over 30 wineries close to the CBD, what better way to enjoy the summer sunshine and taste plenty of choices. Making use of the local fruit and creating its own wine.

It even has its own NASA Airbase, and there are only another 3 locations in the whole of the world, America, Spain and Milian.

Only 2 hours away you will find snowy mountains so perfect if you love to ski in your spare time.

How can you live in ACT

The ACT Occupation List identifies the skills that are currently in demand in Canberra (for migration purposes). The ACT Occupation List is used to determine the eligibility for ACT support of the following programs:

• Skilled Regional (provisional) subclass 491 visa.
• Skilled Nominated (permanent) subclass 190 visa.

ACT OCCUPATION LIST: 1 January 2020

The ACT Occupation List effective 1 January 2020, will apply to all Canberra Matrix submitted on or after 1 January 2020. 

If you submitted a Canberra Matrix on or before 31 December 2019, your Matrix score for a nominated occupation is valid for six months.

You can view the list here

The ACT is not the only part of Australia that allows valid applicants to apply, Perth, Western Australia, Northern Territory, Regional Victoria, Regional New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania all are open to immigration applications.

If you would like more information on getting started on your journey to migrate to Australia, please fill in our Initial Online Assessment form to see if you qualify.

The post Australian Capital Territory Now Open for Migration appeared first on Easy Migrate.

Added to MLTSSL

Applicable Instruments: LIN 19/047; LIN 19/048; LIN 19/049; LIN 19/051

• Telecommunications network planner (ANZSCO code 313213)
• Pressure welder (ANZSCO code 322312)
• Environmental Manager (ANZSCO code 139912)
• Musician (Instrumental) (ANZSCO code 211213)
• Statistician (ANZSCO code 224113)
• Economist (ANZSCO code 224311)
• Mining Engineer (excluding Petroleum) (ANZSCO code 233611)
• Petroleum Engineer (ANZSCO code 233612)
• Engineering Professionals nec (ANZSCO code 233999)
• Chemist (ANZSCO code 234211)
• Food Technologist (ANZSCO code 234212)
• Environmental Consultant (ANZSCO code 234312)
• Environmental Research Scientist (ANZSCO code 234313)
• Environmental Scientists nec (ANZSCO code 234399)
• Geophysicist (ANZSCO code 234412)
• Hydrogeologist (ANZSCO code 234413)
• Life Scientist (General) (ANZSCO code 234511)
• Biochemist (ANZSCO code 234513)
• Biotechnologist (ANZSCO code 234514)
• Botanist (ANZSCO code 234515)
• Marine Biologist (ANZSCO code 234516)
• Microbiologist (ANZSCO code 234517)
• Zoologist (ANZSCO code 234518)
• Life Scientists nec (ANZSCO code 234599)
• Conservator (ANZSCO code 234911)
• Metallurgist (ANZSCO code 234912)
• Meteorologist (ANZSCO code 234913)
• Natural and Physical Science Professionals nec (ANZSCO code 234999)
• University Lecturer (ANZSCO code 242111)
• Multimedia Specialist (ANZSCO code 261211)
• Software and Applications Programmers nec (ANZSCO code 261399)
• Horse Trainer (ANZSCO code 361112)
• Physicist – no longer restricted to medical physicist

Added to STSOL

Applicable Instrument LIN 19/048

• visual arts and crafts professionals (nec) (ANZSCO code 211499)
• textile, clothing and footwear mechanic (ANZSCO code 323215)
• watch and clock maker and repairer (ANZSCO code 323316)
• chemical plant operator (ANZSCO code 399211)
• library technician (ANZSCO code 399312)

Moved from STSOL to MLTSSL

Applicable Instruments – LIN 19/047; LIN 19/048; LIN 19/049; LIN 19/050 

• arts administrator or manager (ANZSCO code 139911)
• dancer or choreographer (ANZSCO code 211112)
• music director (ANZSCO code 211212)
• artistic director (ANZSCO code 212111)
• tennis coach (ANZSCO code 452316)
• footballer (ANZSCO code 452411)

Removed from STSOL

Applicable Instrument LIN 19/050

• Visual Arts and Crafts Professionals (ANZSCO code 211499)
• Textile, Clothing and Footwear Mechanic (ANZSCO code 323215)
• Watch and Clock Maker and Repairer (ANZSCO code 323316)
• Chemical Plant Operator (ANZSCO code 399211)
• Library Technician (ANZSCO code 399312)
• Arts Administrator or Manager (ANZSCO code 139911)
• Dancer or Choreographer (ANZSCO code 211112)
• Music Director (ANZSCO code 211212)
• Artistic Director (ANZSCO code 212111)
• Footballer (ANZSCO code 452411)
• Aquaculture Farmer (ANZSCO code 121111)
• Cotton Grower (ANZSCO code 121211)
• Fruit or Nut Grower (ANZSCO code 121213)
• Grain, Oilseed or Pasture Grower (ANZSCO code 121214)
• Mixed Crop Farmer (ANZSCO code 121216)
• Sugar Cane Grower (ANZSCO code 121217)
• Crop Farmers nec (ANZSCO code 121299)
• Beef Cattle Farmer (ANZSCO code 121312)
• Dairy Cattle Farmer (ANZSCO code 121313)
• Mixed Livestock Farmer (ANZSCO code 121317)
• Pig Farmer (ANZSCO code 121318)
• Sheep Farmer (ANZSCO code 121322)
• Livestock Farmers nec (ANZSCO code 121399)
• Mixed Crop and Livestock Farmer (ANZSCO code 121411)
• Dentist (ANZSCO code 252312)
• Anaesthetist (ANZSCO code 253211)
• Tennis Coach (ANZSCO code 4542316)

Added to Regional Occupation List

Applicable Instrument LIN 19/048

• deer farmer (ANZSCO code 121314)
• goat farmer (ANZSCO code 121315)

Added to Regional Occupation List, removed from STSOL

Applicable Instruments: LIN 19/048; 

• aquaculture farmer (ANZSCO code 121111)
• cotton grower (ANZSCO code 121211)
• fruit or nut grower (ANZSCO code 121213)
• grain, oilseed or pasture grower (Aus) / field crop grower (NZ) (ANZSCO code 121214)
• mixed crop farmer (ANZSCO code 121216)
• sugar cane grower (ANZSCO code 121217)
• crop farmers (nec) (ANZSCO code 121299)
• beef cattle farmer (ANZSCO code 121312)
• dairy cattle farmer (ANZSCO code 121313)
• mixed livestock farmer (ANZSCO code 121317)
• pig farmer (ANZSCO code 121318)
• sheep farmer (ANZSCO code 121322)
• livestock farmers (nec) (ANZSCO code 121399)
• mixed crop and livestock farmer (ANZSCO code 121411)
• dentist (ANZSCO code 252312)
• anaesthetist (ANZSCO code 253211)

Removed from Regional Occupation List moved to MLTSSL

Applicable Instruments: LIN 19/047; LIN 19/049

• arts administrator or manager (ANZSCO code 139911)
• dancer or choreographer (ANZSCO code 211112)
• music director (ANZSCO code 211212)
• artistic director (ANZSCO code 212111)
• tennis coach (ANZSCO code 452316)
• footballer (ANZSCO code 452411)
• telecommunications network planner (ANZSCO code 313213)
• pressure welder (ANZSCO code 322312)

Occupations with added conditions

Applicable Instruments: LIN 19/047 (SC 187); LIN 19/048 (SC 482); LIN 19/049 (SC 186)  

The following medical practitioner occupations now require a Health Workforce Certificate for the position and occupation to be presented with the nomination application

• general practitioner (ANZSCO code 253111)
• medical practitioners (nec) (ANZSCO code 253999)
• resident medical officer (ANZSCO code 253112)

Applicability conditions added/changed

Condition 25

• imposes a minimum salary of $120,000 pa for footballers
• replaces Condition 23 for ship’s masters and gas or petroleum operators 

Condition 26 

• replaces Conditions 23 for recruitment consultants on the STSOL and reduces the annual salary required to $80,000

The post Changes to Skilled Occupation Lists appeared first on Easy Migrate.

Just recently (early February 2019) the Department of  Home Affairs (DoHA) has released the statistical analysis of the 11^th December 2018 “Skill Select” invitation results (Expressions of Interest – EOI) for the General Skilled Migration or “GSM” visa subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) and subclass 489 (Skilled Family Sponsored).

EasyMigrate is a leading Australian migration agent, based in Perth, Western Australia. EasyMigrate’s Migration Consultant Mr Cyrus Mistry (our principal immigration agent in Australia) has reviewed these SkillSelect results – see his comments below.

Broad Overview:

Recent news: Department of Immigration (now DoHA) has announced that from Financial Year 2018-2019 there will be only ONE ROUND OF SKILL SELECT INVITATIONS PER MONTH.

Recent news: From 1 July 2018 the “pass mark” has been increased from 60 to 65 points. New applicants can lodge their Expression Of Interest (EOI) with 65 points or more. Other applicants who submitted their EOI before 30 June 2018 with 60 points will continue to stay in the queue.

Our Recommendation: Most applicants with 60 or 65 points are not getting invited at all since last 18 months or so. Many 70-pointers are also not getting invitations for a long time.

SOLUTION: apply for state-nominations also, in parallel. We have many clients who were waiting for a more than a year so we did a file-review and recommended a suitable state-nomination option. Many of them got invited for permanent residency WITHIN 8-12 WEEKS!

You can contact us for an “initial consultancy” and we can review your case (link for online booking etc).

Summary:

Next round will be 11 March 2019. Commentary regarding the January 2019 and February 2019 Skill Select invitation rounds will be published by EasyMigrate as soon as those statistics are made available to the public by Department of Immigration.

Compared to the last invitation round (11 November 2018) this recent skill Select round of  11 December 2018 invitation round from Department of Immigration’s “SkillSelect” division has ALMOST HALVED THE NUMBER OF INVITATIONS, – about 2,500 invitations compared to 4,350 invitations. So the “boom” we had seen between September 2018 and November 2018 is slowing down.

The exact number of invitations on 11^th December 2018: 2,490 invitations in the Skilled Independent SC189 subclass and 10 in the Family-Sponsored Subclass 489.

For this round, most invitations (1,093) were to applicants who have 75 points.

Another 736 invitations went to persons with 70 points.

496 invitations were given to persons with 80 points.

156 invitations were given to applicants having 85 points.

9 invitations were given to persons with 90 points or more. 

GOOD NEWS is that the number of applicants were invited in December 2018 for General Skilled Migration SC189 visa was still a substantial number compared to the slowdown in the financial year 2017-2018 (Oct 2017 to June 2018)!

There were NO INVITES to applicants with 60 or 65 points.

Occupations Analysis:

Since late 2017 the “Accountants group” of occupations were not invited at all. This is now the ninth round of invitations where DoHA has re-commenced inviting Accountants, Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers! For Accountants, the invitation threshold has been steady at 80 points (this round and the last round). The cut-off date is published as 18-08-2018 which means that all “Accountant” applicants with 80 points or more who applied for their Expression of Interest (EOI) before 18-08-2018 got invited. In the previous month, the date was 10-08-2018, so it has not moved forward by much! For the other occupations listed above, the cut-off points-score is also 80, and the cut-off date is 08-06-2018 (in the last round of invitations this was 04-07-2018, so this has moved backwards by about 25 days).

Accountants had been excluded (or dramatically reduced) since Oct-Nov 2017 invitation-rounds, so this is an excellent ongoing sign that the demand continues!

Electronics Engineers got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 18-11-2018. In the October 2108 invitation round, 70-point holders were also invited, but not any more. So this shows an increase in the number of applications received by the Department of Immigration.

Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers also got invited at 70 points with a date of effect 22-06-2018. The previous period was 05-04-2018, so this is a good development for Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers.

Other Engineering Professionals got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 13-10-2018, i.e. is date has moved forward by one week. So in this invitation round, 70-point holders have not been invited once again! 

ICT Professionals (Business and Systems Analysts) got invited at 75 points with the visa date of effect 18-09-2018 – this has moved forward by about 10 days.

ICT Professionals (Software and Application Programmers) – the pass mark STAYS at 70 points with the visa date of effect 01-04-2017. Last invitation round date of effect was 06-04-2018 – this means that a lot of Software and Application programmers who had been waiting in the queue for a long time got selected (maybe their points increased automatically because of age or work-experience requirements).  

ICT Professionals (Computer Network Professionals) got invited at 70 points with the visa date of effect 30-08-2018 – this moved forward by three days.

So for most ICT professionals, there is about four month’s waiting in the queue for their Expression of Interest to be converted into an “invite” (except for Software and Application Programmers where the wait is 20 months in this round, but I believe this is just an aberration and will sort itself out in the next invitation round). The good news is that the list now continues to include 70-point scorers in some occupations! For example, Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers, Software and Application Programmers, Computer Network Professionals are getting invited even at 70 points. Again, if the number of invitations at each round goes up for the next invitation rounds in this general skilled migration program, then more occupations with 70 and 65 points are likely to be invited.

Please note that the EOI date resets each time an applicant does an “upgrade” or change, e.g. additional points for age, extra points for work-experience, successful NAATI test, etc.

In my last article regarding the 11 November 2018 round, I was hoping that the number of “invitations” rises over the next few rounds – BUT IT REDUCED BY ALMOST 50%! This is certainly not a good sign all occupations who are waiting at 70 points and 65 points. This may be a slowdown due to financial-year adjustments – based on the July2018-June2019 quota.

Historical Analysis:

The number of monthly invitations used to hover around the “two thousand-plus” mark for last few months and were even lower between November 2017 and June 2018 at about 305 “SkillSelect” invitations per fortnight for the EOI applicants! 

For July 2018, 1,010 invitations had been issued to persons who had lodged their Expression of Interest (EOI). This was better than the 610 invitations being issued from Nov 2017 onwards until June 2018. But still a lot less than the 2,000-odd invitations that were being issued per month before October 2017. Now the number of invitations were regularly above the two-thousand mark in the 11 August 2018 AND the 11 September 2018SkillSelect results – then jumped up to 4,340 invitations on 11 October 2018 and 11 November 2018 and  December 2018. This current invitation-round has seen a drop-back to the 2,000+ levels.

The total number of invitations for the last financial year (July 2017 to June 2018) was 16,296.

Based on July 2018,  August 2018 ,  September 2018,  October 2018, November 2018 and December 2018 figures, the total number of EOI applicants invited for this financial year (July 2018 to June 2019) could be (17,150 divide by 6 multiply by 12) = 34,300 per year which would mean substantial increase in Subclass 189 and Subclass 489 (Family) invitations compared to the previous financial year 2017-2018. There may be even more invitations planned for the next four months (March 2019 – June 2019) – let us wait and see.

In my previous articles, I had mentioned about the effect of “re-invitation”. Many applicants have moved on to other countries or changed their plans but have not removed their Expressions of Interest (EOI). So they get invited, but they do not apply within the next 60 days – so they get “re-invited” as per Dept of Immigration rules one more time! I estimate this figure to be as high as 30-40% in many occupations. This seriously affects the program because out of the 2,500-odd invitations only about 1500-1800 get taken up! This is something that the Department of Home Affairs has not been able to tackle yet.

For this latest round of invitations under the subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) visa, 2,490 invitations were issued, at 70 points or above. Only ten invitations were issued to SC489 Family-Sponsored applicants –at 80 points or above… so as you can see, the SC489 FAMILY-SPONSORED applicant needs to have scored 70-75 points “independently” plus the 10 points from their family-sponsor. 

On our EasyMigrate website, we have the statistics. My ongoing analysis for the  October 2017 invitations; the November 2017 invitation round and the December 2017 round are available. January 2018 round, February 2018 round, March 2018 round, April 2018 round, May 2018 Round, the two x June 2018 rounds, the 11th July 2018, 11^th August 2018   the 11 September 2018,  October 2018, and November 2018 invitation rounds are also available on our website. I estimate that the Nov 2017 to June 2018 rounds were only about 30-40% of the usual monthly track-record before October 2017, but from July 2018 the invitations are on par with the good months up to September 2017 in previous years, and the last two rounds EXCEEDED our expectations.  But now the December 2018 round is halved to 2,500 invitations.

Please note that these figures do not include invitations under the state-nominated subclass 190 and state-nominated “Regional” subclass 489.

Invitations issued on 11 December 2018

The information below (published by the Department of Immigration – now renamed Depart of Home Affairs – DoHA) shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 11th December 2018:

Overview….

Invitation rounds for a Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) and Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 489)visas will be run once a month.

Invitation rounds are anticipated to run on the 11^th day of each month. Dates for the rounds are subject to change.

Invitation numbers in each round may vary depending on the number of applications being processed by the department.

Note: State or territory government nominations for Skilled Regional (Provisional) visas (subclass 489) will not be impacted.

Current Round

Invitations issued on 11 December 2018

The table below shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 11 December 2018.

During the 2018-19 program year the following amounts of invitations have been issued:

11 December 2018 results

The following graph shows the points for clients who were invited to apply in the 11 December 2018 round.

Invitation process and cut off

The highest ranked clients by points score are invited to apply for the relevant visa. For clients who have equal points scores, the time at which they reached their points score for that subclass (referred to as the date of effect) determines their order of invitation. Expressions of Interest with earlier dates of effect are invited before later dates.

Due to high levels of demand, and in keeping with previous years, the below occupation groups will be subject to pro-rata arrangements to ensure the availability of invitations across the program year.

Point scores and the dates of effect cut off for the pro rata occupations in the 11 December 2018 invitation round.

Invitations issued during 2018-19 program year

The above figures do not include invitations issued for State and Territory Government nominated visa subclasses. State and Territory Governments nominate throughout the month for specific points tested skilled migration and business innovation and investment visas.

The post Skill Select EOI Invitation Results for 11th December 2018 appeared first on Easy Migrate.

This STSOL List has been sourced from DIBP Combined list

The post Short-Term Skilled Occupations List (STSOL) appeared first on Easy Migrate.

This MLTSSL List has been sourced from DIBP Combined list

The post Medium and Long-Term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) appeared first on Easy Migrate.