As the year begins, you might be wondering what to expect from Australian Immigration in 2022. To help you out with that, we put together a recap blog post with everything you need to know about Skilled Migration, Regional Visas, and what changes we predict will come about in Migration for this year.
What do you need to know about Australian Immigration in 2022?
To begin with, it’s important to mention that last December the government finally reopened the border to some visa holders, such as people holding student visas, working holiday visas, sponsorship 482 TSS visa. However, the borders are still closed for visitors.
This is part of a number of measures the government has taken to address skill and work shortages that employers are suffering all over Australia in all industries, as we didn’t receive any temporary workers for almost 2 years.
With that in mind, we believe applications for Graduate Visa and the Training Visa will increase in 2022. There will be a lot of Working Holiday visa holders and students returning to Australia, and hopefully more pathways to permanent residence.
Changes to the Graduate Visa
In late November the government announced that all graduates from Master Degree courses by Coursework will have access to a 3-year Graduate Visa, regardless of where they completed that course.
The other huge change announced had to do with the Graduate Work Stream: the completion of any 2-year Diploma or Trade Certificate in any occupation in a VET college will lead on to a 2-year Graduate 485 Visa, for all applicants. This will start with applications being made from 1 July 2022.
We have a full blog post on that. Please check it on this link.
Sponsorship Visas: a great solution, now more than ever
With massive workforce shortages, Australian employers are having to rely on international workers even more than usual, so much that the government placed a measure allowing international students to work unlimited hours.
However, as this is a temporary solution, the Subclass 482 TSS Sponsorship Visa and the Subclass 494 Regional Employer-Sponsored Visa are great options for employers wanting to secure overseas talent, and a great visa pathway for international students, backpackers, and expats already in Australia and looking at staying longer, maybe even permanently down the road.
Skilled visas become more and more difficult for overseas applicants
The borders are not closed to overseas applicants, but to apply for a Skilled Visa like the 189 for example, you need to be invited by the government to be able to make an application.
Over the years this hasn’t been a problem, but since 2018 the government has dramatically reduced the number of places available, which has turned the Skilled Visa program into a very competitive and, in many cases, an unviable migration/visa option.
Just to give you an idea, from 2 monthly invitation rounds, where around 5000 invitations used to be issued, we only saw 2 invitation rounds since the beginning of the financial year 2021-2022 in July, and only a total of 450 people were invited over 6 months.
Having that in mind, we strongly recommend having a plan B for those who intend to migrate to Australia in 2022: entering the country with a temporary visa and work rights can bring up many new opportunities.
If you want to strategically plan this journey, please talk to us as we have an in-house education agency.
We have also a YouTube video explaining all about Australian Immigration in 2022. Check it out:
If you are planning to move to Australia in 2022, be it for studying, working, or migrating indefinitely, please talk to us! We have obtained more than 6000 visa approvals for people like you, since its beginnings in 2008. Our agents together have over 40 years of experience and our approval rate is very high.
