Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced today (22 November 2021) that from 1 December 2021, fully vaccinated eligible visa holders can come to Australia without needing to apply for a travel exemption. Eligible visa holders include skilled workers and international studentss, as well as humanitarian, working holiday maker and provisional family visa holders.

Under these arrangements, travellers must meet the following criteria:

• Be fully vaccinated with a completed dosage of a vaccine approved or recognised by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
• Hold a valid visa for one of the eligible visa subclasses (see below)
• Provide proof of their vaccination status
• Present a negative COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCcovid19.homeaffairs.gov.auR) test taken within three days of departure.

Travellers to Australia must comply with the quarantine requirements in the state or territory of their arrival, and any other state or territory to which they plan to travel.

The return of skilled workers and international students to Australia will further cement our economic recovery, providing the valuable workers our economy needs and supporting our important education sector.

From 1 December 2021, Australia will also welcome back fully vaccinated citizens from Japan and the Republic of Korea. Under these arrangements, citizens of Japan and the Republic of Korea who hold a valid Australian visa will be able to travel from their home country quarantine-free to participating states and territories, without needing to seek a travel exemption.

The Prime Minister’s announcement can be viewed below:

The announced eligible visas include the following subclasses:

Subclass 200 – Refugee visa
Subclass 201 – In-country Special Humanitarian visa
Subclass 202 – Global Special Humanitarian visa
Subclass 203 – Emergency Rescue visa
Subclass 204 – Woman at Risk visa
Subclass 300 – Prospective Marriage visa
Subclass 400 – Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa
Subclass 403 – Temporary Work (International Relations) visa (other streams, including Australian Agriculture Visa stream)
Subclass 407 – Training visa
Subclass 408 – Temporary Activity visa
Subclass 417 – Working Holiday visa
Subclass 449 – Humanitarian Stay (Temporary) visa
Subclass 457 – Temporary Work (Skilled) visa
Subclass 461 – New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship visa
Subclass 462 – Work and Holiday visa
Subclass 476 – Skilled – Recognised Graduate visa
Subclass 482 – Temporary Skill Shortage visa
Subclass 485 – Temporary Graduate visa
Subclass 489 – Skilled – Regional (Provisional) visa
Subclass 491 – Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa
Subclass 494 – Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa
Subclass 500 – Student visa
Subclass 580 – Student Guardian visa (closed to new applicants)
Subclass 590 – Student Guardian visa
Subclass 785 – Temporary Protection visa
Subclass 790 – Safe Haven Enterprise visa
Subclass 870 – Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa
Subclass 988 – Maritime Crew visa

On 15 October 2021, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement that parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents will be classified as immediate family, allowing them to travel to Australia in states and territories that have reached 80 per cent double dose vaccination targets.

The Prime Minister said : “I know that will be very welcome news to Australians right across the country who were hoping to be reunited with their family members, their parents who are overseas.”

Since Australia’s international borders shut in March 2020, only immediate family members were able to get exemptions to visit. But parents were excluded from this classification, leading to a campaign for change. The federal government has changed this interpretation, but some are worried state border restrictions will still prevent their parents from coming.

The decision to classify the parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents as immediate family, opening the door for them to travel into the country, has been met with relief, excitement and some trepidation.

Nearly half of all Australians were either born overseas or had at least one parent who was. Yet until now, foreign-born parents were ineligible to apply for a COVID-19 exemption to travel into Australia because they were not considered immediate family.

The Prime Minister’s speech can be viewed on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6Z_K3irnPW8

On 30 September 2021, the Australian Department of Home Affairs published latest development on the proposed Australian Agriculture Worker (AAW) visa.  Although the initiative was announced as early as on 23 August 2021 by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs and meant to be released on 23 September 2021. However up to date, details of the visa are still pending.

This visa program is for primary industry sectors including horticulture, meat processing, dairy, wool, grains, fisheries and forestry.

It is believed that the government is till negotiating with relevant Southeast Asian countries as to whether they would like to participate or not and  consulting with industries to ensure that visa arrangement is fit-for purpose and meets industry needs.

Korrylink is keeping close eyes on the progress of this visa and update our clients accordingly.

On 23 August 2021, the Australian Government announced the establishment of  Australian Agriculture visa to build on the highly successful existing Pacific schemes. The new visa will provide agricultural businesses greater access to overseas workers and ease a growing shortage of farm workers, which has worsened since COVID-19 international travel restrictions began.  Aiming at enticing Pacific and Southeast Asian workers, it is not capped and will include pathways towards permanent residency and regional resettlement.

New Agriculture Visa Targeting Countries

The new Agriculture Visa will be made available to citizens from the UK and 10 countries in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region. 

Countries in ASEAN include:

• Brunei 
• Cambodia
• Indonesia
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• The Philippines
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Vietnam

The visa will allow workers from the UK and the above countries to come to Australia for agricultural seasonal work for three years. They will need to return home for three months each year.

Why a New Agriculture Visa? | New Free Trade Agreement with the UK

It is widely believed that changes announced in an in-principle Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the UK will result in a subsequent labour shortage of up to 10,000 farm workers in Australia. The Agriculture Visa will seek to replace this shortage.

Under the in-principle FTA, a direct labour shortage is expected because the Australian Government has agreed to remove the requirement for British backpackers to complete three months of seasonal fruit-picking work before they can extend their Working Holiday Visa.

Other relaxed Working Holiday Visa arrangements for British citizens under the FTA would include:

• Age limit to increase to 35 years of age
• Three years working rights and professional qualifications gained in one country will be recognised in the other (this will also apply to Australian backpackers in the UK)

Once in force, the above incentives and the removal of the requirement to undertake farm work as a condition of extending their working holiday visas will make it more attractive for young British citizens to come to work in Australia. 

The program will operate from 21 September, 2021 ahead of the next harvest, and comes in addition to the existing Seasonal Worker Programme and Pacific Labour Scheme, considered highly successful by the government.

More Government media release can be found here.

Quite a number of visa application charges will increase from 1 July 2021 according to the Migration Amendments Regulations 2021 – F2021L00842. The increase rate is between 1.75% to 11.345%.

Business Innovation and Investment Program  subject to the 11.345% + 1.75% increase are:

• Subclass 188 Business Innovation stream
• Subclass 188 Investor stream
• Subclass 188 Significant Investor stream
• Subclass 188 Business Innovation Extension stream
• Subclass 188 Significant Investor Extension stream
• Subclass 888 (all streams)