There are several changes expected to happen with Australian visas in 2018. Some have been confirmed while others are still pending.
Visa holders in the short-term stream won't have a pathway to permanent residency. It's important to note that there will be more requirements under the TSS visa than the 457. Nilesh Nandan is special counsel with My Visa Australia, a national immigration practice. He says that applicants will need to have a higher level of English and more work experience.
He also warns that the TSS visa will cost more than the 457 for employers.
Another change that is expected this year is linked to the partner visa. The government would like to implement a two-step process where the sponsor needs to be approved before the partner lodges an application. Nilesh Nandan is worried that this might cause some problems.
But he says that a more careful evaluation of the sponsor could be good news for the partner.
In 2017, the government also announced a new temporary sponsored parent visa. The bill enabling the visa to come into effect still needs to be approved by the Senate.
The three-year-visa would cost $5000, the five-year-visa $10,000 and the 10-year-visa $20,000. Once the visa-holder has been in Australia for 10 years, they wouldn't be able to reapply and wouldn't have a pathway to permanent residency. Nilesh Nandan says that's what his clients are the most worried about.
Michael Walker says the government is also expected to bring back an amended version of its citizenship bill, which would toughen the conditions to obtain citizenship.
Currently, applicants only need to be permanent residents for a year before to be eligible for citizenship and there's no English test required. Nilesh Nandan believes that we'll see more visa cancellations and deportations this year.
While we have an idea of the visa changes coming this year, a lot of them are not set in stone and could change again. If you think you might get affected by those changes, keep an eye on the Department of Home Affairs' website homeaffairs.gov.au to stay up to date.
