Important changes to Immigration South Australia’s GSM requirements.

Work experience changes

Immigration SA has revised its requirements for accessing the work experience waiver for international graduates of SA (rather than our usual requirement for at least one year of skilled work experience in the past three).

1. SA graduates will now need to have been working for the last 3 months in a skilled occupation at the time of application. This enables Immigration SA to collect appropriate evidence to verify applicants’ current employment in South Australia and ensure that good employment outcomes are occurring. The updated requirements can be viewed on our website under 9.2.3and 9.5.1.  Please note: some occupations have additional work experience requirements for international graduates of SA – see the occupation listsfor further details.
2. These changes will apply to all applications submitted after 28 May 2018.
3. Immigration SA reserves the right to obtain further evidence if there are concerns about the veracity of the work experience being claimed (this may include salary level and genuine need for the position). Immigration SA wants to ensure all employment outcomes are genuine.

Chain migration

Changes are being made effective from 1 July 2018 to Immigration SA’s chain migration pathway to ensure that this remains an option for families seeking to reunite with an immediate family member in South Australia.

1. The pathway will now be offered for the provisional 489 visa only. It is important that migrants in this pathway are genuinely settling with or near their family member and not using this as a pathway to settle in other states.
2. The existing family member in South Australia will need to have resided in South Australia for at least 24 months, rather than 12 months. This ensures closer ties and commitment to South Australia.
3. The existing family member in South Australia will be able to be a South Australian State nominated provisional visa holder (489 visa), not just a permanent resident or Australian citizen.
4. It remains important that chain migration applicants carefully consider their likelihood of achieving skilled employment, as they are being nominated primarily based on their family links. We expect that the existing family member will be on hand to provide considerable settlement support as required.