Migration Giants

Good News! New Skilled Regional Visas with a validity of five years announced…Australia Immigration

The Australian Government has announced changes to our immigration program to strengthen our economy and boost our regional areas. The changes include:

These changes will help get the right skills into the right regions to support regional businesses and ensure local communities thrive.

The new skilled regional provisional visas will be for skilled migrants, and dependent family members, who want to live and work in Australia.

There will be two new skilled regional provisional visas introduced in November 2019:

Holders of the new skilled regional provisional visas will need to live and work in regional Australia. Visas will be granted with a validity period of up to five years.

Holders of the new skilled regional provisional visas will be able to apply for a Permanent Residence visa. The Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) Visa will commence in November 2022.

Importantly, to be eligible for permanent residence, holders of the new skilled regional provisional visas will need to demonstrate they have lived and worked in regional Australia while holding one of the new Skilled Regional Provisional visa.

Benefits:

Regional employers will have access to additional regional occupations to sponsor migrants and priority processing of regional visa applications. There will also be additional points for certain points-tested migrants who are sponsored to settle in regional Australia.

Changes to existing visas

The introduction of the two new regional visas in November 2019 will not impact people who already hold existing visas. Applications lodged prior to November 2019 will continue to be processed as normal. There will be no impact on the permanent residence of current permanent visa holders.

Check back regularly over the coming weeks for updates on this new initiative

 

 

Source: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/regional-migration/news/new-regional-visas