The Federal Budget 2023-24 document pointed out that Australia's current migration system had developed through years of piecemeal change.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers during television interviews after the Budget was delivered at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, 10 May. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE
Following are some of the major changes announced in the budget regarding immigration.
For migration program and skilled workers
The Budget paper said that in order to deliver the skilled migrants the country needs, around 70 per cent of places in the 2023‑24 permanent Migration Program would be allocated to skilled migrants, bringing long‑term fiscal and economic benefits and addressing persistent skill shortages.
For the 2023–24 permanent Migration Program, the government will return the planning level to the longer-term level of 190,000 places and will allocate 137,100 places (around 70 per cent) to the Skill stream, helping address Australia’s longer term skill needs.The Federal Budget 2023
The government will improve pathways to permanency for Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) (subclass 482) visa holders and restrictions will be removed to enable TSS visa holders on the short-term stream access to permanent residence pathways through the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa, the document said.
The limit of one onshore renewal for the short-term stream TSS visa will also be removed.
This permanent Migration Program measure is estimated to decrease receipts by $30 million and decrease payments by $66.4 million over the five years from 2022–23.
The Government will improve pathways to permanency for Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) (subclass 482) visa holders. (Representative image) Credit: Donald Iain Smith/Getty Images/Tetra images RF
The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold will be increased to $70,000 to ensure skilled migration settings are better targeted. Source: Moment RF / anand purohit/Getty Images
The change will come into effect from 1 July, 2023.
For improving skills recognition, the government is re‑scoping two Skills Assessment Pilots to provide onshore migrants with fast‑tracked skills assessments, free employability assessments, and access to further training to improve their employment prospects.
For the education sector and international students
Another major change that will affect international students is the re-instatement of the working hour limit, which was removed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The work hour cap for international student visa holders will be reinstated from 1 July, 2023, following its removal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Deepak Sethi/Getty Images
However, international students working in the aged care sector will be exempt from the 48 hour per fortnight work limit until 31 December, 2023.
Bringing back the work hours cap for international students is estimated to result in an unquantifiable increase in receipts over the five years from 2022–23, the paper added.
The government will also grant an extra two years of post-study work rights to international higher education graduates of Australian institutions with eligible qualifications to strengthen the pipeline of skilled labour.The Federal Budget 2023
The increase to post-study work rights is estimated to increase receipts by $800 million, and increase payments by $185.6 million, which includes a $185 million increase in GST payments to the states and territories over the five years from 2022–23.
This measure will apply from 1 July, 2023.
In addition, the Mechanism for the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications will ensure students from India and Australia will have greater certainty that the qualifications they attain will be recognised by both countries.The Federal Budget 2023
Increase in Visa Application Costs (VACs) and Passenger Movement Charge
Among the major changes, the Labor government also announced a price hike for a range of visa application costs from 1 July 2023.
Visa Application Costs (VACs) will increase by six percentage points for visa applications, as well as an additional 15 percentage points for select visitor and temporary visa subclasses and an additional 40 percentage points for business innovation and investment visas.The Federal Budget 2023
These select visitor and temporary visa subclasses will include visitor, working holiday, work and holiday, training, temporary activity, and temporary work (short stay specialist).
The Pacific Engagement Visa and Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme will be exempt from the VAC cost increases.
Through this change, the government is expecting to generate additional revenue for improving visa processing and other government priorities.
"This measure is estimated to increase receipts by $665 million over the five years from 2022–23," the budget paper noted.
From 1 July next year, the Passenger Movement Charge will also change from $60 to $70 per passenger.The federal budget 2023
The Passenger Movement Charge is a charge levied on passengers departing Australia on international flights or sea transport, irrespective of a passenger’s intention to return to Australia.
The paper said the Passenger Movement Charge was last increased in 2017.
Reacting to the latest budget announcement for visa costs, migration expert Suman Dua said the increase in visa fees was more than ever before.
"The significant increase is to the Business visa, which is 40 per cent and even the 15 per cent increase in Visitor, working holiday, work and holiday, training, temporary activity and temporary work (short stay specialist) visas is way more than ever before," she said.
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According to Ms Dua, the increase in visa costs was 'fair' in order to expedite visa processing, adding that it occurred when the cost of living was already high.
