Visa Lounge Australia

05/08/2025

The Albanese Government is today announcing a National Planning Level of 295,000 international student places for 2026, providing stability and certainty for the international education sector.

The 2026 National Planning Level manages growth in international education in a sustainable way, with 25,000 additional places compared to 2025.

All active international education providers will receive at least their current allocation next year.

The Albanese Government is today announcing a National Planning Level of 295,000 international student places for 2026, providing stability and certainty for the international education sector.The 2026 National Planning Level manages growth in international education in a sustainable way, with 25,00...

16/07/2025

Skilled and Business Migration SA has announced that South Australia’s two Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMAs) have been extended until 30 June 2026.

Here is what has been announced:

The current list of occupations eligible to be nominated under the SA DAMAs remains unchanged.

The following concessions are also still available under the SA DAMAs:

- age concession of up to 55 years;
- 10% reduction to the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT); and
- English and work experience concessions.

The pathway to permanent residency for Subclass 482 Skills in Demand (SID) visa holders has been reduced to two years.

These applicants can now apply for a Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) visa after holding the Subclass 482 SID visa for a period of two years.

From 1 July 2025, occupations listed in specific Industry Labour can no longer be utilised under the South Australian DAMA program if the occupation is also available in an Industry Labour Agreement.

As an example, this will affect Aged Care providers, who will be unable to access certain occupations under the South Australian DAMA program.

Instead, they will need to apply under the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement (ACILA) or alternative programs, such as the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.

The South Australian Government plans to negotiate a new five-year statewide DAMA with the Commonwealth Government in 2025–26.

27/06/2025

VETASSESS has now been confirmed as the Skills Assessing Authority for the occupations listed below.

VETASSESS have advised that they should have these occupations added to their online menu within the next two weeks, to be able to lodge skills assessment applications.

The FNQ DAMA Occupation and Concessions List in the Chamber’s website has just been updated to reflect this.

The last few remaining new occupations to have Skills Assessing Authorities confirmed will be announced as soon as known.

Note: Skills assessments for individuals are not required in order to make a request for endorsement to the Cairns Chamber of Commerce to access the FNQ DAMA, nor to make a request for an FNQ DAMA Labour Agreement.

05/06/2025

NSW Business and Skilled Migration has announced that it has reached its nomination allocation for the Subclass 190 Skilled (Nominated) visa for the 2024–25 program year.

As a result, no further invitations will be issued for the Subclass 190 visa until a new allocation is provided to NSW by the Australian Government at the start of the 2025–26 program year.

It also expects to issue invitations for the Subclass 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa – Pathway 2 before the end of this week.

NSW Business and Skilled Migration has advised that to be considered, please ensure that your Expression of Interest (EOI) is accurate and up-to-date.

02/06/2025

Skilled & Business Migration SA has announced that Registration of Interest (ROI) applications for onshore applicants have closed for the 2024-2025 program year.

Any ROIs that have been started but not yet submitted will be deleted.

All submitted ROIs will be processed by 30 June 2025. Applicants who receive an invitation to apply for SA state nomination are advised to submit their state nomination application as soon as possible.

Applicants who do not receive an invitation to apply for SA state nomination in the 2024-25 program year can submit another ROI when applications reopen for the 2025-26 year.

Offshore applicants can continue to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for consideration and, if successful, will be directly invited to apply for South Australian state nomination.

You can access this announcement here:

South Australia’s skilled migration Registration of Interest (ROI) applications for onshore applicants have closed for the 2024-2025 program year. Please note that ROIs in the online system that have been started but not yet been submitted will be deleted. All submitted ROIs will be processed by 3...

27/05/2025

Queensland closed its 2024-25 skilled State Nominated Migration Program (SNMP) on May 27 2025.

Registrations of Interest (ROIs) for the onshore, graduates, offshore and regional small business owners pathways are now closed.

Migration Queensland will continue to assess the applications currently under assessment until all nominations are completed. Queensland ROIs for second-stage business visas (subclass 888) nominations remain open.

Migration Queensland will publish details of the 2025-26 program when available.

20/04/2025

𝟰𝟭𝟳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟰𝟲𝟮 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗮 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 ‘𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸’ 𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀!

As of 5 April 2025, Working Holiday Makers can now complete specified work in additional bushfire, flood, cyclone, and storm-affected areas to qualify for a second or third 417 or 462 visa.

🔑 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀:

✅ More suburbs added across VIC, WA, TAS, NSW & NT
✅ Paid or volunteer recovery work now counts toward visa extensions
✅ Applies to applications lodged on or after 5 April 2025 (or not yet decided)

🔨 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲:

✔️ Construction, land clean-up & rebuilding
✔️ Wildlife and farm animal care
✔️ Support roles in disaster-affected areas (including admin & logistics)
✔️ Paid or volunteer work

📩 Reach out to our team at [email protected] if you need help with your visa or obligations as an employer.

30/12/2024

New Skills In Demand 482 Visa, our summary of the most important details of this visa in the article below.

[email protected]

https://visalounge.com.au/skills-in-demand-482-visa/

15/12/2024

Important Update: Changes to Graduate Visa Regulations Effective 14 December 2024.

The Australian Government has introduced the Migration Amendment (Graduate Visas No. 2) Regulations 2024, bringing important updates for recent graduates seeking to live and work in Australia. These changes include:

✅ Expanded Definitions: Degrees now include bachelor, master's, doctoral, and graduate diplomas under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).

✅ New Eligibility Criteria:
➡️ Courses must be registered and completed over at least 16 months of study (minimum of 2 academic years).
➡️ All instruction must be conducted in English.
➡️ Studies must be undertaken while on a visa allowing study in Australia.

✅ Flexible Completion Rules: Completion of qualifications does not require formal conferral.

These updates ensure greater clarity and fairness in the Graduate Visa program, enabling graduates to plan their pathways with confidence.

22/11/2024

ANZSCO changing to OSCA on 6 December

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ) have announced that while maintaining comparability, each country will introduce their own tailored occupational statistical classifications.

For Australia, ANZSCO will be replaced by the new classification which will be called the Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA), 2024, version 1.0 and will be released on Friday 6 December 2024 at 11.30am (AEDT).

Even though ANZSCO will change to OSCA in December, ANZSCO will continue to be available on the ABS website.

12/11/2024

🚨 Big News for Skilled Migrants Aspiring to Become Early Childcare Teachers in Australia! 🚨

If you're looking to use Early Childhood Teaching as your pathway to Permanent Residency, here’s a major update you don’t want to miss:

Current Skill Assessing Body: AITSL
New Skill Assessing Body (from 7 December 2024): ACECQA

Key Changes:

1️⃣ No more 4-year study at Bachelors level or higher requirement – You’ll just need an ACECQA-approved Early Childhood Teaching (ECT) course or proof that your course meets equivalent standards.

2️⃣ IELTS Exemptions – If you’ve studied in Australia for at least 1 year, you’re exempt from the IELTS. If not, the requirement is 7.0 in Reading/Writing and 8.0 in Listening/Speaking.

3️⃣ Pathway Flexibility – Completing a Graduate Diploma in ECT in Australia (even with a non-related Master’s) can now qualify you for skills assessment without the need for IELTS.

Why These Changes Are a Game-Changer:
💡 Accelerated Qualification: Have a 3-year bachelor’s in early childhood teaching? You no longer need a 4th year to qualify!
💡 Simplified Pathways: With an IELTS waiver available most students who study in Australia will now get an automatic exemption

👉 If you’re interested in exploring your options, let’s chat about the best pathway for you!

03/11/2024

🛎️Department of Home Affairs Update on Skilled Visas🛎️

The Department of Home Affairs provided an update on the upcoming changes to the skilled visas at the 2024 MIA National Conference in Brisbane.

As part of this update the Department referred to the Skills in Demand (SID) visa and highlighted the following points:

Skills in Demand visa Sc 482

--Temporary skilled worker visa with up to 4 years validity

--Clear pathway to permanent residence

--Will have 3 streams - Specialist Skills, Core Skills and Labour Agreements

--Specialist Skills stream: Will be for highly skilled migrants earning at least $135,000 in any occupation except trades workers, machinery operators, drivers and labourers

--Core Skills stream: Will be for skilled employees and there will be a new Core Skills occupation List and a Core Skills Income Threshold

--Labour Agreement stream: The TSS Labour Agreement stream will be renamed the Skills in Demand Labour Agreement stream

--Work experience requirement reduced to one year

--As the TSS visa will be replaced by the SID visa existing short-term and medium-term streams of the TSS visa will close to new applications.

The Department are currently working on this, and it will commence in 2024.

email: [email protected]