DIAC under fire for capping and ceasing policy.
Australian immigration is getting tougher, perhaps in response to criticisms about Kevin Rudd’s “big Australia” plan, however will the new rules and regulations put off skilled migrants to Australia?
The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) are being criticised on migration boards for not giving visa applicants clear, precise information on capping and ceasing and in a tightening of language rules they have now announced that requirements for English language tests are to get stricter. Applicants must now provide more evidence of their English language ability.
Proof of language ability must now be made as soon as possible, the DIAC have said that applications will not be delayed to wait for English language test results. Applicants have just 28 days from the date of their Australian visa application to provide their results, if they do not provide them then the application will be refused.
However applicants for the following Australian visa subclasses have until the time of decision to provide their results.
- Skilled – Independent (Residence) visa (subclass 885)
- Skilled – Sponsored (Residence) visa (subclass 886)
- Skilled – Independent (Migrant) visa (subclass 175)
- Skilled – Sponsored (Migrant) visa (subclass 176)
- Skilled – Provisional (Regional Sponsored) visa (subclass 475)
- Skilled – Provisional (Recognised Graduate) visa (subclass 476)
- Skilled – Provisional (Graduate) visa (subclass 485) (where the application was made on or after 27 October 2008).
There is also confusion over whether the DIAC have started their controversial capping and ceasing program. Some members of the Embrace Community have confirmed that applicants have received notification that their visa applications have been capped and ceased. However the official DIAC statement denies that any cap has yet been set.
In a letter sent to McGrath Migration Agents, the DIAC state: “At this point the Minister has not set a maximum number of visas to be granted. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship, therefore, cannot speculate about which applications will be finalized and which applications will be withdrawn and receive a refund of VAC.”However Susan McGrath, a member of the Embrace Community calls for caution on interpretation of the statement from DIAC; “As we all know, DIAC has a tendency to change its stance overnight and we could find out at any time that the cap has suddenly been set.”
Meanwhile migration agents on Poms in Oz and on our own Embrace Community are criticising the DIAC for not providing enough clear information on capping and ceasing.
In the meantime a lot of visa applicants are unsure as to when, or even if, their applications will be finalised. A lot of these applicants are skilled workers with occupations that are certainly on state critical lists if not the CSL, there is a lot of criticism on forums across the migration board on the treatment of applicants by the DIAC.
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2 Responses to “DIAC Making Australian Immigration Tougher”
Comment by Koushik — April 28, 2010 @ 5:18 am
We have already applied for our visa SIR 475 on May’2008,prior to which during Feb’2008 we received our SA state sponsorship.We front loaded our medicals and PCC sometime in June-July’2008.My wife who is the primary applicant had some medical complications,due to which she was asked to re-do her medicals and that dragged for atleast 8-9 months.We didnt hear anything much after that,suddenly in July’2009 CO asked her to provide more documentation on her job references which she provided.But then came many changes on Sept 2009 and post that.Even though she had sent her job reference evidence,it still showed as requested for quite some time,however suddenly on March 15,2010 it showed as Received on the tracking website.I called DIAC a week back and they mentioned,we still have a CO and that they dont have any further information and asked us to wait till we hear anything from CO.Thats it,no news after that.And that why I assumed I’m in Category 5.
Comment by AMIT — June 16, 2010 @ 8:20 am
I had applied for the state sponsorship to ACT under offlist occupation technical sales Representatives,but for subclass 176 visa i was not in a position to lodge my DIAC application bec of temporary suspension,i am worried if my occupation is not on SMP what is going to be the outcome of SS what other option is left for me.
Pls suggest.
regds.
amit