What’s in the Budget for Immigration: Federal Budget 2023 & Migration

Date: 05 May 2023

The Australian Federal Budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 has been announced on May 9, 2023, revealing several significant changes for the Migration Industry.

INCREASED SKILLED MIGRATION OPPORTUNITIES

Migration Planning Level for 2023-24 Permanent Migration Program will be set at 190,000 places, with 137,100 places dedicated for Skilled Migration. The Skilled stream is designed to improve the productive capacity of the economy and fill skill shortages in the labour market, including those in regional Australia.

WORKING RIGHTS ON STUDENT VISA

Student visa holders already working in aged care sector on 09 May 2023 can work unrestricted hours in aged care till 31 Dec 2023.

Work restrictions for all other student visa holders will be re-introduced and capped at the increased rate of 48 hours per fortnight, from 1 July 2023 onwards.

ACCESS TO PERMANENT RESIDENCY

By the end of 2023, all Subclass 482 visa holders will be able to access the Subclass 186 (TRT Stream) visa.

TSMIT TO INCREASE TO $70,000

Starting from July 1, 2023, there will be an increase in the TSMIT (Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold) to $70,000 per year. The lodging of TSS/Employer Sponsored applications prior to this date will not be impacted.

TSMIT refers to the minimum income level that sponsors must provide to overseas workers under certain skilled visa programs. By raising the TSMIT, the government is increasing the minimum salary threshold that employers need to meet when sponsoring foreign workers. This ensures that temporary skilled visa holders are paid a fair and competitive wage while working in Australia.

This means that employers wishing to sponsor foreign workers will be required to provide a minimum annual salary of $70,000 and superannuation to potential candidates.

VISA APPLICATION COST SET TO INCREASE

Visa Application Costs (VACs) will increase by 6% points for visa applications, as well as an additional 15% points for select visitor and temporary visa subclasses and an additional 40% points for business innovation & investment visas.

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.

AGED CARE INDUSTRY LABOUR AGREEMENT

Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement can be used to:

Sponsor overseas workers for the Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) visa in direct care occupations such as:
- Nursing Support Worker
- Personal Care Assistant
- Aged or Disabled Carer
Sponsor overseas workers for permanent residence under the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa program. Workers must have at least two years of full time work experience in Australia in a relevant direct care occupation. The two years of work experience is not tied to a particular employer or visa subclass.

In both circumstances, the sponsors would need to have made recent and genuine attempts to recruit workers from the domestic workforce pool.