Long story short:

After two years on a 482 visa, it is possible to apply for permanent residency.

Let’s take a closer look at what this means.

On May 8th, 2023, the Department of Immigration published what could be considered structural reforms on their official portal.

To be precise, some have even called them “counter-reforms” because they have returned the immigration system to a situation similar to the context before the Turnbull reform of 2017.

You may like: how does the 482 sponsor visa works.

What was the situation in 2017?

At that time, there was no distinction between the Medium Long Term List and the Short Term List. Therefore, any position on the Skilled Occupation List could grant permanent residency through the 457 migration program after two years of work with their sponsor. The Turnbull reform not only replaced the 457 visa with the current TSS 482 visa but also created the “double” list, making it impossible to transition to permanent residency for positions on the Short Term list. Finally, for people who could obtain permanent residency through sponsorship, the period was extended from 2 to 3 years.

When will the new reforms begin?

According to the Department of Home Affairs’ announcement, the new measures will be enacted into law by the end of 2023.

In summary, these are the key changes:

• All TSS 482 visas will lead to permanent residency.
• The transition period will be reduced to two years (one year less than the current three years).
• The maximum limit of two TSS visa applications in Australia for the Short-Term list will be removed (currently, there is a maximum limit of two TSS visas of two years for this type of visa).
• The minimum salary threshold for a sponsor (TSMIT) has been raised to AUD $70,000 (previously $53,900).

The source is undoubtedly very authoritative (the Department of Immigration), but it is not law just yet.

The details are not yet known, and it is not precisely known when the legislation will come into force in the next eight months.

 

For any question feel free to email us at infopoint@atlasmigration.com!