More news related to migration programs, this time directly from the Australian Parliament, which has approved the country’s financial program presented by the Treasurer.

The Federal Budget can be considered the equivalent of our ‘financial law,’ that is, the document that prepares the country’s economic performance in the financial year following the one that is about to conclude. Since migration flows are central to the economic dimension in Australia, the available places for permanent visas are planned in this document. We can already find this information on the Department’s portal on the ‘planning levels’ page.

Skilled Visa places: high numbers in 2023-2024.

The effect that this ‘budget’ of invitations has is to influence the numbers of invitations for Skilled Visas, for example, or on waiting periods for family-type visas (such as the Partner Visa). Last year, for example, we witnessed a very high number of invitations for independent visas (such as Subclasses 189, 190, and 491) and recorded invitations with relatively low scores compared to previous financial years.

The reason? A high budget set by Parliament: in the 2022-2023 financial year, 160,000 permanent visas were initially made available, then raised to 195,000 due to the shortage of workers in Australia. Of these 195,000, 142,000 were earmarked for Skilled visas (initially 109,900 then raised to 142,000). This year, the numbers from last year are confirmed from the outset: 190,000 places available, of which 137,100 are allocated to the Skilled Migration Stream. What can be deduced from this? That it will be another year in which we will witness a good number of invitations for Skilled Visas. What to do? Arm yourself with education qualifications (or RPL), Skills Assessment, and hurry to lodge the Expression of Interest!

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Visa application fees are increasing.

The annual increase in visa costs has usually been stable over time at 3%.

This year, however, much more sensitive increases have been prepared:

• Tourist, Working Holiday Visas, Training Visa, and Temporary Activity visas will increase by 15% starting from July.
• Business Visas will increase by 40%.
• Other visas (such as the Student Visa) will increase by 6%.