Impact of Budget 2023-24 on skilled migrants, international students, and Tourism
On Tuesday evening, while delivering his second budget, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced that visa applications for Australia would become more expensive beginning in July.
In addition, he disclosed that approximately 70% of Permanent Migration Program 2023–2024 places will be allocated to the Skill stream. Here is a summary of all the significant visa changes taking effect this year.
For the 2023–24 permanent Migration Program, the Albanese Government will maintain 190,000 places, with 137,100 (approximately 70%) allocated to the Skill stream to address the nation's long-term skill requirements.
The net overseas migration is projected to reach as high as 400,000 places this year and 315,000 in 2023–24 before returning to more typical patterns in 2024–25.
Here are the implications of Labor's 2023 federal budget for Australian immigration:
Putting Skilled Immigration First
According to the budget document, "the government intends to ensure that the migration system delivers the skilled migrants required to address persistent skills shortages by allocating approximately 70% of Permanent Migration Program places to the Skill stream in 2023-24."
However, partner and infant visas will continue to be based on demand. Additionally, the government will reset the income threshold to attract more qualified migrants whose skills complement those of the Australian labour force.
The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) will rise from $53,900 to $70,000 as of July 1, 2023.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil announced significant adjustments to nearly every visa category last week due to a review that determined the nation's current migration system needs to attract the most qualified individuals.
To repair the system, the government proposed significant changes, including eliminating obsolete, inflexible occupation lists, eliminating the points test for skilled visas, and developing a mainstream temporary skilled pathway to bring in the core skills that Australia requires.
Influence on international students
After being waived during the COVID-19 pandemic, the budget paper confirms that the work hour cap for international students with valid visas would be resumed on 1 July 2023. From pre-pandemic levels, it will be increased by 8 hours to 48 hours per fortnight.
Until December 31, 2023, international students labouring in the elderly care sector will be exempt from the 48-hour per two-week limit.
The outline of the government's migration strategy also mentions reducing the time international students spend on bridging visas by making it easier to obtain graduate visas, which will improve their job readiness and outcomes.
In addition, the budget commits to granting an additional two years of post-study work privileges to Temporary Graduate visa holders with certain degrees to increase the supply of skilled labour in vital industries.
Ms O'Neil previously stated that Australia requires high-quality international scholars who can be assisted with migration.
Ms O'Neil posited that the prevalence of exploitation could be attributed, in part, to the fact that we have enabled covert low-wage migration programs, such as those that take advantage of our international student visa program.
In an interview with SBS Punjabi, Rajwant Singh, a migration agent based in Sydney, stated that stringent English language requirements and regular quality reviews on colleges were also among the proposed changes resulting from the migration review.
There will be simplified pathways for international pupils with specialised abilities and skills that Australia requires. Mr Singh stated that the government also intends to restrict enrollment requirements to ensure that students are actually here to study.
Facilitation of permanent residency
The budget includes improved pathways to permanent residency for holders of Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) (subclass 482) visas.
Restrictions will be lifted so that TSS visa holders in the short-term stream can access permanent residence pathways through the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa. In addition, the government will eliminate the limit of one onshore renewal for the short-term TSS visa stream.
173,000 migrants with transitory work or student visas have been in Australia for at least five years.
Spike in visa application expenses
In addition to indexation, the government will increase Visa Application Fees (VAFs) by six percentage points beginning on 1 July 2023.
The visitor 600 visa application fee will increase by $40, from $150 to $190, while the student 500 visa application charge will rise by $65, from $650 to $715.
And a working holiday visa, which will affect travellers, will increase from $510 to $640, an increase of $130.
According to the budget document, only the Pacific Engagement Visa and Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme visas will be exempt from the price increases.
The increased revenue from visa fees is expected to bring in $100 million in 2023–24 and $665 million over the course of five years.
Visa backlogs
As part of the budget, the government announced that $75,8 million would be spent over two years, beginning in 2023–24, to extend the current surge in visa processing resources to assure processing timeliness and enhance existing visa processing systems.
