Immigration Changes from Federal Budget 2017-2018
With the 2017-18 budget being presented by the Federal Government on the 9th May comes more changes to the Immigration policy, fees and visa application charges.
In brief the following changes have been announced.
- Employers who sponsor employees for temporary and permanent visas to pay a training levy
- More details on temporary parent visas to apply from 1 November 2017
- Visa application charge increases to apply from 1 July 2017
Training Levy for Employers wanting to sponsor staff
From March 2018 employers will be required to pay a training levy, this levy will go to the Skilling Australians Fund, funding the training of Australians in apprenticeships and trainee programs.
The amount each business will be required to pay will depend on its size annual turnover.
Businesses with a turnover less than $10 million per year will be required to:
- make an upfront payment of $1,200 per visa per year for each employee on a Temporary Skill Shortage visa
- a one-off payment of $3,000 for each employee being sponsored for a permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa or a permanent Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 187) visa.
Businesses with a turnover of $10 million of more per year will be required to:
- make an upfront payment of $1,800 per visa year for each employee on a Temporary Skill Shortage visa
- a one-off payment of $5,000 for each employee being sponsored for a permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa or a permanent Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 187) visa.
This levy will replace the current training benchmarks with employers sponsoring workers on the Subclass 457 and Employer Nomination Scheme subclass 186 visas.
Temporary Sponsored Parent Visas
More details were made available regarding the new Temporary Sponsored Parent visa, this visa will be introduced from November 2017. They require sponsoring ship from an Australian permanent resident or citizen child. The visa will be valid for either 3 years or 5 years with an option to renew the visa offshore up to a maximum of 10 years.
Parents on these visas will not have access to Medicare and the sponsoring child is liable for any medical expenses.
There will be 15,000 visas available is year, however holders of the new temporary parent visa will not be permitted to apply onshore for a permanent parent visa. Whether these 15,000 places are considered part of the migration program or separate to the current program number.
Fees for Temporary Parent Visa
3 year option – $5,000 5 year option – $10,000
Visa Application Charge increases
Visa Application Fees will be increased on an annual basis in line with inflation.
The new fees will apply from 1 July 2017 – for most visa types, the increase is around 2%. Changes for some common visa types are below:
| Visa type | Current fees | Fees from July 2017 |
| Student | $550 | $560 |
| General Skilled Migration | $3,600 | $3,670 |
| Graduate Temporary | $1,470 | $1,500 |
| Partner Temporary | $6,695 | $7000 |
| Parent (Contributory) | $3,695 | $3,945 |
| Subclass 457 | $1,060 | $1,080 |
| Employer Nomination | $3,600 | $3,670 |
| Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme | $3,600 | $3,670 |
| Visitor | $135 | $140 |
| Child | $2,370 | $2,415 |
| Prospective marriage | $6,865 | $7,000 |
