The long-anticipated 1st July changes are finally upon us. To save you days' worth of time trying to make sense of everything, here are all the key pieces of information condensed into 1, easy-to-understand post. Hope this helps you!
General Skilled Migration (subclasses 189, 190, 489)
Age lowered: Applicants must be under the age of 45 at the time of invitation
Occupation list changed: Affected by occupation list changes
Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) (subclass 186) & Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) (subclass 187)
Higher English: At least 6.0 IELTS in each band, exemptions due to high salary ($AUD 180,001) removed
Skills assessment mandatory: All applicants need to have passed their skills assessment, exemptions due to high salary ($AUD 180,001) removed
New 'genuine position' criterion: All sponsors need to prove ‘genuine need’ for the applicant and position during the nomination stage
Training requirements changed: Slight changes to the accepted forms of training expenditure used to meet the benchmark for ENS DE stream applications
Occupation list changed: Affected by occupation list changes
Age lowered:
ENS & RSMS Direct Entry (DE) stream: applicants must be under the age of 45 at the time of application
RSMS Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream: applicants must be under the age of 50 at the time of application (from 1 March, 2018 age limit will also reduce to 45)
Temporary Work (subclass 457)
English exemptions removed: Now, applicants are exempt from the English language proficiency requirements only if their salary is over $96,400 AND if they are employees of an overseas business, coming to Australia to work for that company or their associated entity
Skills assessment requirement extended: Required for more trades and passport countries
Police clearance required: Required for all applicants
Accredited sponsorship extended: Now also given to low volume sponsors if they have turnover of at least 4 million AUD and 90% Australian staff
Occupation list changed: Affected by occupation list changes
Training benchmark changed: Slight changes to the accepted forms of training expenditure used to meet the benchmark, and changes to the way that payroll expenses are assessed.
Sources:
https://www.border.gov.au/WorkinginAustralia/Pages/1-July-2017-changes.aspx#