Two recent announcements see further benefits for temporary visa holders. Student visa holders have unrestricted work rights even before their course commences and new students can apply for application charge refunds, international graduates affected by travel restrictions will have their visas extended and access to a further visa, and regional visas will be extended.

Student and WHM visa holders with unrestricted work rights and VAC refunds

Due to worker shortages exacerbated by the omicron variant, all student visa holders can work full-time contrary to their visa conditions, which will be either condition 8105 for primary student visa holders or condition 8104 for secondary student visa holders. Previously, student visa holders could only work unrestricted if they were employed in a critical sector.

As per the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Aff​airs’ media release yesterday, this applies even to student visa holders where the primary visa holder has not commenced their course of study.

This announcement clarifies an ambiguous statement made by the Prime Minister last week during a press conference.

This policy will be reviewed in April 2022.

Working holiday makers (WHMs), who are holders of either a subclass 417 – Working Holiday visa or a subclass 462 – Work and Holiday visa, can work unrestricted until at least the end of 2022 contrary to their visa condition 8547.

In addition to these announcements, WHMs who are offshore and come to Australia within the next 12 weeks, and any student visa holder who is offshore and arrives within the next 8 weeks, will be able to obtain a refund of their visa application charges.

Regional work visas extended

In another announcement this week, regional visa holders will have their visas extended by 3 years to give them sufficient time to enter Australia and commence or resume living and working in a regional area.

This decision affects those holding either a:

• Subclass 489 – Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa,

• Subclass 491 – Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa, or

• Subclass 494 – Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa.

For 491 and 494 visa holders, this may not be enough time to satisfy the requirements for a subclass 191 – Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa. This is because one of the major requirements for grant is that the primary applicant’s taxable income for at least 3 income years, which runs from 1 July to 30 June, is above the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold. Furthermore, these years must have elapsed as any claimed income year must have ended before the date of application. Therefore, three calendar years may not be enough especially for those who cannot claim any previous income years and who do not have any existing employment arrangements.

Subclass 485 – Temporary Graduate visa extensions and further visa

Subclass 485 – Temporary Graduate visa holders will also have their visas extended or enlivened (perhaps resuscitation is a better term) if they were outside Australia during a certain period. For an automatic extension, 485 visa holders must:

• have held a Temporary Graduate visa on 15 December 2021 and this visa expires before 30 September 2022,

• not have their visa cancelled since 15 December 2021

• have not been granted a further substantive visa since 15 December 2021, and

• have the primary 485 visa holder in Australia when their 485 visa was granted and was outside Australia for any period between 1 February 2020 and 14 December 2021.

To be eligible for visa enlivening, former 485 visa holders must:

• have held their 485 visa and it expired between 1 February 2020 and 14 December 2021,

• not have their visa cancelled,

• have not been granted a further substantive visa since,

• have the primary 485 visa holder in Australia at time it was granted and was outside Australia for any period between 1 February 2020 and 14 December 2021.

No application is necessary and visa holders will be contacted by the Department of Home Affairs directly.

The promised visa replacement stream, which will give current and former 485 visa holders affected by travel restrictions a further 485 visa, will commence from 1 July 2022. Applicants must hold, or have held a Temporary Graduate visa that expired on or after 1 February 2020, and were outside Australia at any time between 1 February 2020 and 15​ December 2021.

While there is a visa application charge for this application, and likely other costs such as for a visa medical, being granted a further 485 for the same duration as their original 485 visa with accompanying full work rights might be too good to ignore.

There are as of yet no regulation changes made to other promised 485 visa changes other than the increase in the duration of visa grants as this is a policy decision and was in effect shortly after the announcement.