The second Federal Budget for the calendar and fiscal year was handed down last night. Australia’s outlook has changed drastically since the last budget was handed down at the end of March.

Net overseas migration (NOM) is predicted to increase back to pre-pandemic levels at 235,000 arrivals per year and continue at this level for the next few years. NOM is not to be confused with permanent migration numbers as they include temporary visa holders and are adjusted for those leaving Australia. At the height of the pandemic in 2020-21 and with Australia’s borders firmly shut, NOM was -85,000.

While sometimes there are surprises to Australia’s migration program, key details were communicated well in advance:

• The permanent migration cap was lifted from 160,000 to 195,000 places. An exact breakdown has yet to be provided;

• More resources ($42.2 million over two years) to increase visa processing capacity and awareness of opportunities for migrants;

• A new Pacific Engagement Visa, which will allocate up to 3,000 permanent places per year to eligible Pacific nationals from 1 July 2023; and

• Scaling aged-care training pathway to be utilised under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.

There were two announcements that were not already known with one to please insternational students.

The first is that the relaxation of student visaand secondary training visa holder work restrictions will continue until at least 30 June 2023. This has also been confirmed by the Minister for Home Affairs.

The second is the development of a migration strategy “to identify reforms required to ensure the migration system serves Australia’s national interests and complements the skills and capabilities of Australian workers.”

This appears to be a taskforce to primarily reform the skilled visa program, something that has not happened in many years due to disruptions caused by the pandemic and the current volatile economic environment.

Medicals for onshore temporary visa applicants relaxed until early 2023

The Department of Home Affairs announced last week that visa medicals will not be required for some temporary visa applicants who are in Australia. This is to facilitate more streamlined visa processing.

Unless a visa applicant intends to incur medical costs, is requested by Immigration, or have a situation that requires additional tests such as intending to work as or study to be a doctor, dentist, nurse or paramedic, situations usually found in column E of the legislative instrument specifying what health assessments are required, a visa medical will not be necessary. This temporarily does away with the automatic requirement for visa medicals and chest x-rays for countries not normally exempt. It applies to many popular visas, such as subclass 482 - Temporary Skill Shortage visas, subclass 500 – Student visas, subclass 485 - Temporary Graduate visas, and subclass 600 - Visitor visas.

This makes sense as those from “high-risk” countries are unlikely to need to be reassessed again. They would have similar medical risk factors as those from “low-risk” countries living in Australia since arriving. It would have made much more sense to implement this when lockdowns created major delays in onshore visa medical appointments.

This streamlined arrangement will be reviewed in early 2023.