With the gripe of visa processing delays frustrating businesses and visa applicants alike, last week the Minister of Home Affairs abolished two key instruments that determined processing priorities that the Department of Immigration must follow and replaced them with one prioritising healthcare and teaching occupations.

The Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL), a list created during the pandemic to prioritise the processing of critical occupations in demand and, if approved, visa applicants were automatically issued travel exemptions, was abolished. It had 44 occupations before it was done away with.

In its wake comes Direction No. 100 commencing on 28 October 2022, which firstly revokes Directions No. 96 and 97. This consolidates the two and will apply to all temporary, provisional and permanent skilled visas, namely:

• Subclass 124 - Distinguished Talent visa;

• Subclass 186 - Employer Nomination Scheme visa;

• Subclass 187 - Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa;

• Subclass 188 - Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa;

• Subclass 189 - Skilled - Independent (Points-tested stream) visa;

• Subclass 190 - Skilled - Nominated visa;

• Subclass 191 - P​ermanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa;

• Subclass 457 - Temporary Work (Skilled) visa;

• Subclass​ 482 - Temporary Skill Shortage visa;

• Subclass 489 - Skilled - Regional (Provisional) visa;

• Subclass 491 - Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa;

• Subclass 494 - Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa;

• Subclass 858 - Global Talent visa;

• Subclass 887 - Skilled — Regional visa;

• Subclass 888 - Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa.  

Instead of the PMSOL, nominations, where necessary, are processed in the following order and according to applications:

1. nominating healthcare or teaching occupations,

2. lodged by an approved sponsor with accredited status,

3. where the occupation is carried out in a regional area, and

4. not covered by any of the above.

Visa applications receive a similar treatment, and are processed in the following order, where visa applications:

1. are nominated or relating to healthcare or teaching occupations,

2. if employer-sponsored, nominated by an approved sponsor with accredited status,

3. state the occupation will be carried out in a regional area,

4. count towards the migration program (permanent and provisional skilled visas) but exclude 188 visas, and

5. are not covered by any of the above.

Within these priorities, for provisional and permanent skilled visa applications, priority will be given to visa applications where the primary applicant is located outside Australia at the time the visa application is made. Any eligible passport holders, which are Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China passports or a British National (Overseas) passports, will receive priority as well.

Healthcare or teaching occupations are defined by either the ANZSCO grouping or individual occupations, and are:

• ANZSCO Sub-major Group 25 - Health Professionals​

• ANZSCO Minor Group 241 - School Teachers

• ANZSCO Minor Group 411 - Health and Welfare Support Workers

• ANZSCO Unit Group 1341 - Child Care Centre Managers

• ANZSCO Unit Group 2346 - Medical Scientists

• ANZSCO Unit Group 2721 - Counsellors

• ANZSCO Unit Group 2723 - Psychologists​

• ANZSCO Unit Group 2725 - Social Workers

• ANZSCO Unit Group 3112 - Medical Technicians

• 134311 School Principal

• 421111 Child Care Worker

• 423111 Aged or Disabled Carer

• 423312 Nursing Support Worker

• 423313 Personal Care Assistant

Excluding healthcare and teaching occupations, for which teaching occupations were nowhere to be found on the PMSOL, this new direction reverts close to processing priorities before the pandemic. This is, however, cold comfort to those who recently lodged their application in an occupation that was on the PMSOL.