The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has released New Priority Processing Guidelines giving many visa applicants some long awaited certainty as to the processing of their skilled migration application.

Effective from 14 July 2010, the new processing priorities (with highest priority listed first) are:

1. Applications from people who are employer sponsored under the ENS and the RSMS.

2. Applications from people who are nominated by a state or territory government agency with a nominated occupation that is specified on that state or territory’s state migration plan.

3. Applications from people who have nominated an occupation on the new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) – Schedule 3 in effect from 1 July 2010.

4. All other applications are to be processed in the order in which they are received.

With no State or Territory Migration Plan currently in place (Priority Level 2), for now, general skilled migration visa applicants with an occupation on the New Skilled Occupation List which came into effect on 1 July 2010 will be the top priority general skilled migration category under the new priority processing guidelines.

Applicants who applied prior to 1 July 2010 and do not have an occupation on the New Skilled Occupation List (Schedule 3) or attract priority based on employer or State Plan sponsorship have been advised by DIAC to prepare for substantial waits, consider a fresh visa application under Priority Level 1, 2 or 3, or where that is not possible, consider the withdrawal of their application.

While the State and Territory Governments continue to delay the implementation of their Migration Plans this is great news for applicants with nominated occupations on the New SOL.  Unfortunately, applicants with a Priority Level 4 application would be well advised to consider new options for migration to Australia which are likely to be processed under the Priority Processing arrangements.

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Contact us today for a telephone consultation with our experienced Australian Immigration Lawyers on the effect of the New Priority Processing Guidelines on your Australian visa application and how best to proceed (10 minutes - $75.00, 30 minutes - $150.00).

Haag Walker Lawyers Online Australian Visa Eligibility Assessment has also been updated to include an easy to search version of the New Skilled Occupation List.