On 2 April 2011, The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) introduced a new Fraud Public Interest Criterion (PIC) for Australia’s Skilled and Employer Sponsored Migration Program.

The new Fraud PIC aims to minimise the degree to which fraud is practiced in Australian visa applications, and is designed to discourage Australian visa applicants from submitting false or misleading information on a visa application or review.

From 5 November 2011, all visa subclasses in the Business Skills and Student Visa Programs will also be subject to the Fraud Public Interest Criterion.  Accordingly, the  visa subclasses listed below are now subject to assessment under the conditions of the Fraud PIC

Note Visa subclasses marked with * indicate subclasses which have been closed to new applications since 1 September 2007 but have pending applications remaining.

Important: If you have previously lodged an application for any of the above visa subclasses (excepting a Student Visa), and your application is currently undecided or under review, the Fraud PIC will now be applied to your application upon assessment by DIAC even if your application was lodged before 5 November 2011. 

However, applications for Student Visas will only be subject to the Fraud PIC assessment if they have been lodged on or after 5 November 2011. 

General Skilled Migration (GSM) Visas:

Temporary Employer Sponsored (TES) Visas:

Business Skills Visas:

Student Visas: