COVID-19 Concessions for various visa subclasses finally announced
Partner visas, Contributory Parent visas and Child visas
The Department of Home Affairs has announced from 27 February 2021 (inclusive) the following visas will be able to be granted while the applicant is onshore in Australia despite normally required to be outside of Australia at time of grant:
- Partner (subclass 309) visa
- Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa
- Child (subclass 101) visa
- Adoption (subclass 102) visa
- Dependent Child (subclass 445) visa
This is a temporary concessions put in place in response to the challenges COVID-19 has created relating to international travel.
The same concessions will commence for the following Parent visa applicants on 24 March 2021 (inclusive):
- Contributory Parent (subclass 173) visa
- Contributory Parent (subclass 143) visa
- Parent (subclass 103) visa
The Department has indicated that the current processing timeframes as published by the Department will not be impacted by these temporary changes.
Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) Offshore Lodgement and Visa Grants
The Department is now providing concessions to ALL Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa streams, the ‘Graduate Work’, the ‘Post Study Work’ and the ‘Second Post Study Work’ streams to allow eligible visa applicants to lodge their visa applications from outside Australia and also have them granted whilst they are outside of Australia if they have been impacted by the COVID-19 travel restrictions during the concession period that commenced on 1 February 2020. We can confirm that these concessions also extend to ‘Subsequent Entrants’ looking to join their partners or parents on the SC485 visa.
Business Innovation & Investment – Subclass 888 – Residency Requirement Concessions
The Department is providing concessions to all applicants for Business Innovation & Investment (subclass 888) via the Business Innovation Stream applicants apply for their SC888 visa on or after the 1 February 2020 (the COVID-19 concession period) and allowing them to count time spent overseas towards being ‘physically present in Australia for at least 1 year in the last two years immediately before they apply for the SC888 visa.
Please note: this is only for applicants in the ‘Business Innovation Stream’ and only applies to applicants who hold or held one of the following visas:
- Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188) Business Innovation stream
- Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188) Business Innovation Extension stream
More information & updates
Ethos Migration Lawyers prides itself on providing Australian immigration updates as soon as they become available. If you would like further information regarding these concessions or would like to schedule a time to speak with one of our Immigration Lawyers please contact our office.