Budget 2024

A summary of the immigration plans in the Federal Budget.

Migration System Reforms.

The Government will provide $18.3 million over four years from 2024–25.

Funding includes: 

• $15.0 million over three years from 2024–25 for information and education activities to provide migrant workers with accurate and appropriate information about workplace safeguards, protections and compliance measures related to migration laws 

• $1.9 million in 2024–25 to conduct a data-matching pilot between the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Taxation Office of income and employment data to mitigate exploitation of migrant workers and abuse of Australia’s labour market and migration system.

Subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage visa - work experience reduced.

The work experience requirement for the Subclass 482 visa will be reduce from two to one year for all applicants from 23 November 2024 onwards.

Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme (MATES).

The Government will implement a new MATES program for Indian nationals from 1 November 2024. MATES will provide a new mobility pathway for 3,000 Indian graduates and early career professionals (aged 18 to 30 years at the time of application), with knowledge and skills in targeted fields of study to live and work in Australia for up to two years.

The visa will have a pre-application (ballot) charge of $25 and an application charge of $365, both of which will be indexed to the consumer price index in future years.

Trade Recognition Australia - ICT improvement.

The Government will progress a business case to develop a modern ICT solution for the assessment of trade skills for skilled migrants by Trades Recognition Australia.

This will make skilled workers more rapidly available to employers.

National Innovation visa, replacing the current Global Talent visa.

A new National Innovation visa, will replace the Subclass 858 Global Talent visa from late 2024. This will target exceptionally talented migrants who will drive growth in sectors of national importance.  

The Business Innovation and Investment visa program (BIIP) will cease, with refunds of the visa application charge provided from September 2024 for those who wish to withdraw their BIIP application.

Extended validity of the Business Visitor visa for Indian nationals.

The validity of the Subclass 600 Visitor visa (Business Visitor stream) for Indian nationals will be extended from three to five years.

Work and Holiday visa - China, Vietnam and India.

The Government will introduce a visa pre-application (ballot) process for the capped Subclass 462 Work and Holiday visa program for China, Vietnam and India from 2024–25.

The ballot process will help to manage program demand and application processing times for these countries. A ballot charge of $25 (indexed to the Consumer Price Index in future years) will apply.

Southeast Asia Engagement – additional funding.

The Government will provide $505.9 million over five years from 2023–24 (and $118.3 million per year ongoing) to deepen Australia’s engagement with Southeast Asia, including measures to implement the next phase of the Government’s response to ‘Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040’.

Funding includes $1.1 million over two years from 2023–24 to improve visa access and provide long validity business and frequent traveller visas for ASEAN member countries and Timor-Leste.

Significant investment in staffing.

Significant investment commitment to staffing will rebuild service delivery capacity and capability.

This includes resources for Services Australia to remediate the impacts of under-resourcing and reduce backlogs, and for the Department of Home Affairs to improve visa processing capabilities and speed up wait times.

Department of Home Affairs – supplementation.

The Government will provide $100.0 million in 2024–25 to the Department of Home Affairs to support the performance of core functions including Australian Border Force operations, immigration compliance activities and sustainment of critical systems supporting those operations and services.

Migration System Reforms.

The Government will provide $18.3 million over four years from 2024–25 to further reform Australia’s migration system to drive greater economic prosperity and restore its integrity.

Funding includes:  • $15.0 million over three years from 2024–25 for information and education activities to provide migrant workers with accurate and appropriate information about workplace safeguards, protections and compliance measures related to migration laws  • $1.9 million in 2024–25 to conduct a data-matching pilot between the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Taxation Office of income and employment data to mitigate exploitation of migrant workers and abuse of Australia’s labour market and migration system.

Permanent Migration Program.

The Migration Program planning level will be set at 185,000 places and allocate 132,200 places (around 70 per cent) to the Skill stream.

From 2025–26, the Government will extend the planning horizon for the permanent Migration Program from one year to four years.

Government actions are estimated to reduce net overseas migration by 110,000 people over the forward estimates from 1 July 2024. Net overseas migration is forecast to approximately halve from 528,000 in 2022–23 to 260,000 in 2024–25.

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