Migration Update : 14 June 2024
1. Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) 188 visa
The Department will close the BIIP permanently from July 2024. We will not accept any new applications for the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) (subclass 188) visa.
2. Restricting onshore visa hopping to the Student visa program
- From 1 July 2024, Temporary Graduate, Visitor and Maritime Crew visa holders will be unable to apply for a Student visa while in Australia. In addition to existing visas from which it is already not possible to apply for a Student visa onshore, the complete list of visa holders that will be unable to apply for a Student visa onshore are:
- Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate)
- Subclass 600 (Visitor)
- Subclass 601 (Electronic Travel Authority)
- Subclass 602 (Medical Treatment)
- Subclass 651 (eVisitor)
- Subclass 771 (Transit)
- Subclass 988 (Maritime Crew)
- Subclass 995 (Diplomatic Temporary) – primary visa holders only
- Subclass 403 (Temporary Work) International Relations)) – Domestic Worker (Diplomatic or Consular) stream
- Subclass 426 (Domestic Worker (Temporary) – Diplomatic or Consular)
3. Direction No. 110 replaces Direction No. 99.
Direction No. 110 is designed to ensure a more stringent, safety-focused approach to immigration decisions, addressing previous criticisms and issues associated with Direction No. 99.