July at Nomos
As we close off the first month of the new financial year, we look back on what was a month of both changes and celebrations. Here’s our snapshot of the month that was:
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- A number of changes came out of the Department of Home Affairs this month including the annual increase of many (but not all) visa application charges from 1 July 2022. This may affect the budgeting of many prospective visa applicants who have yet to lodge an application. Paying the correct visa application charge is an essential part of lodging a valid visa application, so it is important to be up to date with the current application charge.
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- The Albanese Government has made the processing of the visa application backlog an urgent priority, with Minister Andrew Giles (Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) directing the Department of Home Affairs to devote more staff to addressing this matter. The first phase of this has been aimed at processing key offshore caseloads that will alleviate some of Australia’s current labour shortages and promote economic growth. This is welcome news for anyone offshore who has been waiting for a temporary skilled visa, student visa or visitor visa. We have started to see this in practice for our clients, and the statistics confirm this – since the beginning of June 2022, 745,000 new visa applications have been finalised by DHA, 645,000 of which were offshore applications (9,550 temporary skilled visas, 62,000 student visas and 388,000 visitor visas).
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- From 3 to 10 July our nation observed NAIDOC Week with the theme of “Get up! Stand up! Show up!” forming the core of the festivities and ceremonies. NAIDOC Week has been part of our nation’s annual calendar since 1975 and has allowed people from all backgrounds (not just First Nations Australians) to come together to honour and celebrate the culture, history and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. With eased COVID-19 restrictions compared to the last few years, NAIDOC Week was celebrated in a number of ways this year including through the National Indigenous Art Fair in The Rocks in Sydney, the ‘NAIDOC Up Late’ music event, the Sydney NAIDOC Ball, the NAIDOC Wild Foods And Cultural Festival in the town of Beenleigh, Queensland, and NAIDOC Week Movie Night in the town of Tom Price, Western Australia.
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- Just last week, the 2022 Commonwealth Games kicked off in Birmingham, UK. As of this publication, just six days into the event, Australia is already leading the medal tally with 71 medals (31 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze) with England, New Zealand and Canada coming up behind us. While we celebrate all our athletes competing in this auspicious event, we are particularly proud of our female competitors as they are the reason our current medal tally is so high. Go Aussies!
That’s the Nomos wrap-up for July. See you next month!
*This is general information only, as at the date of publication, and should not be interpreted as legal advice. For an accurate and current assessment of your circumstances and visa options, please contact us to receive this advice.
