June at Nomos
We’ve reached the end of June and the conclusion of another financial year. Here’s the summary of what has kept Nomos busy this month:
- Whilst the Federal Government has confirmed that Australia’s borders will remain closed until September 2020, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham has indicated that they are likely to remain closed until 2021. This is proving to be very challenging for a lot of clients who are waiting for loved ones or staff to come home as well as for the many temporary visa-holders who are currently offshore, waiting to return to Australia. We continue to hear mixed reports in terms of travel exemptions being granted and are working with clients to try and navigate this uncertainty.
- As the economic downturn of COVID-19 starts to level out and restrictions are slowly eased throughout the country, the Department of Home Affairs (‘DHA’) has been trying to return to business as usual in the leadup to the end of the financial year. In recent weeks, we’ve seen TSS nominations being approved, requests for further information being issued across a number of different visa programmes and subclass 190 visas being granted. In addition, Australia and the United Kingdom have commenced negotiations for a free trade agreement (‘FTA’) that is expected to be the driving force behind increased trade for goods and services, two-way investment, job creation and economic growth in both countries, and will undoubtedly have an effect on our migration programme. It’s been good to see things slowly but surely coming back to life at the DHA.
- On 15 June 2020, the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2019 was finally passed. This means that once the Bill becomes law, legal practitioners will be able to provide immigration advice without having to also be a registered migration agent. We look forward to welcoming more of our colleagues to this exciting field of practice, and have already received enquiries about our mentoring and training services.
That’s the Nomos wrap-up for June. We hope you all continue to stay safe as we all start to gradually return to the workplace and breathe life into our communities once again. We look forward to seeing you next month as we kick off the new financial year!