Immigration News: Australia caps Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa but prioritises student & student guardian visa applications; UKVI reintroduces Priority and Super Priority services

Australia caps Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa, which allows recent engineering graduates to live, work or study in Australia for up to 18 months. (Photo: Matthew Alexander via Unsplash)

Australia caps Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa: Australia has announced that the Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa has been capped from December 22, 2023. If you have an application pending you will be able to apply for a repayment of your Visa Application Charge (VAC).  The Australian immigration agency will send instructions on how to claim a repayment of your VAC through ImmiAccount.

This visa allows recent engineering graduates to live, work or study in Australia for up to 18 months. You must have completed a degree or higher qualification from a specified institution within the past 2 years, and be under 31 years of age.

Ministerial Direction to prioritise Australian student & student guardian visa applications:  A week before the Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa was announced, a new Ministerial Direction for prioritising student and student guardian visa applications was signed in mid-December. This new Direction (Ministerial Direction No. 107) formalises the Australian Government’s processing priorities for the student and student guardian visa programs. It builds on ongoing work to strengthen the integrity of the international education sector.

Ministerial Direction No. 107 provides the highest priority to:

• student visa applications lodged outside Australia by:

1. Schools sector, Foreign Affairs or Defence sector, and Postgraduate Research sector applicants
2. Higher Education, English Language Intensive Course for Overseas Students (ELICOS), Vocational Education and Training (VET), and Non-Award sector applicants studying at an education provider with an Evidenc e Level 1 subsequent entrant applications lodged outside Australia that include an unmarried family member under 18 years
3. all Student Guardian visa applications (lodged in or outside Australia)
4. Any secondary applicant (spouse, de-facto partner or dependent child) who is included in the primary visa application will be given the same priority as the primary applicant

Where the primary applicant intends to undertake two or more courses of study (course packaging), the application will be given the order of priority that applies to the principal course of study (i.e. the course of study with the highest Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level).

The new student visa processing priorities apply to all visa applications lodged on or from December 15, 2023, as well as applications lodged prior to this date that are yet to be finalised.

Student visa applications lodged in Australia will continue to be processed according to existing processing arrangements.

US premium processing fee hiked from February 26: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will increase the filing fee for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, to adjust for inflation. According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the adjustment increases certain premium processing fees from $1,500 to $1,685, $1,750 to $1,965, and $2,500 to $2,805.

The adjustment fee had remained unchanged for three years. The new fee change will go into effect on February 26, 2024.

If USCIS receives a Form I-907 postmarked on or after February 26, 2024, with the incorrect filing fee, it will reject the Form I-907 and return the filing fee. For filings sent by commercial courier (such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL), the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt.

The USCIS Stabilisation Act established the current premium processing fees and the authority for the Department of Homeland Security to adjust the premium fees on a biennial basis. DHS will use the revenue generated by the premium processing fee increase to provide premium processing services; make improvements to adjudications processes; respond to adjudication demands, including reducing benefit request processing backlogs; and otherwise fund USCIS adjudication and naturalisation services.

UKVI reintroduces Priority Visa services for new applications: From December 13, UK visas & Immigration (UKVI) has reintroduced the ability to purchase Priority and Super Priority services for any new applications within the below visa categories:

• Start Up and dependants
• Innovator and dependants
• High Potential Individual and dependants

The fees for these services have also changed.