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: 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

Subsequent entrant means a secondary applicant for a student visa who did not make a combined application with the primary applicant / primary visa holder.

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).