Immigration news: Australia to prioritize skilled visa applications, latest paper filing tips from USCIS

Representational image (Photo: Porapak Apichodilok via Pexels)

The United States: On November 16, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published recommendations for paper filing to avoid scanning delays of immigration and citizenship application, petition, or request. According to the USCIS, to avoid delays and improve scanning efficiency, the applicants should NOT:

· Hole punch, staple, paper clip, binder clip, or otherwise attach documents to one another.

· Include photos or documents smaller than 4x6 inches for evidentiary purposes. Provide photocopies of these items instead; the only exception being passport photo with the filing.

· Include anything that contains electronic chips and batteries (such as musical greeting cards) or any non-paper materials such as cassette tapes, CD-ROMs, DVDs, toys, action figures, or thumb drives. Photographs or photocopies of these items will be accepted.

· Submit forms or evidence documents bound with a binding or spiral wire/plastic.

· Submit evidence using photo albums, scrapbooks, binders, or greeting cards.

· Fold documents.

· Place sticky notes on documents.

· Use insertable tab dividers.

· Print forms on coloured paper.

· Submit more than one copy of the same document or evidence unless required by the form instructions or regulations. If you are required to submit a copy of a complete prior application, petition, or request, clearly mark it as a ‘COPY’ at the top of each page to ensure it is processed as intended.

· Send original documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, driver’s licences, passports, naturalization certificates, except when required by the form instructions for the application, petition, or request you are filing; or when USCIS specifically issues a request to submit an original document.

Nova Scotia (Canada): Earlier this month, Nova Scotia released a new francophone immigration action plan that aims to increase the number of French-speaking immigrants to support the existing francophone communities.

The updated plan builds on the first Nova Scotia Francophone Immigration Action Plan launched in March 2019.

To encourage more French-speakers to come to the province, Nova Scotia recently held a draw through the Labour Market Priorities stream of the Nova Scotia Nominee Program (NSNP). The 150 invited candidates who became eligible for Express Entry either spoke French as their first official language or had Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) scores of 10 in all language abilities.

Based on the recently released Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025, Canada hopes to welcome up to 500,000 new permanent residents a year by 2025 and Nova Scotia is seeking a share of the increase.

Australia: A new ministerial direction that builds on ongoing work to improve skilled-visa processing times and to clear visa backlogs came into effect on October 28, 2022.

The new ruling called Ministerial Direction N0.100 formalises the Australian Government’s processing priorities for the health and education sectors.

The new priorities apply to all skilled visa nomination and visa applications that are yet to be decided, as well as new applications lodged.

Notably, the new direction will remove priority for the Global Talent and Business Innovation and Investment Programs. Visa applications for these programs will still be processed efficiently in line with planning levels made under the annual migration program.

The Ministerial Direction No 100:

- Prioritises applications in relation to healthcare and teaching occupations, as well as offshore permanent and provisional applications.

- Helps small businesses seeking to recruit overseas workers. It speeds up processing for all occupations and makes the process less complicated. This change will allow more applications to be processed faster, particularly for the critical Temporary Skill Shortage visa, which is designed to respond quickly to labour market needs.

- Restores priority for Accredited Sponsors in all sectors who are trusted employers and key businesses that drive economic productivity.

- Ceases the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL) and critical sectors.

- Reduces the number of priorities, which will increase efficiencies and assist in reducing processing times across caseloads. It allows the department to consider applications which were not prioritised under the previous direction, while progressing steady volumes of incoming visa applications.

- Since June 1, 2022, the Australian Department of Home Affairs has finalised over 2,780,000 visas that includes more than 43,000 temporary skilled applications and over 47,000 permanent skilled visa applications.

Ecuador: Indians cannot apply for Ecuador’s newly launched Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) that lets remote workers stay in the country for up to two years.

India is not the only country barred from the DNV privilege. Applications from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, Kenya, Libya, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen, among other countries, are not accepted.

Thailand: Effective January 1, 2023, Thailand will issue visas for internationals coming to the country for medical treatment. The new visa will permit multiple entries and will be valid for a period of one year. In addition, three people who are immediate family members are permitted.

To be eligible for medical treatment visa, the applicants will be required to present valid evidence of hospital appointment and health insurance as well as financing for treatments of at least 800,000 baht ($22,364).