Subclass 485 visa amendments to provide relief for international students

By Kristopher Kunasingam and Jordon Lee

New amendments to the Migration Regulations 1994 have been introduced to temporarily remove barriers for applicants of a Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa in the Graduate Work stream.

Ordinarily, applicants of a Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa in the Graduate Work stream must nominate a skilled occupation from the skilled occupation list and obtain a positive skills assessment in relation to that occupation. The new amendments have removed these requirements for applications made between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023, with a possibility for the Minister to extend this arrangement in the future.

The new arrangement will benefit graduates who have qualified degree, diploma and trade qualifications from an Australian educational institution, but whose related occupations are not included in the current list of eligible occupations. Effectively, this will allow more international students to live and work in Australia once they have graduated, and provide temporary relief to the labour shortage in the local market.

Feel free to get in touch if you are interested in how this may affect your own situation.

This article was written with the assistance of Nate Cheng, Law Graduate.