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South Australia is the first state to formally announce how it will manage the transition to the new SOL, see below:
Immigration South Australia
New Procedures for State Sponsorships
In February this year the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) announced, among other changes, that the Skilled Occupations List (SOL) will be reviewed. This new list of occupations will be released by DIAC at the end of April for implementation in mid 2010. It is therefore to follow that applicants whose occupations that are not to be included in the new SOL will need to have their visa applications lodged with DIAC before the implementation date of mid 2010 (an exact date for the implementation of the new SOL has not been released by DIAC at time of this update).
In anticipation of this, Immigration SA will be implementing the following procedure to assist applicants who wish to have their sponsorship applications/decision available in time to lodge their visa application with DIAC before the implementation date of the new SOL.
If you wish to have a decision on your sponsorship application before the new SOL is implemented by DIAC, you must comply with the following:
· Submit your full application as soon as possible.
· All Sponsorship applications must be lodged online AND all supporting documents registered at Immigration SA before 14 May 2010
· On 14 May 2010 the Sponsorship Online application system will be closed down for a short period of time – There will be no access to the system during this time. You will need to monitor the website.
· All applications will be assessed according to order of registration – no fast tracking for any reason
· Annual planning levels apply to all occupations on the Sponsorship List. Once the planning level has been reached for that occupation, the occupation will no longer be available for sponsorship for this financial year regardless of the date of online lodgement or registration. All remaining applications received for that occupation will be refused.
· Applications that are received after 14 May 2010 (when the system is switched back on) will be placed in the ‘queue’ for processing under the new SOL, unless the (sponsorship) planning levels are reached for that occupation.
· Sponsorship applications submitted and registered in the queue under the new SOL will be assessed in 4 – 8 weeks, according to current Visa and Sponsorship criteria at the time of assessment regardless of whether a visa application has been lodged with DIAC.
State Migration Plans (and any associated lists)
These requirements and arrangements may change when State Migration Plans (and any associated lists) are finalised and implemented. These are expected to be completed in the middle of 2010.
Occupations included in State Migration Plans, criteria, procedures will be published on this website when available.
Deadline: 14 May 2010
If your sponsorship application is not submitted online AND all the supporting documents registered at Immigration SA before 14 May 2010, your sponsorship application will not have a decision before July 2010.
If DIAC makes any significant changes to the implementation date of the new SOL, this may affect the 14 May 2010 deadline and subsequent temporary closing down of the Online application system.
Cheers,
George Lombard
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Migration Agent Registration Number 9601056
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