Newsletter 140

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Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (tsmit) Raised to $70,000 from $53,500

From July 1, the Albanese government will raise the TSMIT (Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold) from $53,900 to $70,000.

As it has been frozen since 2013, 90% of full-time jobs in Australia are now paid more than the TSMIT, undermining the country’s system for skilled immigration.

Additionally, the Albanese Government declares that by the end of 2023, those who hold Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) short stream visas will have a path to permanent residency through our current capped permanent programme.

This will raise the level of skill in our permanent skilled programme and give companies and migrants more assurance.

Direct Australian citizenship for NZ citizens

Citizens of New Zealand who have resided in Australia for four years or longer as of July 1, 2023, will be qualified to apply straight for Australian citizenship. They won’t have to wait to apply for and receive a permanent visa. These modifications are applicable to New Zealand nationals who entered Australia after February 26, 2001, and who have a Special Category (subclass 444) visa (SCV). Holders of protected SCVs will still be able to apply directly for citizenship in Australia.

From 1 July 2023

• Long term New Zealand citizens resident in Australia will have their period of permanent residence backdated for citizenship purposes
• All New Zealand citizens holding an SCV will be considered permanent residents for citizenship purposes.
• New Zealand citizens granted an SCV before 1 July 2022 will have their period of permanent residence for citizenship purposes backdated to 1 July 2022.
• New Zealand citizens granted an SCV for the first time on or after 1 July 2022 will be considered a permanent resident for citizenship purposes from the date of their SCV grant.
• Provisions will also apply to New Zealand citizens who are overseas, but held an SCV immediately before last leaving Australia.

Children of SCV holders

• From 1 July 2023, any child born in Australia on or after 1 July 2022 to an SCV holder may automatically acquire Australian citizenship at birth.
• From 1 July 2023, children who meet these circumstances can apply for​ evidence of citizenship.

Australia citizenship applications until 1 July 2023

These provisions will not apply to citizenship applications submitted before 1 July 2023. Applications submitted before this date must meet the current requirements at that application before this date, and you do not meet the eligibility requirements.

For further information regarding these changes, check our website regularly. Check on the day you apply to confirm your eligibility.

State and Territories Updates

State and Territory invitations

The number of state and territory nominations for the 2022-23 program year has been updated to 31 March 2023 on the Home Affairs website.

Tasmania: Extra subclass 190 places

Tasmanian Skilled Migration has announced that 150 additional SC 190 spots will be made available by the Department of Home Affairs. There will be no closing date for the new ROI.

ACT Migration

ACT Migration has provided an April Update newsletter which includes changes to:

• the ACT Critical Occupations List
• ACT Nomination Guidelines (Canberra resident)
• ACT Nomination Guidelines (Overseas resident)
• key policy changes

The newsletter and the attachments are available here.

Medibank to implement ‘all recommendations’ from Deloitte external review into data breach

The results of an external incident investigation of the circumstances surrounding Medibank’s data breach last year have been made available to the company more than six months after one of the biggest data breaches in Australian history.

On 13 October 2022, Medibank Private Limited confirmed in an ASX release that it had detected “unusual activity” on its network, before disclosing that customer data had been accessed and stolen, affecting as many as 9.7 million current and former Medibank, ahm, and international student customers.

This prompted four class actions, as well as an external incident review by ‘Big 4’ firm Deloitte – the results of which have now been released.

After conducting an external investigation and incident review, Deloitte has provided Medibank with its findings from that review and recommendations moving forward, which Medibank confirmed in an announcement to the ASX this morning (29 April).

Medibank has completed a range of enhancements to meet this expectation and the Board will continue to oversee the completion of steps to implement the recommendations to enhance systems and processes even further,” he said.

Additionally, Medibank stated that the breach is still under criminal investigation and that the insurer would continue to cooperate with law enforcement and authorities going forward.