This is the good news for the migrants seeking Australia Permanent Residency Visa through Canberra. It is reported that ACT Government is reopening the Skilled Migration State Nomination Program after doing some changes in the policy. The program was temporarily suspended in June this year.
The Australian Capital Territory Government has announced the re-opening of its state nomination program after its sudden closure in June this year. The Skilled Nominated Visa 190 is expected to get open on 29th November, 2018 for in-demand occupations on the ACT skilled occupation list.
The government of Canberra has also replaced the ‘first-come-first-served system’ with a merit based assessment to properly address the skill needs of The Australian Capital Territory.
The state government has already been criticized since the time the program was partially closed in June this year, leaving thousands of temporary migrants and international students stranded. They wanted to apply for Australian Permanent Residency Visa but were unable to do so because of the sudden closure of the program in June this year.
The government says that international student who was eligible for state nomination when the program got closed will still be eligible to claim additional points.
The applicants that were close to become eligible for
Skilled Nominated Visa 190 when the program was partially suspended in June 2018 may be eligible to claim additional points under the point-based assessment system. This transitional measure has also been mentioned on the ACT Government website. Check point scored
here
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| Canberra Skilled Migration Program |
In September, hundreds of international students and temporary residents demonstrated a protest against the program’s closure. The reason of their protest was the earlier migration policy under which those applicants living in Canberra for at least 12 months were eligible for state nomination for a permanent resident’s visa. The protestors also demanded to increase the number of immigration places from 800 to 1500.
The ACT Government said it consulted with various stakeholders, including program participants, migration agents, education providers, employers and others to develop the new nomination ranking system.
The new policy however will only process the application of those candidates with an in-demand occupation on the Canberra Skilled Occupation List.
Though, the details of the new policy are still unclear and the government is expecting to reveal the new program on 15th November in an information session with the migration agents.
