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How To Know When A Migration Law Change Is Coming

How To Know When A Migration Law Change Is Coming

Some things in life are certain, like the sun rising tomorrow. However being able to predict upcoming migration law changes are not so certain. There are plenty of news platforms for finding out ‘what’ migration law change might occur, but what I’m here to help you with today is to explain ‘when’ such announced changes might occur. Potential changes could often be announced without a proposed date, sending the internet into a frantic. It is always best to seek professional migration legal advice but before you contact me, let me provide you with some insight:

 

AN INSIGHT INTO HOW:

In layman’s terms, as migration law is Federal law (applies to all of Australia), the Government needs to pass legislation through the senate. Different individuals (senators) may have different opinions (an understatement) and therefore the legislative change may not be passed through the senate at all. Hence, a ‘proposed’ change may never come to fruition when later discussing the specifics and the proposal dates, or at least be delayed during such discussion. Senate sittings certainly don’t happen every day, and being nation-wide decision makers there are a lot of laws to get processed and discussed outside of immigration.

 

RELEASING THE CHANGES:

A law is released through legislation via official platforms, not in a whirlpool forum or in a Facebook group. Consult with a professional to ensure you are not only reading the correct and updated version of such legislation, but you need to ensure you are interpreting it well for your own unique circumstances. Professional libraries that contain the legislation often need to close down to allow for such updates, with the Australasian Legal Information Institute (referred to as Austlii) the only publically available legislation access database.

 

IT AND ADMINISTRATIVE PREPARATION:

ImmiAccount, the portal used to lodge online applications, may need to be shut down for ‘system maintenance’ for several hours so that the IT staff of the Department can update the forms, administrative and lodgement processes accordingly.

Legislative changes which cause a change to the application process require system maintenance and occur with prior warning. For example, visa application charges will be increasing by 5.4% on the 1st July 2019, therefore it would be logic to anticipate the ImmiAccount will be closed for system maintenance no later than midnight of that same date. Plan ahead for your visa application accordingly (don’t leave it to the last day if avoidable).

System maintenance also occurs on a regular basis, this being Monday’s (midnight to 4am), Wednesday’s (5am-8pm), and weekends (Saturday 2pm to Sunday 8am). System maintenance can be checked on this page of the Department site.

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