Australian immigration to restructure two Australian Skilled Migration sites

Australia, 24th April: Australian immigration department has announced its plans of restructuring two Australian Skilled Migration sites in the month of May, 2010.

The changes, announced the DIAC (The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship), are part of the wide-ranging program of transformation. 

Such changes to take place will help in ensuring consistency in the services concerning Australian immigration and Australian citizenship. The restructuring of the two Australian Skilled Migration sites, namely the Brisbane and Adelaide General Skilled Migration sites, will be done for enhancing increased and better communication between the Australian immigration department and the applicants for Australian visa.  

The decision of the DIAC to revamp the Australian skilled migration sites comes a few weeks before the announcement of the new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) in the coming months.  

The re-organization process for the Adelaide site will start on 3rd May and it will be done under the supervision and instructions of Ms. Elizabeth Kerrish, who will be the manager of both the sites. However, the present Global Manager for Australian Skilled and Family Visas, Mr. Greg Kelly, has been appointed to oversee Australia’s General Skilled Migration program. 

As per DIAC, Australia, till the new SOL is announced this year, the Australian immigration department will be giving priority to those visa applicants having an occupation included on the Critical Skills List including applicants sponsored by territory and state governments. 

Before the new SOL is unveiled, a few changes are being announced by South Australia. Although, the exact date of announcing the SOL is not known, however, it is expected in the coming months. 

All those who desire to immigrate to Australia and want to apply for Australian visa but don’t find their occupation on the SOL must file their applications with the Australian immigration department at the earliest before the SOL is implemented. 

Those wanting to get state sponsorship from South Australia must file their application before 14th May, 2010 since applications received before this deadline will be processed on first-come-first-served basis. However, assessing times for all sponsorship applications received after 14th May, 2010 will be between 4-8 weeks.