Of late, there are lots of changes happening on the Australian immigration front. The latest is that the Australian government has announced that it is going to halt the acceptance procedure of a few particular General Skilled Migration visa applications. This would be a temporary suspension, where prospective candidates would not be allowed to file a valid application for an affected GSM visa for the period of the suspension.

The suspension period is almost one month, which starts from May 8, 2010 and likely to end at the end of 2009-10 program year that is June 30, 2010. During this period, if anyone files a petition, it would be regarded invalid and probably returned back to the person. The certain subclasses to which the suspension applies include- (1) Subclass 175- Skilled Independent; (2) Subclass 176- Skilled Sponsored; and (3) Subclass 475- Skilled Regional Sponsored. However, it should also be kept in mind that only the primary applicants of the aforementioned subclasses are entitled to the temporary suspension.

The temporary suspension is the result of growing number of pending General Skilled Migration visa applications. This temporary measure will facilitate the immigration department to make sure whether the applicants’ occupational profiles for GSM meet the needs of the Australian labor market or not. The period might also see the new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) come into effect. The proposed amendments to the current SOL are likely to be announced by the government in May itself, which is awaiting the approval of the Governor-General in council.