Assure Visa Pty Ltd

08/08/2025

New English language test scores to apply from 7 August 2025
The Australian Government has announced changes to the English proficiency requirements, coming into effect from 7 August 2025. The changes have been introduced separately for Student Visas (500), Temporary Graduate Visas (485) and for the remaining visas for which English proficiency is a requirement.

The analysis below focuses only on the third group, that is, visas other than the student visa or the temporary graduate visa. The changes for the student or graduate visas will be covered in a separate blog. The analysis also presents the ‘before’ and ‘after’ impact for the two most commonly used English tests which are the IELTS and PTE. If you are interested to know changes to requirements for visa 500 or 485, or interested in test methods other than IELTS and PTE, reach out to us at [email protected] and we would be happy to help.

What are the changes?

The most noticeable change is the shift away from the concept of ‘same score for each test component’ (listening, reading, writing, speaking) to prescribing a specific required score for each component. Some required scores have been raised whereas others have been lowered.

Read the full analysis at the link below.

The new world of English for Australian visas! The Australian Government has announced changes to the English proficiency requirements, coming into effect from 7 August 2025. The changes have been introduced separately for Student Visas (500), Temporary Graduate Visas (485) and for the remaining vis...

21/04/2024

Thinking of studying in Australia?

A new Genuine Student (GS) requirement tht replaced the old Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement from 23 March 2023?

Why was the change needed?
The Australian Migration Strategy, released in December 2023 highlighted the need for new measures to improve integrity in the student visa program.

What has changed?
The introduction of a new Genuine Student requirement to replace the old Genuine Temporary Entrant requirement acknowledges that students who come to Australia to study may want to settle in Australia permanently.

The focus has therefore shifted from ‘demonstrating the intention to staying in Australia temporarily’ to ‘demonstrating that the purpose of travel to Australia is only to study’. After the study, pursuing PR would be acceptable. Despite some of the negative commentary about this, we think this is a good change!

Read our full analysis at the link below.

From Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) to Genuine Student (GS) – what will this mean?   Why was the change needed? The Australian Migration Strategy, released in December 2023 highlighted the need for new measures to improve integrity in the student visa program.   What has changed? The introducti...

23/02/2024

Government releases details of the MATES Initiative
This Australian Government has recently released some details of how the MATES initiative is going to work.

What is MATES?
The Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme (MATES) is an initiative that was announced under the Australia-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement (MMPA) between the two governments.

How will MATES work?
MATES will allow certain Indian university graduates to live and work in Australia for up to 2 years.

You can read more in our blog post on MATES below:

This Australian Government has recently released some details of how the MATES initiative is going to work. What is MATES? The Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme (MATES) is an initiative that was announced under the Australia-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrange...

19/01/2024

28/06/2023

The Government has recently introduced a number of changes and initiatives aimed at boosting points tested migration to Australia.

Read our analysis at the link below.

Is Australia opening up to migrants? The short answer is definitely!. Since Australia opened international borders in November 2021 after almost two years of COVID-19 lockdowns, the country is seeing unprecedented low unemployment and significant skill shortages in multiple sectors. Combine that wit...

03/05/2023

Discussion on current state of Australian immigration and outlook for near future - watch Radio Manpasand interview of Daman Chabbra, Director, Assure Visa Pty Ltd.

Details on Radio Manpasand page:
http://www.facebook.com/RadioManpasand

And video of full interview (in Hindi) on YouTube:

Manpasand 🎧 had a great pleasure meeting in our studio and talking to Daman Chabbra, who is Registered Migration Agent in Australia (MARN 1385402)...

05/01/2021

From 20 January 2021, holders of Temporary Graduate Visa (Subclass 485) under the Post Study Work (PSW) stream may be eligible to apply for and be granted a second 485 visa.

The purpose of the new provision is to provide an incentive for international students to study, live and work in regional Australia.

The second 485 visa is available to graduates from regional educational institutions who have lived, studied and worked
only in a regional area on their first 485 visa in the PSW stream.

Send us message if you would like a free Fact Sheet with all the details about this new change.

24/03/2018

Assure Visa is one of the silver sponsors of the AusIndia fair! ☺

10/03/2018

A look at the macro landscape of Australian immigration settings by a former senior official

Drastically reducing net migration would be neither easy nor wise, says former senior official Abul Rizvi

09/08/2017

Permanent skilled migration to Australia may be a thing of the past

Under a project aimed at further simplification of the current visa system from 99 to 10 visas, the Australian Government will consider forcing all migrants seeking permanent residency to initially spend time in Australia on provisional (temporary) visas. These arrangements already apply to Partner visas.

As this stage, it is only a policy proposal on which the Government is seeking comments by 17 September 2017.

If the Government has its way, two thirds of Australia’s annual permanent visa intake under the skilled category (128,550 planned for 2016-17) may have to contend with a period of residency on a provisional visa before calling Australia home. It is possible that the temporary period may be aligned with provisions that currently apply to Partner visas i.e. 2 years.

What are the implications of this intention becoming law?

At the very least, new (provisional) migrants may have to live off their savings for up to 4 years if they are unable to find a job. Their children may have to pay higher school fees and will not enjoy access to the FEE-HELP system available for University students who are citizens or permanent residents. They may also be adversely impacted if the Citizenship eligibility changes currently before the Parliament become law i.e. 4 years in Australia as a permanent resident.

Then there are other unknowns. Will the conversion from provisional to permanent visa be automatic? If not, what requirements will apply at the end of the provisional period? Will the Government expect that the provisional migrant is employed in the same occupation on which they migrated? Will there be a minimum income test (as applies to certain NZ citizens seeking permanent residency in Australia)? Will there be another visa application fee?

What can you do now?
If you have been contemplating migration to Australia on the grounds of your skills, it is best to act now. Assure Visa can provide a free high level assessment of your eligibility from a quick review of your CV so the first step is as simple as reaching out to us at [email protected] with a copy of your CV.

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