With the start of the new Financial Year upon us on 1 July 2019, the Department of Home Affairs has announced an increase in application fees of 5.4% for most types of visa.
Another change effective 1 July 2019 concerns working holiday visas. From this date, there will now be an option to apply for a third year long visa on the basis that the applicant has completed 6 months of work within a specific area during their second year. As a result, this means that these applications cannot be lodged until January 2020.
Finally, the immigration intake has been released for the 2019/2020 program year. This sees a reduction from 190,000 in 2018/2019 to 160,000 in 2019/2020. That said, given that only approximately 162,000 visas were granted in 2018/2019, so the impact of this may be minimal.