New visa Extensions For 485 Graduate Visas and 489 & 491 Visa Holders

HS Consultants Education & Migration has good news for the 485, 491, and 494 visas holders. Several changes have been issued regarding the extension of these visas, and thus to make the current and previous holders of these visas aware of the changes, we introduce this new blog post.  

Overview 

The Australian government issued the guidelines for the visas named Subclass 485 –Temporary Graduate Visa along with the two regional subclasses, the Subclass 489 – Skilled – Regional (Provisional) Visa and the Subclass 491 – Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) Visa’s extensions and reinstatements as promised on February 18th

The government issued these uncommon changes to visa grant dates to help people who the pandemic’s border restrictions have influenced. Furthermore, there will be no requirement for an application or notice since the eligible visa holders, including secondary visa holders, will receive an automatic grant.

Crucial elements regarding these changes

You need to remember these points if you hold the 485, 489, 491, or 494 visas. For any help or question, please get in touch with our Visa Consultant for Australia.

• If you were overseas or in Australia between 01-February-2020 and 14-December-2021 held or still have a Subclass 485 that should be expired before 01-October-2022, and it was not canceled, you did not receive a new visa, you will get an extension up to 30-September-2022. We also have information that eligible Subclass 485 applicants have started receiving extension notices by email.
• If you hold a Skilled Regional Provisional Subclass 489 Visa, you can extend its validity three years after it expires.
• If you hold a Skilled Work Provisional Visa (Subclass 491) or a Skilled Employer-Sponsored Regional Visa (Subclass 494) Visa. In that case, you can now match the PR eligibility criteria by extending your visa’s validity three years beyond the original expiration date. 

Eligibility criteria for receiving the visa extensions

Not anyone can be granted the visa extension for the aforementioned visas. You need to adhere to the following standards.

• For the Subclass 489 extension, you must have been outside Australia from 01-February-2020 to 14-December-2021 and must had or still have the visa without cancelation.
• For the Subclass 491 or 494 extensions, you must have been outside the Australian subcontinent from 01-February-2020 to 14-December-2021 and must had or still have the visa without cancelation.

Please note: Australia closed its borders because the authorities added more than a year to compensate for the maximum possible time. So if that also impacted you, you would have enough time to match the minimum requirements for Subclass 887, 489, 191, 491, or 494 visas.

Further data: The changes to these visas also apply to the dependents you included in your original visa application.

Are you going to Australia? Get in touch with our Australia Visa Consultant in Gwalior at HS Consultants Education & Migration for expert guidance and assistance regarding work, study, visitor, and PR visa applications.