Australia has always been a favourite destination within the student and immigrant population over years now and rightfully so given its exuberant culture, friendly inhabitants and overall better quality of life. During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian economy would need this very population to architect a recovery plan for its economy, especially within the education, tourism and agriculture industries. These industries rely heavily on the migrant population and is a great booster of the economy in Australia.

The economic experts predict that the GDP growth of the country within the month of March will be affected with the impact of bushfires and Corona outbreak. With immigration, Australia can resist recession to a certain extent, according to economic experts.

Lets look at some of the elements in question:

Visa Processing Continues:

Even within the ban, the visa processing activities are not reported to be coming to a halt. The department of home affairs is continuing to process and grant visas. Its only a matter of time, for the travel bans to be lifted, and thereafter moving to Australia would be possible with the current visa status. Hence it is recommended to not back track from an on-going process, and let the same take its course.

New Visa for Temporary Workers:

A new visa sub class has been introduced as subclass 408 (AGEE), and is known as the Temporary Activity Visa that enables foreign nationals with temporary visa status to continue living in Australia due to the pandemic. The eligibility of this visa subclass has been defined as below:

• Working holiday makers employed in critical sectors for a stipulated period
• Seasonal worker system, whose visas are due to expire shortly
• Holders of other temporary work visas / TSS 482 visa / 457 visas currently working in important sectors may also be eligible for a temporary operation (subclass 408 AGEE) visa.

Student Visa Applications:

Australia is home to approximately 565,000 student visa holders, which implies that one of the major sectors contributing to the economy of the country are students from abroad. Almost all Universities of reckon in the country have moved to online modes of teaching to maintain a continuum for student’s curriculum. For aspirants, who are waiting for the impact of the pandemic to reduce, efforts are being made in order to not stall the process. Its thus recommended for the students wishing to pursue Australia as their study destination to continue or commence their process for the year 2020 and wait for travel bans to be lifted to be able to attend college.