Regional Visa Review | Interstaff
As part of Australia’s Migration Strategy released in 2023, the Government committed to reviewing regional visa and migration settings. Now, in 2025, this focus on regional migration appears to be gaining momentum following the Government’s implementation of the Skills in Demand 482 Visa.
Immigration plays a key role in supporting regional Australia by driving economic benefits and boosting skills and innovation.
Here’s what you should know about the Government’s Regional Visa Review and what is being considered to incentivise migrants to live and work regionally.
- Migration Strategy Commitment to Review Regional Visa and Migration Settings
- What Has Already Been Achieved? | Boosting Regional Migration
- Review of Regional Migration Settings | Government Discussion Paper
- What’s Next? | Reviewing Permanent Residence (PR) in Regional Areas
Migration Strategy Commitment to Review Regional Visa and Migration Settings
The Government’s Migration Strategy outlined a new vision for Australia’s visa system with 3 main commitments for regional migration:
- Increase skilled migration to help meet labour shortages in regional Australia (noted as an ‘Existing commitment’)
- Designate visa processing to regional Australia as the highest processing priority (noted as a ‘New commitment’)
- Evaluate regional migration settings and the Working Holiday Maker program to ensure migration supports development objectives in regional Australia and does not contribute to the exploitation of migrant workers (noted as an ‘Area for Future Reform’)
As part of this, the Government plans to take 3 actions:
- Evaluate regional migration settings, including regional visas, regional definitions, regional occupation lists and DAMAs. This may be informed by the consideration of a potential Essential Skills Pathway, which is yet to be established for the Skills in Demand 482 Visa.
- Review Working Holiday Visa Program settings, including the 88-day, 179-day and ‘specified work’ requirements, which were identified in the Strategy as a driver for workforce exploitation. These settings require Work and Holiday Maker Program Visa holders to complete a certain number of days of ‘specified work’ before they can apply to stay in Australia for a second and third year. The Government also plans to analyse the importance of the Working Holiday Maker Program to the horticultural and agricultural industry. The Strategy identified issues with worker productivity and investments in skills and training in this sector.
- Make Regional Visas more accessible to employers. The Migration Strategy indicated DAMA’s have been criticised for being too complex and slow.
What Has Already Been Achieved? | Boosting Regional Migration
- Employer-sponsored visa applications for Designated Regional Areas are currently being given the highest processing priority – read more about this here.
- The number of regional migration places in the permanent migration program have been sustained since it was substantially increased in 2022-23 (although planning levels for 2025/26 are yet to be released).
- More Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMA’s) have been established with 13 currently operating in regional parts of Australia. DAMA’s provide employers access to concessions to standard visa eligibility requirements, allowing greater flexibility to sponsor migrant workers regionally.
- A coordinated approach to regional migration that considers other state and territory education and training initiatives, advice by Jobs and Skills Australia and infrastructure investments. Employers can access regional labour market insights on the Government’s Jobs and Skills Australia website linked here.
Review of Regional Migration Settings | Government Discussion Paper
In June 2024, the Government published a discussion paper, ‘Supporting Strong and Sustainable Regions’. It sought feedback from communities, businesses, local, state and territory governments, education providers and others, on how to improve regional visa and migration settings while not contributing to migrant worker exploitation.
Key statements and questions explored in the discussion paper include:
- DAMA’s are too complex and need to be simplified.
- Regional employer-sponsored visas need to be reformed considering recent changes to employer-sponsored visas (ie, the introduction of the Skills in Demand Visa)
- Should an equivalent of the Specialist Skills pathway (which allows highly paid workers to come to Australia without an occupation on an occupation list) exist in the Regional Sponsored Visa?
- How can regional employer sponsorship be simplified? Are nomination approvals by Regional Certifying Bodies necessary?
- How can the Regional Occupation List be reformed to capture labour shortages in specific regional areas in cases where an occupation is in shortage in some regional areas but not all? Should there still be a Regional Occupation List? How should Regional Occupation Lists work alongside the Core Skills Occupation List? What should be considered in compiling the Regional Occupation List?
- How can current temporary and permanent visas work together to better meet skills needs? For example, Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMAs) and Regional Sponsored Visas.
- Regional definitions need to be simpler for visa and migration purposes.
- Could the definitions of ‘regional’ be aligned across the various regional visas? How can definitions be structured to better account for the unique circumstances of regions?
- Regional visa settings (particularly for the Working Holiday Maker program) need to be reformed to mitigate worker exploitation.
- How can we reform Working Holiday Maker program visa settings to limit exploitation, while still ensuring regional Australia can access the workers it needs? Are there innovative strategies to incentivise Working Holiday Makers to choose regional Australia as their preferred destination, without tying the incentives to specified work visa requirements?
- Greater analysis of Australia’s regional workforce needs is needed.
- What factors encourage more migrants to choose to settle in the regions and improve retention? Do provisional visas successfully encourage large scale retention of migrants in the regions? Is the length of a provisional visa the right length? Should both the regional employer-sponsored visa and the regional nominated visa have the same provisional visa arrangements?
- Better planning for regional migration is needed, including improved collaboration with states and territories to help retain migrants in regional areas.
- Should there be more flexibility provided to states and territories in planning for regional migration?
What’s Next? | Reviewing Permanent Residence (PR) in Regional Areas
The next steps in the review process include ongoing analysis of feedback, continued research into migrant support services and visa transition trends, examining permanent regional settlement issues, and policy development.
At a Stakeholder Meeting between the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA – the professional body for Migration Agents) and the Department of Home Affairs on 13 February 2025, the MIA asked the Department if it would consider further concessions for Regional Visas given that PR may be seen as less attractive through the Subclass 494 Regional Visa pathway than through the Subclass 482 Skills in Demand Visa – see our infographic below.
The Department explained this was not currently being explored, but that it would meet further with the MIA to discuss potential strategies to encourage migrant to settle in regional areas.
Interstaff | Strategic Immigration for Business
In practice, our migration agents have observed that although the 494 Regional Sponsored Visa provides eligibility to a much broader set of occupations via the Regional Occupation List (compared to the Core Skills Occupation List that applies to the 482 Skills in Demand Visa), it can be restrictive for workers in other ways.
Legislation ties 494 Visa Holders to working in a regional area for three years before they can apply for PR through the 191 Visa.
This is the case even if circumstances change, such as if they wishing to apply for PR through a Partner Visa. 494 Visa holders generally do not have the flexibility to apply for PR through other pathways – they must continue to work for three years in a regional area before applying for PR.
Considering this, we believe employer sponsored regional migration could be incentivised by allowing more flexible arrangements to access PR – particularly as PR is a drawcard for many migrants to work regionally.
We will certainly keep you updated on the Government’s Regional Migration Review. Be sure to reach out to our team to sign up for our newsletter if you haven’t already.
If you would like professional visa, sponsorship or migration advice on these changes, we encourage you to contact Interstaff’s Migration Agents.
You can also connect with us on LinkedIn to stay updated on Australian immigration news and developments.
Source:
Interstaff’s Registered Migration Agents
The Migration Institute of Australia
Department of Home Affairs ‘Supporting Strong and Sustainable Regions’ Discussion paper
Department of Home Affairs Skilled Visa Processing Priorities
Department of Home Affairs Australia’s Migration Trends
Jobs and Skills Australia
Regional Visa Review | Disclaimer | This content is not advice. It serves as a general overview of topics of interest. It is not exhaustive, and its accuracy is subject to change. Interstaff is not responsible for the accuracy or timeliness of the information or any actions taken based on it. We recommend that you seek professional advice before making decisions or relying on the information provided – please enquire with our team of Registered Migration Agents for specialist advice so that your specific circumstances can be considered.
