Increased scrutiny of Training Visas – is no problem in a quality application!

As migration professionals, we constantly monitor cases and trends in decisions in the Department, tribunals, and courts. There is so much information available from blogs to the Departments own website which can be confusing and misleading.

According to data from the Department of Home Affairs, there has been a significant increase in Training Visa program lodgements in the 2024–25 financial year, when compared to the same period in the previous financial year. Alongside this increase in applications is an apparent increase in refusals of nominations and visas.

There is always going to be a basal level of refusals that will occur because an application either does not meet the criteria set out in law, or the applicant did not provide the right evidence or enough evidence to support their applications.

The information available about the recent ‘spate’ of Training nomination and visa refusals is that the reasons for the refusals are obvious and point to an application that was not properly proven.

The success of a Training Nomination application turns on the quality of the training plan – it must be personal to the visa applicant and must be aligned with the occupation and genuinely increasing the applicants’ skills in that occupation.

The Training Visa has “genuine temporary entrant” requirement attached to the visa. This requires an applicant to prove that they are a genuine temporary entrant “for the purpose for which the visa is granted”.

The purpose of the visa is to complete the training program to enhance the visa applicant’s skills in their occupation. A further purpose can also be to increase the visa applicants’ skills with a view to a subsequent work sponsorship application.

The lesson is that refusals are always a live possibility either because an applicant has applied for the wrong visa or hasn’t properly proven their case. The best way to reduce the risk is to get proper advice before you make any applications. If you have already made an application, and are not sure you have provided enough, or the right evidence get advice now before you end up in the Tribunal.

Call our office on (02) 8223 6500 to make an appointment.