Australia caps the Skilled-Recognized Graduate visa but prioritizes student and student guardian visa applications; UKVI reintroduces Priority and Super Priority services.

Skilled-Recognised Graduate Visa Cap: Australia has stated that the Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa will be capped beginning December 22, 2023. If you have an application pending, you can request a refund of your Visa Application Charge (VAC).  The Australian immigration department will provide you advice on how to collect your VAC refund using ImmiAccount.

This visa allows recent engineering graduates to stay in Australia for up to 18 months to live, work, or study. You must be under 31 years old and have achieved a degree or higher qualification from a specified institution within the last two years.

Priority given to Australian student and student guardian visa applications:  A new Ministerial Direction for prioritizing student and student guardian visa applications was signed in mid-December, a week before the Skilled-Recognized Graduate visa was revealed. The Australian Government's processing priorities for the student and student guardian visa programs are formalized in this new Direction (Ministerial Direction No. 107). It builds on existing efforts to increase the international education sector's integrity.

Ministerial Direction No. 107 gives top priority to:

Applications for student visas made outside of Australia by:

Higher Education, English Language Intensive Course for Overseas Students (ELICOS), Vocational Education and Training (VET), and Non-Award sector applicants studying at an education provider with an Evidence Level 1 subsequent entrant applications lodged outside Australia that include an unmarried family member under the age of 18 years all Student Guardian visa applications (lodged i

Any secondary applicant included in the primary visa application (spouse, de facto partner, or dependent child) will be accorded the same priority as the primary applicant.

A secondary applicant for a student visa who did not submit a combined application with the first applicant / primary visa holder is referred to as a subsequent entrant.

When the primary applicant plans to pursue two or more courses of study (course packaging), the application will be prioritized in the same order as the principal course of study (i.e. the course of study with the highest Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level).

The new student visa processing priorities apply to all visa applications submitted on or after December 15, 2023, as well as those submitted before to this date but not yet finalized.

Student visa applications filed in Australia will be processed in accordance with current procedures.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) notified that the filing fee for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, will be increased beginning February 26 to account for inflation.

The modification, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), raises some premium processing fees from $1,500 to $1,685, $1,750 to $1,965, and $2,500 to $2,805.

For three years, the adjustment charge had remained unchanged. The new fees will take effect on February 26, 2024.

If USCIS receives a Form I-907 with the wrong filing fee postmarked on or after February 26, 2024, it will reject the Form I-907 and return the filing money. The postmark date is the date indicated on the courier receipt for filings sent by commercial courier (such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL).

The USCIS Stabilisation Act established the present premium processing costs and gave the Department of Homeland Security the ability to adjust the premium fees on a biennial basis.

DHS will use the premium processing fee increase revenue to provide premium processing services, improve adjudication processes, respond to adjudication demands, including reducing benefit request processing backlogs, and otherwise fund USCIS adjudication and naturalization services.

Priority Visa services for new applications are being reintroduced by UKVI: UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) has returned the possibility to purchase Priority and Super Priority services for any new applications within the following visa categories as of December 13:

Start-ups and their dependents

Dependents and the innovator

Individuals with High Potential and their Dependents

Priority Visa (PV) and Super Priority Visa (SPV) can now be purchased online and at the Visa Application Centre before submitting your biometrics, when available. It should be noted that PV and SPV cannot be acquired in the past. Priority services are not offered at all VFS locations, and consumers should inquire whether the service is available at their preferred application center.

The prices for these services have also risen.

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