New 457 visa legislation will no longer be imposed retrospectively

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has announced that it will be overturning its decision to impose retrospective legislation on 457 visa applications.

This should be welcome news for all migration agents in Australia, as well as people who lodged a 457 visa application before July 1.

Tony Burke, minister for immigration and citizenship, decided it was unfair to impose post-July 1 requirements on people who had applied for 457 visas before the date.

He said that just because their applications had not been processed - for whatever reason - prior to new legislation being introduced, this does not mean they should be disadvantaged.

Revoking the imposition of retrospective legislation is something Australian migration agents have been calling for since the beginning of this month.

Many were shocked when the DIAC started asking for more information about clients who had already lodged visa applications.

One even said it was "unheard of" that a newly introduced regulation should affect an application that was lodged in the past, and that there no transitional arrangement made before the changes came into effect.

All registered migration agents should be pleased that their concerns have been listened to and positive changes have been made in the sector.