Has Subclass 476 Skilled Recognized Graduate Visa for Australia Ended? Check Complete Visa Details here

CANBERRA –  As part of Australia’s new Migration strategy, some major changes have been made in the visa system. The Subclass 476 Temporary Graduate Visa (TGV) has exhausted its quota of 3,735 grants for the financial year 2023-2024 and no further grants will be provided for this fiscal year.

The Australian government has been on a roll after they plan for a new vision of Australia for the next 10 years. The new immigration strategy suggests that Australia will reduce migration by 50% as the Subclass 500 Student visa is also expected to only take 250,000 students for the next fiscal year instead of the normal intake of 500,000 students.

What is Subclass 476 Temporary Graduate Visa (TGV), Skilled Migration Visa?

Subclass 476 Temporary Graduate visa had its origins back in 1991 and has been going on ever since. It allows Engineering graduates from recognized universities such as the universities falling under the Washington Accord to travel to Australia and look for a job.

The Temporary Graduate Visa allows applicants to stay or work in Australia for a period of 18 months after its grant upon which an individual needs to extend it when the 18 months have passed. However, recently there has been unrest amongst the students who think that the Skilled Migration or 476 TGV is ending.

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Is 476 Recognized Graduate Visa Australia Ending? 

The Australian government has announced a new initiative in which they stated that the 476 TGV now has a quota of 3,735 applicants. However, Minister of Home Affairs Australia Claire O’Neil gave a statement that the grant of 476 subclass visas will stop as this quota for the fiscal year 2023-2024 has already been exhausted and no further grants will be given till July 2024.

This undoubtedly seems unfair to applicants who had been waiting for months for the grant of their visas as the processing time due to the Covid-19 pandemic was high and students had been waiting ever since.

Now, a problem is being faced by Engineering Graduates as the Australian Department of Home Affairs stated that the Subclass 476 Temporary Graduate Visa has been capped from December 22, 2023 and all applicants after December 22, 2023 will be considered as invalid.

Will 476 Pending Applications be granted visas?

Moreover, the notification also states that all pending applicants would be liable for a refund from the Australian Department of Home Affairs which means their visa may not be finalized or granted as well.

The notification has also came on the Immigration account log-in official website of Australia. There seems to be some disparity as some claim that visas filed after December 22, 2023 will be considered as invalid and their fee will be refunded while others believe that all pending applications that are in hand till December 22 will be refunded by the Department.

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Pakistani Students Protest over Subclass 476 TGV visa Ending

Applicants of the Subclass 476 Temporary Graduate Visa have started protesting as they state that they have been waiting for a long time for their grant and it’s unfair for them not to be granted their visa after this much wait. 

Moreover, many applicants state that even if the visa fee has been refunded they have made additional payments for their Health Assessment and English Language Test. The Health Assessment for 476 TGV visas costs almost 37,200 PKR while the language tests such as PTE and IELTS are costing around 60,000 PKR.

International applicants can see Australia’s policies changing quickly as the Australian Prime Minister’s statement came a few days back. The government of Australia states that their visa system is being misused as International students and applicants exercise ‘visa hopping’ in which they stay temporarily permanent in Australia.

Moreover, the Subclass 476 TGV was for skilled workers but the government states that more than 50% TGVs that have been granted their visa are working Class 1 – Class 4 jobs while they were not called to Australia for this reason.