EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Migration (Visa Evidence) Charge Act 2012
Proclamation
Item 2 of the table in subsection 2(1) of the Migration (Visa Evidence) Charge Act 2012 (the Act) provides for sections 3 to 7 of the Act to commence on a single day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if the provisions do not commence within the period of six months beginning on the day the Act receives the Royal Assent, then those provisions commence on the day after the end of that six month period. The Act received the Royal Assent on 12 September 2012.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 24 November 2012 as the day on which sections 3 to 7 of the Act will commence.
Sections 3 to 7 contain the operative provisions of the Act which impose a charge in relation to requests for evidence of a visa. The types of evidence which attract this new charge are prescribed in the Migration Regulations 1994 (“the Regulations”) and include, for example, visa labels.
This visa evidence charge comprises one part of a major reform of Australia’s immigration visa system. This reform transforms the pricing framework for Australia’s visa program. The visa evidence charge is designed to encourage clients to reconsider their need to have visa evidence. The visa evidence charge also allows for greater cost-recovery in respect of immigration processing.
The majority of non-citizens travelling to Australia do so without having hard copy visa evidence, such as a label, affixed in their passport. Since 2005, the provision of visa evidence has not been mandatory for nearly all visa subclasses.
Visa holders previously had the option of applying for hard copy evidence of their visa under section 70 of the Migration Act 1958 (“the Migration Act”). The visa holder could apply for hard copy visa evidence at the time the visa was granted or at a later time. There was previously no separate charge for clients to obtain hard copy evidence of the grant of a visa, either at the time when the visa was granted or at a later time.
Related measures are contained in the Migration (Visa Evidence) Charge (Consequential Amendments) Act 2012, which amends the Migration Act to implement this new charge and to provide a framework within which the visa evidence charge operates. This framework includes powers to prescribe regulations relating to various aspects of the new scheme. Further, it amends the Act to insert regulation making powers for the Regulations to prescribe the actual amount of the visa evidence charge that will be payable for each request for evidence of a visa, as well as regulations about matters relating to the visa evidence charge.
The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.