Other than renaming the visa from Global Talent to National Innovation visa, there are some significant substantive changes to the subclass 858 visa programme.
Below are extracted/summarised from the Explanatory Memorandum which provides some motives behind the proposed changes from the Government.
All National Innovation Visas will require an invitation, and one must apply within the timeframe specified in the invitation. This was previously not a mandatory requirement for Subclass 858 (Global Talent) visa stream. However, with only a limited number of visa grants being available under the new Subclass 858 (National Innovation), by inserting this requirement, the new visa will achieve the objective of creating a single, exclusive and streamlined pathway for a relatively small number of highly talented individuals in a sector that is of national importance for Australia.
National Innovation Visa now requires the applicant who has been invited to apply to produce the same internationally recognised record of exceptional and outstanding achievement in their area as stated in their invitation. The intention is to minimise the possibility of an applicant inflating their achievements, to ensure that the talented applicant must provide genuine and accurate record of achievement at all stages, and to prevent any inflated expression of interest claims.
Reading between the lines, the new National Innovation would be more selective, exclusive and has a smaller quota. The assessment of the visa application will also require the claims of achievements in the application to be consistent and aligned with those included in the expression of interests. The visa application would be more closely scrutinised under the national innovation visa.
We await more details on the threshold requirements and what sectors are considered to be ‘of national importance’.