Migration (Arrangements for Visitor (Class FA) visa applications) Instrument (LIN 21/056) 2021

What the instrument enables the Department to decide or do

• The Department controls whether an applicant follows the default online route or an alternative route by issuing a "written notice" (definition of "written notice" and see ss 5(3), 7(2)). The written notice mechanism lets the Department invite applications using forms and return methods other than ImmiAccount.

Who pays and who bears costs (practical incentives and burdens)

• Applicants bear the compliance tasks required by the instrument: selecting the correct stream, using the specified form, lodging via ImmiAccount, and attaching any required supporting departmental form (for example, form 1149 for Sponsored Family) (ss 5–9). This imposes time and transactional costs on applicants (the instrument prescribes how they must submit, but does not set visa fees).

• Named travel agents in Schedule 1 gain the procedural eligibility or recognition relevant to the ADS stream where the Regulations refer to that item (s 8(2) and Schedule 1). The instrument therefore concentrates a procedural advantage on that set of named entities for purposes tied to the ADS regulatory item.

Compliance burden, discretion and administrative risk

• Compliance burden: applicants must use particular forms and ImmiAccount (default) and in one stream must attach an additional Department form (s 6(b)). The Tourist stream contains a timing rule for applicants in Australia (apply before, or within 28 days after, ceasing to hold a substantive visa or criminal justice visa) (s 5(4)).

• Administrative discretion: the Department can issue a written notice to require or permit use of different forms and return methods (definition of "written notice"; ss 5(3), 7(2)). That gives the Department flexibility to require a non-immiAccount route in particular cases.

Concentrated benefits, substitution effects and other trade-offs (source-grounded)

• Concentrated benefit: Schedule 1 names 91 specific travel agents for the ADS stream (s 8(2) and Schedule 1). Where the Regulations reference those travel agents (item 3 in subitem 1236(6) of Schedule 1 to the Regulations), those named entities are the ones recognised by this instrument.

• Substitution effects: the instrument makes the online ImmiAccount route the default for all listed streams (ss 5–9). The written-notice exception permits substitution to non-ImmiAccount forms in individual cases (ss 5(3), 7(2)).

Implementation risks and opportunity costs

• The instrument centralises submission through ImmiAccount, so disruptions to that portal or to applicants' access to it would affect all applicants to these streams (see the repeated ImmiAccount requirement in ss 5–9).

• By specifying named travel agents for the ADS stream, the instrument ties a regulatory pathway to a fixed list of external entities (s 8(2) and Schedule 1). Updating that list would require a further instrument.

Bottom-line summary in one line

• This instrument prescribes the exact online form and submission route for each named Subclass 600 visitor stream, creates a written-notice exception that the Department controls, sets a short in-Australia timing limit for Tourist applicants, requires a supporting form for Sponsored Family applications, specifies an ADS form and lists the ADS travel agents, and lists passport-nationality requirements for the Frequent Traveller stream (ss 3, 5–9, Schedule 1).