The Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Ipswich & Moreton Bay have been reclassified as regional for migration purposes.

What is Regional?

The Australian government has designated certain areas of the country as ‘regional’ and given migrants to those areas extra incentives to live, work, study and play there. Ipswich and Moreton Bay are now Category 2 regional designations with migrants having access to the following incentives:

• Access to the dedicated 25,000 regional places
• Priority processing of regional visas
• Access to the Regional Occupations List – more jobs compared to non-regional lists
• International graduates with a bachelor or higher qualification from a regional campus of a registered institution will be eligible to access additional year in Australia on a post-study work visa

To be eligible for permanent residence, holders of the skilled regional provisional visas will need to show they have lived and worked in regional Australia (including the newly added Ipswich & Moreton Bay LGAs) while holding one of these visas. They can then apply for the Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa (subclass 191) from November 2022.

If you are looking for advice on living, working or studying in a regional area, contact us via our online contact form or call our Queensland office on +61 (07) 5592 0755.