From 1 July 2018, stricter residency rules for new migrants to access Australian pensions will be introduced.  Claimants will be required to have 15 years of continuous Australian residence before being eligible to receive the Age Pension or DSP unless they have either:

The new temporary sponsored visa will be introduced in November 2017, with 15,000 visas available annually. The purpose of the visa is to allow the parents of Australian citizens, permanent residents and “eligible” New Zealand citizens to spend time with their family in Australia without placing additional burden on Australia’s health care system.

After recent changes to the 457 visa and the citizenship process, the Australian Government has announced a new visa for migrants’ parents.

The Immigration Minister of New Zealand, Michael Woodhouse announced a package of changes on 19 April 2017 and hinged it on improving the quality of migrants coming to New Zealand.

Changes to Permanent immigration: Introduction of two remuneration thresholds for applicants applying for residence under the Skilled Migration Category (SMC):

1. One remuneration threshold will be set at the New Zealand median income of $48,859 a year for jobs that are currently considered skilled.
2. The other threshold will be set at 1.5 times the New Zealand median income of $73,299 a year for jobs that are not currently considered skilled but are well paid.

The SMC points table, under which individuals claim points towards their residence application will also be realigned to put more emphasis on characteristics associated with better outcomes for migrants.

The changes will be implemented in mid-August 2017.