Posts with tag: quota
Australia Increases Migration Quota
Unlike the calendar year, Australia’s immigration year runs from 1 July to 30 June. As we fast approach the migration ‘New Years Eve’ it appears as if the Australian Government will be dispensing some new year’s cheer by increasing the migration programme by 16300 places taking total planned migration to a total of 185 000 which is consistent with net overseas migration figures for the year ending September 2010.
The majority of the new places have been allocated to the Skilled stream comprising Employer Sponsored, General Skilled Migration Visas (points tested) and Business. With Australia’s economy expected to grow by 4% percent for the next year and unemployment rate at 5 percent and expected to fall to 4.75 percent, the increase in the immigration quota is seen as necessary to maintain Australia’s growing economy.
The strength of the Australian economy provides a special challenge for the Government in designing an immigration policy that will provide Australian employers with much needed foreign expertise, and at the same time, still remain true to the tough stance on migration adopted by Julia Gillard in her election platform.
Clearly, Australia must develop an immigration policy aimed at delivering the skills required by Australian employers to result in greater economic performance. There remains, however, on the part of employers and recruitment consultants, an aversion to consider migrants who don’t have Residence Visas. One only has to look at websites such as www.seek.com.au to confirm this fact. Therefore, most employers would rely upon migrants who qualify under General Skilled Migration programme (the points tested visas that don’t require offers of employment) to satisfy skills shortages. This group of migrants arrive in Australia with Residence Visas in their passports and then commence their search for employment once they arrive in Australia as Permanent Residents. This is clearly the preferred model of recruitment on the part of employers and recruitment agents.
The good news is that of the 16,300 extra places 10,150 have been allocated to the Skilled Independent GSM Visa. As the name would suggest this is a type of migrant who qualifies for Permanent Residence in Australia based on a points score without needing sponsorship by a family member or State Government.
The bad news is that, in order to submit a Independent GSM visa you need to be on a select list of occupations namely Schedule 3 of the Skilled Occupations List. If your occupation is not on Schedule 3 but appears on Schedule 4 of the Skilled Occupations List you need to obtain State Sponsorship if you intend submitting a General Skilled Migration Visa. You also need to meet the pass mark. There is a far greater number of occupations that appear on Schedule 4 but not Schedule 3 and the disappointing news is that the quota for State/Territory sponsored visas has not increased from 24,000.
The Minister of Immigration will be announcing a new points assessment test for the General Skilled Migration Visa (including Independent and State/Territory sponsored) and it remains to be seen whether this new immigration model will give the Minister of Immigration more Professors and fewer Hairdressers which was the stated aim when a new GSM policy was announced. We expect to receive the new policy in June, before its implementation on 1 July 2011.
