(EMAILWIRE.COM, January 14, 2009 ) Australia - Key changes have been made to Australia’s skilled migration processing to ensure that it is better suited to the needs of the fluctuating economy – TheMoveChannel.com takes a look at the new measures and investigates how they will affect potential migrants…
First things first – don’t panic – if you are in the process of applying for a skilled visa for Australia or are considering applying, there will be no cuts to skilled visa numbers, so your dream is safe.
The Australian Government has said that they will maintain the current planning target of 133,500 of 133,500 skilled places on the 2008-09 programme.
What the new measures, which will come in as of January 2009, do is aim to ensure that the skilled migration programme is better targeted in 2009 and more responsive to the changing needs of the applicants and the country.
The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, has said that the changes will mean the ‘introduction of faster processing for permanent skilled visa applicants where the migrant's job is on a new list, called the Critical Skills List.’
This is excellent news for most trades, including nurses, school teachers, accountants and IT experts, all of which are on this list.
Other changes
If you are in line for an employer-nominated visa, these will continue to be managed in line with demand and successful applicants will be able to go straight into a skilled job in Australia.
The new skilled scheme will also alter the skill profile - the points tested programme will be changed to benefit those with occupational skills, which have been identified as being a priority by State and Territory Governments.
There will also be priority processing for those who are state sponsored or employer sponsored.
Under current arrangements, State and Territory Governments can sponsor a restricted range of occupations, in areas where they consider a skills shortage exists in their jurisdiction.
Now, jurisdictions have been provided with an expanded baseline list of occupations which will be reviewed regularly.
In addition, State and Territory governments have been offered a quota of 500 places in 2008-09 to sponsor skilled migrants in occupations beyond their existing lists of eligible occupations.
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