AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

Australian immigration lifts restrictions on working holiday & skilled workers

Monday, 18 February 2008

A total of 6000 more Australian skilled visas have just been released by the Australian government, and are up for grabs before the end of June 2008 by overseas applicants keen on immigration.

Just three days after figures showed unemployment had fallen to a 33-year low of 4.1%, Immigration and Citizenship minister of Australia, Chris Evans, said the Government would immediately lift the quota for skilled migrants this financial year by 6000, bringing the total number of visas to 108,500.

The Australian government has recognised the urgency of relaxing its migration program, so that more skilled workers can be allowed into the country, as most companies are in desperate need for skilled employees.

"Employer-sponsored visas are the highest priority because they put a migrant worker directly into a skilled job," Senator Evans stressed.

Evans has devised a package of measures to ease labour shortages by attracting more skilled workers to Australia, either permanently or on working holidays, a move which is expected to benefit the tourism and construction industries.

Backpackers visiting Australia on working holidays will now be allowed an extra year on their visas if they spend three months in construction jobs in regional Australia.

The Immigration Minister then went on to say that officials were also negotiating to expand the reciprocal working holiday program to more countries, as working holiday workers have almost trebled from 2690 to 7990 during the last financial year. Numbers are expected to hit 12,000 in 2007-08.

"Extending this visa concession to work in construction industry in regional Australia could attract a further 5000 workers to that industry alone," said the Immigration Minister.

Meanwhile, a three-member business panel had been appointed to advise him on changing the controversial section 457 visa program.

The panel will take a deeper look into the reasons why the employer sponsored subclass 457 program appears to be failing in its aim of helping employers resolve skills shortages. The panel should be reporting back by March 14 and also in April.

Some experts believe that the 457 program's issues are due to the significant processing times in several Department of Immigration offices and the lack of sufficient case officers.

A nation of migrants, with nearly one-in-four of the country's 21 million people born overseas, Australia's booming economy has been growing at more than 4% a year. But it's facing a huge shortage of skilled labour, pushing up wages and stoking inflationary pressures, and skilled immigration seems to be the answer to these problems.

Immigration Minister Evans said the new package has the potential to provide Australia with thousands of additional workers in the short term and would help address inflationary pressures.

The Bureau of Statistics has revealed a record 183,400 jobs vacant in November, and also that that number had been growing by roughly 15% a year.

If you are interested in working in "The Lucky Country" on either the skilled migrant or working holiday visa program, why not do our free visa eligibility assessment to see if you qualify? For the free assessment for the skilled migrant program, click here, and for the working holiday free assessment, click here.