The Federal budget will be handed down next Tuesday night (9th May).
The Skilled visa program is in disarray at the moment.
– The pro rata restrictions in the points test will leave the program around 15000 invitations short of their targeted 43,990
– The March 2018 Employer sponsored visas will require 3 years work and eliminate over 20,000 eligible candidates from their target of 32,000 per annum.
– A survey of nearly 500 students and graduates shows that 88% would NOT encourage their friends and family to study in Australia in the future given all the visa restrictions.
Government reports continuously show the significant economic benefit of skilled migration to our economy. And with our ageing population this has become even more acutely important. On average every 1 migrant coming in to Australia research shows creates 1.3 jobs.
The Treasurer came out just in March 2017 rejecting the idea of cuts to migration quoted below ..
“Population growth is currently running for the non-working population at around twice the rate of the working population, so it’s over two per cent for the non-working population and around one per cent for the working age population, so those who are advocates for cutting back on immigration, what that will simply do is make that gap even wider, and it means there’ll be fewer people in the working age paying for pensions, paying for services, paying for all the things that are very necessary.”
“I’m no great big Australia advocate, but I’m a pretty common sense politician and decision-maker when it comes to these sorts of issues.”
The Prime Minister said in March as well that visa changes will soon encourage migrants to move away from the housing price hotbeds of Sydney and Melbourne.
Up to 60,000 New Zealand citizens will be eligible for PR from July 2017. However this does not assist the budget or create jobs as these NZ citizens are already here and working.
Sooooo this leaves the question then of WHERE are the approximate 27,000 extra skilled migrants going to come from with the points test and Company sponsored visa restrictions ?
Options/Changes that can be considered in our opinion :
– Relaxation of the 189 Pro Rata policy on Occupations in high demand so as to allow more invitations.
– Open the regional family sponsored 489 visa to Pro Rata occupations again. And exclude Melbourne (Sydney, Brisbane already excluded) from the areas visa holders can live and work
– Introduce a new visa that will encourage young highly skilled migrants to live only in regional areas of Australia on a temporary visa, with some permanent visa pathway down the track.
Watch out for the budget next Tuesday and our review afterwards.
(Send any questions to query@iscah.com. It is easier to reply to you that way)