Latest News
Plenty Changes to Skilled Migration
Fri, Jun 4th, 2010 4:10:13 am

Australia still has an active immigration programme.

Many changes announced by the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship on the 8th February and 8th May 2010 and more still to come. Please look at Changes To Skilled Migration blog.

The essence of the changes are to make the migration programme more demand driven - by strongly focusing on skills shortages in the Australian workforce.

Speak to us for latest updates and lets look at how this impacts on your options and opportunities.

We welcome all your inquiries.

Please email us on info@australiamigrate.com or call directly on + 61 2 9411 6000 for free, no obligation advice.

Serious about Australia ...with you every step of the way.

 

 

 

 



Latest on General Skilled Migration - June 2010
Fri, Jun 4th, 2010 4:29:18 pm

      MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT - CHANGES IN SKILLED MIGRATION

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Evans, has in February and May 2010 announced the following changes to Australia's existing migration program, aimed at targeting key areas of skills shortage.

Details of the key changes announced by the Minister are:

1. Abolition of the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) and gradual phasing out of the Critical Skills List. Importantly this does not affect applications which are before the Department.

2. The capping of visa places for Offshore General Skilled Migration applications that were made prior to September 2007. Once the cap is reached the Minister has announced remaining applications under that criteria will be returned unprocessed. The Minister has noted that application fees will be refundable to applicants

3. Top priority to employer sponsored migration remains a key plank of the Government's   migration program. Such a program is likely to be more responsive to market changes than a list-based system and in that context should be supported by the industry.

 The following is the background to the changes:

 On the 8th May the Minister of Immigration suddenly announced that no new applications can be lodged until 1st July 2010 and only occupations that are on the new occupation list can be lodged. The new list was supposed to be released on the 30th April but was delayed and was only released on the 17th May 2010.

The Minister for Immigration announced the new Skilled Occupation List on the 17th May 2010 and that this new Skilled Occupations List  ( http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/new-list-of-occupations.pdf)  will apply from 1 July 2010, The list is based on the Specialised Occupations List produced by Skills Australia in March 2010, but excludes a number of occupational categories from this list.

The new list has 181 occupations, versus 400 on the current Skilled Occupations List.

What's on the List

The occupations on the list are within the following specialisations:

  • Building & Construction - project managers, architects, surveyors
  • Engineering
  • Education - pre-primary and secondary school teachers
  • Medical - including doctors, nurses, and allied health
  • IT Professionals
  • Limited Trades - mainly in building & construction
  • Limited Science Occupations - including chemists, agricultural and environmental scientists

What's NOT on the List:

The list excludes a number of common occupations, such as:

  • Most trades, including cooks, hairdressers and fitters.
  • Most science occupations
  • Most general business occupations eg marketing specialist, general managers  - this is the category that you would have fitted into it.
  • Primary School teachers and teachers of English as a Second Language
  • Most associate professional occupations, apart from engineering associates
  • Welfare Workers
  • Translators and Interpreters

 What if I have Lodged my Application Already?

If you have already applied for a general skilled visa, you will not be affected by the new Skilled Occupations List. This will also be the case if you lodge prior to the new list coming into effect on 1 July 2010. However, you should be aware of the following:

  • The Minister is seeking changes to the Migration Act allowing him to cap and cease applications by specific criteria (eg occupation). The Minister might in future use this power to cancel applications in certain occupations to reduce the current backlog of skilled applications, even if your occupation was on the Skilled Occupations List at the date of application.
  • The Minister has already put the offshore General Skilled Migration program on hold, with no further applications being possible until the new Skilled Occupations List comes into effect

What  if I'm Not on the New Skilled Occupations List

The new legislation applicable to the Skilled Occupations List has not yet been finalised. However, it appears that if your occupation is not on the new Skilled Occupations List, you will not be able to apply for the following skilled visas after 1 July 2010:

Most likely, the legislation will mean that:

  • You would need a skills assessment in an occupation on the new Skilled Occupations List
  • Any work experience can only be counted if it is in such an occupation
  • Points are only available for spouse skills if their work experience and skills assessment are in an occupation on the new list

If your occupation is not on the new Skilled Occupations List, you will still be able to apply for:

  Still further changes to come...

  • A review of the points test Skilled migration;
  • The States and Territories will develop and submit State Migration Plans which may include occupations outside of the national list of occupations. At the date of the anouncement, there were no approved State Migration Programs

    •  If you require further information on any of the above changes please contact Ian Singer  on +61 2 94116000 or email on info@australiamigrate.com .