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Australia changes skilled migration program
Tuesday, 09 February 2010 12:51 | 
Australia’s Immigration Minister Senator Chris Evans has announced major reforms of country’s skilled migration program.
He said the reforms were necessary so that the program can best serve the needs of industry and of regional Australia, as well as meeting the country’s economic and demographic goals.
The minister praised skilled migrants saying they are “good for the Budget bottom line, adding tens of millions more to tax revenue each year than they consume in government services.
“It is in the labour market where skilled migrants have the greatest impact. Migrants make up a quarter of the Australian population, but they account for around half of our doctors, dentists, IT specialists and chefs, and more than a third of our pharmacists, geologists, mechanical engineers and painters and decorators. Just imagine where Australia would be without them.”
While praising Australia’s skilled migration program for having served the country well for many decades, the minister said some aspects of it “are rusty and in need of reform.”
The first victims of the new reforms are some 20,000 people who applied from overseas before September 2007. The Government has decided to withdraw their applications.
“The unfortunate situation was that these people applied when English language and work experience requirements were easier than they now are, and their backgrounds placed them low down the queue under priority processing arrangements. As a result, they are unlikely to have ever been granted a visa. The Government will refund their visa application charge,” Mr. Evans said.
The minister also said that he intends to bring amendments to the Migration Act for consideration by Parliament later this year to give him the power to set the maximum number of visas that may be granted to applicants in any one occupation.
Mr. Evans’ Department is also exploring the feasibility of introducing a new system where applicants initially put forward their claim for skilled migration, and are then selected as candidates by employers, by State and Territory governments, or by the Commonwealth.
The minister said Australia will continue to have a place in the skilled migration program for highly skilled individuals who wish to migrate without an employer sponsor. “We need to re-set the bar for independent skilled migration, to target those of the highest calibre,” he said.
The Government has decided to abolish the Migration Occupations in Demand List (or MODL as it is commonly known) and to limit eligibility for independent skilled migration to a more targeted set of occupations, those that meet Australia’s future skill needs.
The MODL, Mr. Evans said, is being scrapped because it had stopped meeting its purpose. “It encouraged overseas students to train in particular occupations to make it easier to acquire permanent residence, in the process skewing the skilled migration program to a narrow set of occupations.”
He confirmed that the scrapping of the MODL takes immediate effect, and announced that a new, more targeted, Skilled Occupations List, to be drawn up by Skills Australia, will be introduced from the middle of this year. The new list will be published by the end of April so prospective migrants have a couple of months forewarning before it takes effect, and it will be reviewed on an annual basis.
The Critical Skills List, which was always intended to be an interim measure, will also be phased out at this time. The Government also plans to review the points test used to assess high calibre independent skilled migrants.
The minister said that the newly announced changes will apply prospectively. All persons who applied for independent skilled migration since September 2007, as well as holders and applicants of skilled graduate visas will be treated under existing arrangements. That means, for example, they can still get MODL points and still be eligible for a visa under the existing Skilled Occupations List even if their nominated occupation does not feature on the new list from the middle of this year.
Mr. Evans said that the changes will not affect the international students coming to Australia to gain a qualification and then return home.
“Where their course qualifies them for an occupation that will remain on the Skilled Occupation List from mid– 2010, as determined by Skills Australia, they will continue to be able to apply for an unsponsored skilled visa as is currently the case.
“Where their course qualifies them for an occupation that will be removed from the Skilled Occupation List, as determined by Skills Australia, they will no longer be able to apply for an unsponsored skilled visa.
“These international students will have a pathway to permanent residence but will now have to focus on gaining skills and work experience and then finding an employer willing to sponsor them into a job using those skills.”