Skilled Migration - Goverenment overhaul

hussey

http://www.smh.com.au/national/migration-uturn-caught-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-20100208-nlri.html

The federal government's overhaul of the skilled migration program could damage Australia's reputation abroad, the federal opposition has warned.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans announced today that Labor would cancel and refund the applications of 20,000 prospective migrants living overseas.

The list of occupations in demand will also be tightened so only highly skilled migrants will be eligible for a visa........

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/whats-new.htm

On 8 February 2010, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, announced the following changes to the General Skilled Migration program:

* the outcomes of a review of the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL)
* the replacement of the current Skilled Occupation List (SOL) in the second half of 2010
* offshore GSM visas made before 1 September 2007 would be capped and ceased
* priority processing arrangements
* skills assessment requirements for GSM applicants nominating a trade occupation.

Zambia

Hard to make sense of this

I decided to check BE and here is what a migration agent summised.

George_lombard wrote:

The critical points about the changes to General Skilled Migration are:

a) Current applicants who applied on or after 1 September 2007 aren't affected - their points and eligibility are locked in and in most cases their processing priority will remain the same until 30 June 2010 at least.

b) People who applied before 1 September 2007 are subject to "cap and kill" legislation, ie the Department is going to process a certain number (not yet announced as far as I know) and then terminate the rest, in which case all application fees paid to the Department of Immigration will be returned to those applicants (directly or through their agents).

c) Current onshore students will not be able to claim MODL points however they will benefit from a complex suite of measures designed to protect them (and the international student industry). The Department will announce the new skilled occupation list by 30 April 2010 (taking effect on 30 June 2010) and most graduates who have not yet applied for a general skilled migration visa will need to wait until then to determine which pathway they should pursue. The Department does not need to announce transitional measures for students whose visas are expiring on 15 March 2010 since those students are able to lodge a subclass 485 (temporary graduate) visa and then change their nominated occupation for their permanent visa application.

d) People planning to apply for General Skilled Migration as of 8 February should consult a migration agent - those who hold positive skills assessments but have not yet applied for their visas will be able to apply however should their nominated occupation not be on the new Skilled Occupation List then their application will most likely be refused.

e) The MODL is dead for new applicants - except for the continued operation of the Critical Skills List which will still give IT MODL skills priority until then.

f) There is still more information needed to clarify many of these points, in particular I would expect inputs from the Minister's speech later today, and also from the Migration Institute of Australia. In the meantime, the major links are all here: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/gener...df/faq-sol.pdf .

Link = http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=653562

jank

Reading the newspaper it seems this is a move away from skills that should or can be easier to fill rather than skills that are very hard to fill.

Apparantly alot of skill migrant visa dont take up a job in their profession.

Trades, cooks, hairdressers and the like will be effected badly.
However if you are a nurse, doctor, teacher then this is good news!

Standard Toaster

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8503438.stm

I think it's deffo a move in the right direction. I need to do a vocational course on mining now :P

brendansmith

I reckon when its released the new occupations in demand list will just be a copy of the Critical skills list. http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/critical-skills-list.pdf

I hope so anyway. Ill be sitting pretty for when i apply for residency.

jank

Hmmm the IT skills seems a bit vague.

Brendansmith2 did you get banned or something?

brendansmith

jank wrote: »

Brendansmith2 did you get banned or something?

You wish.

Nah, I dont have access to the email that i signed up to boards with and have been wiating 3 weeks to get reconnected to my account. You can set up a new account and get it merged to your old one.

Zambia

Brendansmith2 wrote: »

You wish.

Nah, I dont have access to the email that i signed up to boards with and have been wiating 3 weeks to get reconnected to my account. You can set up a new account and get it merged to your old one.

I know your pain.

Zambia

brendansmith

District_9 wrote: »

I know your pain.

Zambia

Im back baby!