Amends have been brought about in the Australian Immigration policies. The main endeavor behind this is to cater to those jobs which are comparatively higher skilled than others. These occupations include technical professionals such as engineers, doctors and nurses.
According to the Australian Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, those jobs that are currently in need of skills and recruits that are not available in the country would be catered to first. Others such as cooks and hairdressers are in abundant as of now. He said that when this government was formed newly, the hairdressers were being given priority compared to doctors and nurses. This does not hold any significance today.
Mr. Evans also elaborated that around twenty thousand applications have been rejected by the ministry. These applications are those that were filed before September2007. The application fee charged by these applicants would be refunded.
The applications filed after 1st September’2007 and pending for decision as on 8th February’2010 will continue to be processed as per the MODL and CSL lists applicable to such application on the date of filing.
He stressed that the country is not interested in building its unemployed force which is already in good numbers. Instead, those who have the relevant skills to fill in the gap in the shortage areas would be preferred.
Additionally, those students who were studying in Australia had the opportunity to apply for permanent residency may not have the privilege from now on if they do not have the relevant skills on the job list.
The minister also said that students under certain specific categories of visas may be permitted to stay for another eighteen months after they finish their studies. During this period, they would have to find a job for themselves as well as a sponsor. If they find such an employer/sponsor, they may apply for PR or otherwise leave the country.
These changes have brought in mixed responses from the private education industry in Australia which is expected to suffer due to these amends. With these, the attacks on the Indian students are another issue for concern. Keeping these in light, only time can tell what impact these amends would have on the current Australian economy.
