Australia Proposes New Short Term Visa For Skilled Immigrants

19 Jan 2015

Here’s some good news for skilled individuals who would like to work in Australia. The Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection has proposed a new short-term entry visa for overseas skilled employees that enable the skilled foreigners to work and stay in Australia for a period up to one year without lodging an application for 457 skilled visa.

Under the newly proposed temporary visa, immigrants would not need to qualify in the skills or language requirements. Nor the employers have to prove that they cannot find an Australian to fill the available position.

Reportedly, the recommended short-term mobility subclass visa would be accessible for specialized work which might include intra-company transfers and overseas correspondents.

The discussion paper of Australian DIBP (Department of Immigration and Border Protection) does not detail on who would be eligible for the Australia visa, but declared that it would be for extremely specialized and intermittent work.

This temporary mobility visa class will substitute the present 400 visa category that permits skilled or specialist immigrants to work in Australian for a period of six weeks. During 2012/2013, when this type of visas are initially offered, on a whole 4,587 visas were granted, later in 2013/2014 the count has increased to 32,984 especially for the applicants concentrated in manufacturing, mining, construction and education sectors.

The president of Migration Institute in Australia, Angela Chan, said that it is required to have this new visa for flexibility in order to get things to be done and to meet the skills in the area of intermittent work.

The Australian government wants to cut-down the red tape process and give Australian companies more flexibility to emerge and compete for talent.

Even some employer groups have been asking for a less onerous visa than 457 visa in order to enable them to get skilled immigrants for short term projects. Sources said that the six weeks period offered under the 400 visa is very short and the department frequently forwards applicants to 457 visas.

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