Skilled Immigrants Still In Demand In Australia

05 Jul 2010

Skilled immigrants are still in demand and can stand high chance to migrate to Australia. Julia Gillard, the Australian new prime minister seems to be keener on implementing new plans for immigration changes that would favour skilled immigrants wishing to live in Australia. She is set to outline what could be major changes to Australia’s immigration policy, particularly on asylum seekers. She said that the Australians should not feel constrained in expressing their views and added that the border protection fears is not racist. Julia Gillard is taking a pragmatic approach to the task of winning votes. Critics say that her approach allows false claims and negative imagery about asylum seekers to persist.

Julia’s focus is on policy changes that will support the nation’s infrastructure, services and sustainability through skilled immigration rather than pursing growth of the population through migration. She says that the current immigration policies may level out the current population increase and that Australia’s immigration policy changes are implemented to move in a new direction and close down the shutters on immigration. Skilled immigrants are still in demand and can stand high chance to migrate to Australia.

On the education front, there has been a drastic drop of Australian visas for Indian students by 78 percent.  The number of offshore Australia visa grants to Indian students has dropped dramatically. Incentives for overseas students have been removed and stricter rules put in place for Australian Student visas. The Australian Immigration minister Senator Chris Evans said the changes do not affect international students who want to come to Australia to study and then return home.

The international students who were in Australia prior to February 8, 2010 and hold a vocational, higher education or postgraduate Australian Student Visa are able to apply either for permanent residence if their occupation is on the Australian SOL. Alternatively they can apply for a temporary skilled graduate visa on completion of their studies.

A skilled graduate visa allows former students to spend 18 months in Australia to acquire work experience and seek sponsorship from an employer willing to sponsor them into a job using those skills.