Benefits and opportunities provided to attract skilled immigrants

Australia’s federal government will be holding Job and Skilled immigrants summit this Thursday with the intention to find a solution for Australia’s current lack of labor workforce problem and also ways to prevent it from happening in the future in case of a similar situation like the Covid pandemic.

Currently, Australia is trying to compete with other countries in attracting more skilled immigrants by providing more leeway in their visa conditions/restrictions.

Explanation of State sponsorship

Under normal circumstances employers are the ones who sponsor skilled immigrants to stay in Australia, however, thanks to the State Nominated Migration Program skilled workers can be nominated by state and territory authorities as well, and recently they have lowered their requirements so that more people will be qualified to apply for them.
Skilled immigrant workers applying to be sponsored by state authorities have to be under the age of 45 years old and they have to be prepared to search for their own employment since they don’t have a particular employer but if one is able to successfully apply they are given permanent visas if they are part of the  Skilled Nominated subclass 190 visa category. Moreover, you are also provided with the opportunity to become permanent residents of Australia after performing your work duties in regional areas as part while being part of a Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (subclass 491) visa. There are also a small number of visas available for people who have their own businesses.

Number of visas available

This year the department of Home Affairs has released approximately 50,000 state-nominated visas to attract more skilled immigrants, with New South Wales offering the largest number along with some other states spending a great deal of effort to get more spots as well.
It was stated by WA Premier Mark McGowan that with Wa’s growing economy, demand for skilled workers, and low unemployment rate it is necessary to attract more skilled immigrant workers through multiple means in order to sustain the economy, one such method is to make the immigration process for their country much easier.

Skills in demand

Many states including Wa have reduced the requirements for occupation lists and other criteria.

It was stated by Ivanna Cheng a migration agent of Melbourne-based Southern Cross Visa and Migration Services that victoria had included almost every industry in its list of occupations.
In the previous year, people with STEM skills only in certain sectors including ‘Medical Research and Health care’ were in high demand among skilled immigrants. Although the criteria for eligibility had been made easier, it was still a hard enough challenge to get a spot. Also, victoria has stated that those who had worked in victoria before would be given more priority.
Furthermore, applicants are also required to submit their details in the  Department of Home Affairs’ Skillselect system by the state so that skilled immigrants with the appropriate qualifications can be invited to apply for state nomination.

Overseas application

Formerly during the Covid19 pandemic, overseas applications for nomination were highly restricted in Australia, however now these restrictions are greatly defused instead people who are already living in Australia are generally banned from applying since they are less likely to move considering they are already settled there.
Regional visas offer more restrictions as they prevent you from living outside a certain area and you are not given permanent residence at the start.
The requirements for state-nominated visas can differ depending on the region. More details regarding jurisdictions are given below:

Western Australia

This region is currently in possession of the third largest number of state-nominations positions right behind NSW and Victoria. The state has 5,350 subclasses 190 visas and 2790 regional visas, with an additional 100 jobs added to its skilled occupation list making the total up to 276.
Skilled immigrants are also provided with additional benefits such as:
Removing the $200 application fee.
Reducing the requirements for an employment contract from 12 months to 6 months.
Fewer requirements for applications showing you have sufficient funds.
No extra English requirements for professional and management positions.

Victoria:

Victoria currently has a quota of 11,570 places for 2022/23. It possesses the highest number of subclass 190 visas along with 2,400 regional and 170 business visas. It is allowing both Victoria and from overseas to apply for these visas. Moreover, it has also included 420 more jobs from the Commonwealth’s skilled list in its list of occupations.

South Australia:

South Australia has already started a sponsorship program with over 500 eligible occupations already present and is willing to accept overseas applicants with an expression of interest lodged on the SkillSelect database.
South Australia has received 2,700 subclasses 190, as well as 3,180 regional, and 70 business visas.

New South Wales

NSW received over 12,000 state-nominated positions which is the largest allocation.
A spokesperson for investment NSW stated that the state had developed simplified criteria for nomination to improve client experience and speed up the application process and that the occupation list was currently underdeveloped and the fully developed list will be on the NSW migration website in the following weeks which is also when the acceptance of applications for nominations will begin.

Australian Capital Territory:

The Australian Capital Territory has 800 subclass 190 visas, another 1,920 regional visas, and 10 business visas along with broad occupation criteria that have over 420jobs on the Commonwealth’s skilled list.
More information regarding the Australian Capital Territory can be accessed on the ACT website.

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