Austratralian Skill Shortages Continue to Grow

As the Australian government prepares the biggest overhaul of the skilled visa regulations in the past 20 years many businesses living with the reality of skill shortages are starting to ask how their needs will be addressed.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) announced back in February that a review of the skilled migration program was underway and a new more targetted system would come into action in the middle of 2010. The first of these changes was announced on 17th May with the release of a revised Skilled Occupation list (SOL).

The revised SOL sees the biggest change to the Australian immigration program in over 20 years with over 50% of occupations on the list being culled including hairdressers, chefs, surgeons, real estate agents, librarians, tree surgeons, fashion designers and pharmacists. The list has been reduced from 400 occupations to 181 occupations.

Australia continues to be a popular migration destination with 171,318 people migrating to Australia in the 2008-2009 period under temporary and permanent visa streams. 30,590 of these migrated from the United Kingdom making us Australia’s largest source of migrants. Currently thousands of skilled potential migrants now wait to see if they will be eligible for a Skilled migration Visa in 2010 while employers across Australia struggle to cope with a growing skills shortage.

A paper issued by the National Farmers Federation in Australia last week called for the government to address the estimated workforce shortage of 100,000 it expects over the next 5 years. At the present time the industry is struggling to fill over 22,000 vacancies in farms and orchards right across rural Australia and expresses concerns that the rural economy is at risk of collapse if labour continues to struggle with surging demand. Over the last 12 months horticultural farms have lost an average of $100,000 each in rotting unpicked fruit alone.

Working Holiday makers to Australia are one essential labour stream in the rural economy and are actively encouraged to take on farm work in Australia. The government offer Working Holiday Makers a one year extention to their visa if an individual works in a primary industry in regional Australia for 3 months or longer. Many farms entice workers with free accomodation in hostels onsite like the Berri Backpackers situated in the heart of the riverlands in South Australia or the Banana Barracks in Cairns, Queensland.

“Next Step Australia aims to connect those planning working holidays with farms and orchards across Australia with these serious labour shortages. Connecting people in this way means people can find work before they arrive in Australia and get the most out of their holiday. It is quite possible for people to travel and work right across Australia – particularly with the extra 12 months available to people working in rural areas” Explains Joanne Roberts the founder of Next Step Australia.

Increasing the number of working holiday visas issued each year would help the labour shortage considerably, but farmers are also keen for the government to address the continuing skill shortage.

The IT sector in Australia are also depending on a positive outcome from the migration program changes and are particularly keen to see a review of the sponsorship rules and number of 457 visas granted. Work is due to start on the National Broadband Network this year and restrictions on the number of skilled overseas technology workers currently looks likely to cause delays to the project.

Joanne Roberts explains “Since the Governments immigration regulation changes early in 2009 very few IT recruiters now have their own on-hire labour agreements meaning there have been fewer 457 temporary business visa sponsorships in order to get skills to where they are urgently required. We are contiuing to place highly skilled people with employer sponsorship particularlyJava Developers, .NET developers, programmers, software designers and those with specialism in SAP, visualisation storage and voice and data”.

Western Australia is the state experiencing the most pressure for skilled workers with an expected requirement of an additional 400,000 workers over the next decade. The state is on the verge of another economic boom as a result of continuing growth in the mining industry and expects that business and consumer spending will match and even surpass levels from before the slump.

According to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia around 26,000 workers will be required in the resources sector alone with many jobs created in supporting sectors as communities in the state continue to grow.

One of the three major components of the Skilled Migration Program changes is expected to be new ‘State Migration Plans’ to provide prioritised state sponsorships and faster visa processing times to get the skills where they are needed.

Speculation has begun on the likely nature of the other changes expected including more emphasis on employer sponsored migration. It is thought that the new program will raise the age limit of 45 and increase points awarded for long term work experience and those with qualifications from renowned educational institutions.

Details of the new program were expected to be announced on 30th April, however delays have been experienced and more details are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Hope for Those Seeking Employer Sponsorship

With the release of the revised Skilled Occupation List this week it has been hinted that there will be an emphasis on the employer sponsorship scheme in the new migration program.

The new SOL has been reduced by over 50% from 400 occupations to just 181 and includes the removal of occupations including real estate agents, librarians, hairdressers, sign writers, tree surgeons, journalists, fashion designers, cooks, pharmacists, counsellors.

However this new list is part of a package of proposed reforms that will better reflect the governments ‘demand-driven skilled migration program’.

When information about the new SOL was released last week DIAC stated that “The number of places available to independent skilled migrants in the skilled migration program is expected to fall as the number of places availablefor employer-sponsored skilled migrants increases.
Employer-sponsored migration matches migrants directly to jobs in Australia, making it the best method to ensure the labour market gets the skills it needs now”.

Senator Evans also claimed that processing arrangements for employer and state-sponsored visa programs are being streamlined to make it easier and quicker for employers to recruit migrant workers.Full details of the revised migration program including changes to the employer sponsorship scheme and new points system are expected to released shortly and to be in place for 1st July 2010 when the new SOL comes into force.

If you are looking for employer sponsorship visit our Sponsored Employment page where you will find current sponsored employment opportunities across Australia.

For more information about DIAC’s changes visit: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/whats-new.htm

New Australia Skilled Occupation List (SOL) Released

On 8 February 2010, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, announced that the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) was revoked from that date. He also announced his intention that the current Skilled Occupation List (SOL) be replaced from the second half of 2010 with a new list of targeted occupations.

A new list of occupations has been developed based on advice from the independent body, Skills Australia. Skills Australia has been established by the Australian Government to provide expert and independent advice on matters relating to Australia’s current, emerging and future workforce skills and workforce development needs.

The number of places available to independent skilled migrants in the skilled migration program is expected to fall as the number of places available for employer-sponsored skilled migrants increases. Employer-sponsored migration matches migrants directly to jobs in Australia, making it the best method to ensure the labour market gets the skills it needs now.

The current SOL has more than 400 occupations. The new list of occupations, which was announced by the Minister on 17 May 2010, includes 181 occupations.

Click here to view the list.

The new SOL is proposed to commence on 1 July 2010.

For more information visit: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/whats-new.htm

Job Ads in Australia Fall for First Time in 3 Months

The April ANZ job ad survey showed a 1.2 per cent drop in jobs advertised online and in newspapers as interest rate rises and slowing demand reduced momentum in the market.
Job Advertisements in April reduced to an average of 160,660 a week - still 14.9 per cent higher than in April 2009. In annual terms growth is still running well at 14 per cent.

The fall is being attributed not only to the two successive interest rate hikes in Australia in March and April taking the interest rate to its current level at 4.25 per cent, but was also expected after the very strong growth seen in the demand for labour over the last 6 months.

The Labour demand does remain healthy despite the drop and many industries across Australia continue to suffer skill shortages including medical, resources, IT and Telecoms and farming. Job adverts didn’t drop in all areas; improvements were seen in the Northern Territory, Queensland and the ACT.

The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 5.3 per cent for the fourth month straight.

Rural Workforce Shortages in Australia

Rural workforce shortages are forecast to hit the 100,000 mark over the next five years according to a report produced by the National Farmers Federation who are calling for the government to act to get more skilled and unskilled labour moving to regional areas.

The NFF expects that an extra 10,000 to 20,000 employees will be needed on farms or in the agricultural supply chain each year. If the shortage continues the rural economy is at risk of collapse as labour cannot cope with the surging demand.

There are currently 22,000 vacancies for fruit-picking positions across regional Australia which are costing horticultural farms around $100,000-a-year each in unpicked rotting fruit alone.

The report calls for the government to address the workforce crisis through flexible and focussed migration programs as well as domestic relocation.

Whilst many living in Australian cities believe there are more migrants coming into the country than Australia can cope with, those in regional areas have a very different reality. The Minister for Agriculture and Population, Tony Burke said Labour shortages in some parts of regional Australia are providing a brake on productivity and the people who argue that Australia couldn't cope with anymore people need to understand that Australia doesn't only exist in capital cities.”

The government is expected to reveal new migration policy in the next few weeks and it is hoped regional skill and labour shortages will be addressed.

Expected Australian Visa Regulation Changes 2010

As the dust has begun to settle from the Immigration Minister’s sweeping announcement of February 8, John Adams one of the UK's leading Australian Visa speclialists has details of the likely nature of the changes to Australia’s General Skilled Migration Program.

These changes comprise the biggest overhaul of the skilled visa regulations in the past 20 years and will affect all future skilled visa applicants once the new regulations are implemented mid-year (perhaps from July 1 but possibly later). The three major components of these upcoming regulations are:

* A new and reduced Skilled Occupation List (SOL) – the list of occupations eligible for skilled migration (this is set for public release in May and will take effect later mid-year)

* A new General Skilled Migration visa points test

* New ‘State Migration Plans’ that will provide a new prioritised state sponsorship

Skills Australia, the government body developing the new SOL, has released a catalogue of occupations on which the new SOL will be based. While the new SOL will possibly differ somewhat, this catalogue provides a strong indication of what occupations will be eligible for skilled migration in the future. Engineers, teachers, accountants, healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc), computing professionals, a long list of trades people, as well as many other occupations are all included. This shows that while the new SOL will be smaller, skilled migration will still provide an avenue into Australia for a large number of qualified people.

As part of the regulation overhaul, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) is undertaking a review of the visa points test. A discussion paper arising from this review reveals the possible make-up of a new points test as well other changes. It outlines a redirection in the focus of the General Skilled Migration Program, where it will come to play a more secondary role to employer sponsored migration. While the Immigration Minister has affirmed “there will always be a place in the skilled migration program for highly skilled individuals who wish to migrate without an employer sponsor,” more migrants will become dependent on employer sponsorship.

The new points test could likely see an increase in the number of points available for long term work experience, benefitting those who have worked in their occupation for many years. Currently, there is no difference in points awarded between someone who has worked in their field for 3 or 20 years – this is expected to change. Also floated is the possible raising of the 45 year age limit, providing some hope to those between 45 and 50 who are currently ineligible.

The points allocated to specific occupations could also change, with some occupations presently relegated to 50 points due only to the fact that no specialised skills assessing authority exists – this being a requirement for a 60 point occupation. This could result in occupations such as urban planner, biochemist and actuary (which have only generalised skills assessments) seeing their points value raised. Also possible is that no points will be allocated for occupation at all, with all occupations on the SOL deemed equal. This would almost certainly require the pass marks on the visa points test to drop considerably, as occupation provides the largest number of points of any points category.

DIAC has indicated through its points test review that it is considering awarding points to those with overseas qualifications from internationally renowned educational institutions. Currently, points for qualifications are only available if the qualification was obtained while studying in Australia. As DIAC points out, this has led to perverse outcomes where for example, an environmental scientist with fifteen years experience and a PhD from Oxford University would fail the current points test, while a cook who completed a 2 year cookery course in Australia and has one year’s work experience would pass. Therefore, DIAC is considering awarding points for degree qualifications from a specific list of higher education institutions (for example those in the world’s top 200 universities as ranked). Even more points could also be available for those who have studied in Australia – particularly at its top universities.

Greater points are also being discussed for spouse skills, over and above the 5 points currently awarded. Surprisingly however, family sponsorship from a relative in Australia – which significantly lowers the points needed to qualify – may not benefit applicants to the same level in the future. State sponsorship will though almost certainly continue to feature prominently in the General Skilled Migration Program.

While few details have been released about the new State Migration Plans, their introduction provides hope for many visa applicants who are currently facing long delays in the processing of their applications. It is possible that the State Migration Plans will serve as a kind of premier state sponsorship, providing faster visa processing than the regular state sponsorship currently available. Each state and territory is now in the process of negotiating with DIAC which occupations will appear on their respective State Migration Plans, with specific details expected to be released mid-year. As a skilled visa application sponsored through a State Migration Plan will be the second highest processing priority (following employer sponsorship), applicants could conceivably receive their visas in about 6 months.

What this raft of changes demonstrates is that the Australian Government is more directly targeting its General Skilled Migration Program to accept applicants who will provide the greatest contribution to the country’s economy. With over 50,000 more people applying for skilled visas than there were visas available last financial year, demand outstrips supply. When the number of applications exceeds the number of available places, applications remain in a pipeline until a place becomes available in a subsequent year. This explains both why many applicants are currently suffering from delays and why Australia is now focussing exactly on the skills it most desperately needs. The beneficial net result of these changes will be to engineer a program where visa demand equals supply, while also allowing DIAC to process those applications currently languishing in the pipeline.

This period of upheaval in the skilled migration regulations makes it more important than ever to seek the advice of a Registered Migration Agent. Under the new regulations there will be those who benefit and those who find themselves disadvantaged. For those who will find themselves negatively affected, there may just possibly be enough time to lodge a visa application under the current regulation framework before the new rules take effect. If not, you should discuss with a Registered Migration Agent other visa options that may be available. For those who remain eligible and may even benefit under the new regulations, it would be advisable to take advantage of this situation while it exists. As the seemingly continuous stream of changes that DIAC has implemented over the past year demonstrates, if you are eligible to migrate you should apply for your visa while your eligibility is assured. By waiting unnecessarily, your migration dreams may remain just that.

John Adams is the principal Registered Migration Agent of Immigration2oz.com. He can be contacted at john@immigration2oz.com or +44 (0)1483 230 483.

Overview of Current Job Market in Regional Victoria

Victoria located in the south east of Australia is roughly the size of Britain and all regions are in easy reach of the metropolitan district of Melbourne. The Victoria migration unit are actively seeking skilled migrants to move to the region to fill skill shortages across the spectrum from Pastry chef's and Butchers to teachers and welders. Vacancies exist in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Grampians-Pyrenees, Goulburn-Murray, Horsham, Mildura, Swan Hill, Wangaratta, Warrnambool and Wodonga.

Geelong with its 137,220 strong population is Victoria’s second largest city situated on the Coast 72km from Melbourne and surrounded by some of Victoria’s most beautiful landscapes. Geelong offers the perfect Australian lifestyle with its mix of inner city, suburban, coastal and rural areas together with a strong economy, employment opportunities, state-of-the-art healthcare and educational resources and a vibrant multicultural community.

Opportunities in Geelong currently exist for key medical professionals including Nurses, Radiographers/Sonographers, Health Information managers, Theatre Technicians, GPs, Podiatrists, Bio-medical Engineers, Pharmacists, Dentists, Physiotherapists, Occupational therapists and Speech Pathologists.

Ballarat is Victoria’s largest inland city just 110km from Melbourne. It's beautiful Victorian buildings and wide, tree-lined streets serve as a reminder of the town's proud history as a major source of wealth and employment for Victoria. Ballarat offers people a rich heritage, contemporary urban lifestyle and a diverse range of outdoor activities as well as schools at all education levels including two universities.

As one of Australia's fastest growing cities Ballarat's economic growth depends heavily on finding skilled migrants to fill vacancies for GPs, Medical specialists, Allied Medical Professionals, Engineers, Accountants, Urban and Regional planners and Computer Programmers.
Sponsorships are available for people who meet the criteria set by the Victoria Government. If you are interested in sponsorship in the state of Victoria you should speak with a MARA registered migration agent or visit http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/

If you are looking for sponsorship our Sponsored Employment Page contains an up-to-date list of vacancies in the Victoria Region where sponsorship is available for overseas candidates.