Senator Evans, the Minister in charge of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), as per a previous entry to our blog site confirms, on the 8th February, made some sweeping changes to the GSM for Australia.

I have down loaded part of his speech to hilight several points I believe my clients may be interested in.

• Amendments to the Migration Act will be introduced this year to give the Minister the power to set the maximum number of visas that may be granted to applicants in any one occupation if need be. This will ensure that the Skilled Migration Program is not dominated by a handful of occupations.
• Individual state and territory migration plans will be developed so they can prioritise skilled migrants of their
  own choosing. This recognises that each state and territory has different skills requirements. For example, Western Australia may have a shortage of mining engineers while Victoria may have a requirement for
  more architects.
• Under the new priority processing arrangements, migrants nominated by a state and territory government under their State Migration Plan will be processed ahead of applications for independent skilled migration.

I believe a most important point which clients should take note of is:-

“The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said the new arrangements will give first
priority to skilled migrants who have a job to go to with an Australian employer. For those who don’t have an Australian employer willing to sponsor them, the bar is being raised.”.

Senator Evans then went on to say:-

“There are plenty of occupations where there is an adequate supply of young Australians coming through our schools,
TAFE colleges and universities to take up new job opportunities. They must be given the opportunity to fill these
vacancies first. There are some occupations where there will be high demand for skills. Hospitals can’t go without nurses, country towns can’t do without a local GP and the resources sector increasingly needs skills.”.

Senator Evans believes “These latest changes will continue reforms already implemented by the government and result in a more demand-driven skilled migration program that attracts highly skilled migrants to Australia to work in areas of critical need.”.

Senator Evans admits there is a down side to these changes – “The government recognises that the changes will affect some overseas students currently in Australia intending to apply for permanent residence.”.

As mentioned in a previous entry in our blog site, we mentioned that the MODL (Migration Occupations in Demand List), as well as the CSL (Critical Skills List) have both been discontinued as at 8 February 2010 and that the SOL was to be revised and a new SOL was being releade in July 2010.

This is Senator Evans response to this:-

“Those international students who hold a vocational, higher education or postgraduate student visa will still be
able to apply for a permanent visa if their occupation is on the new Skilled Occupations List. If their occupation
is not on the new SOL, they will have until 31 December 2012 to apply for a temporary skilled graduate visa on
completion of their studies which will enable them to spend up to 18 months in Australia to acquire work
experience and seek sponsorship from an employer.”.

The changes will in no way impact on international students coming to Australia to gain a legitimate qualification
and then return home.

Should you require further information regarding this entry, or have an enquiry regarding some other matter regarding Emigration to Australia, please contact us via email or complete our FREE VISA ASSESSMENT available on our homepage. We will respond within 48 hours and give you the best advice from the information you provide.