AUSTRALIA IMMIGRATION NEWS AND INSIGHTS

The Occupational Ceilings for the 2014-15 year have been announced. Changes to the number of places allocated to Engineers, IT Professionals, Accountants, Teachers, Constructions Trades, and Chefs were substantial.

What is an Occupational Ceiling?

An occupational ceiling is the total number of invitations issued by the Australian Immigration Department for a particular occupation under the skilled migration program for an entire financial year.

Good news, South Australia had reopened its state sponsorship for skilled migrants. Started on 1 July 2014, many occupations had been relisted as highly available in the state. Even more interesting, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) requirement for some occupations in the list became lower.

Update on Occupations List

Fortunately, no occupations have been removed from SOL and CSOL. However, new occupations have been added.

Skilled Occupations List (SOL)

The Skilled Occupation List identifies occupations which do not need sponsorship by a state or territory government agency for the applicant to qualify for migration to Australia.

The Abbott government will limit the number of foreign accountants who will be able to get permanent visas from almost 10,000 to about 5,000 starting 1st July 2014. The Australian media has reported that this came after the Australian Workplace and Productivity Agency (AWPA) refused a proposal from the Department of Employment to have accountants removed from the Skilled Occupation List (SOL).

To provide more protection on Australia’s borders, the Australian Government announced a new reform that will form a new agency which will be consisted by the combined effort of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. The new single front-line agency will be known as the Australian Border Force.

Take note that even if a nominated occupation is on the Labour Market Testing (LMT) list, it will be exempted if:

• The applicant is a citizen of Chile or Thailand, or is a citizen/permanent resident of New Zealand;
• The applicant is already working for an associated entity of the sponsoring employer in an ASEAN country (Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), Chile or New Zealand;
• The applicant is a current employee of an associated entity of the sponsoring employer who operates in a country that is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for senior management position;
• The sponsoring employer currently operates in a WTO member country seeking to sponsor senior management to establish a business in Australia;
• The applicant has worked for the sponsoring employer on a full-time basis for the last 2 years; or
• The applicant is considered as a worker who will help respond to a major disaster in Australia

From 23 November 2013, employers in Australia who are keen to sponsor for 457 visas are required to meet the requirements of the newly introduced Labour Market Testing (LMT) in order to employ workers from overseas.

This aims to ensure that the subclass 457 visa program will be used by businesses only when there is no suitable candidate that is available in the local labour market to fill a job vacancy.

Australia is continuing to experience a surge on the number of long term-immigration as arrivals from January 2011 to August 2013 increased by 55%.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals that in the year to August 2013, there were 680,200 arrivals into Australia where 308,760 are net long-term arrivals – a new record.

Australia’s conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott has unveiled his first Cabinet and among the members is Scott Morrison, the new Minister for Immigration & Border Protection.

He will replace Tony Burke who held the position for 79 days, from 1 July 2013 to 18 September 2013.

NTRUST has been in the immigration business for over ten years and we have seen so many changes in the government and immigration ministers. The most remarkable being three administration ministers changed in the past two years.