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.

In addition, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection stated that 30% of workers on temporary work visas end up becoming permanent residents, indicating actual permanent immigration remains at relatively high levels.

Meanwhile, Shadow Minister Scott Morrison has declared that the Coalition government will support a skilled migration program that will help restore investor confidence in the national resource industry, in an address to the AMMA Migration Forum in Brisbane.

AMMA chief executive Steve Knott welcomed Mr. Morrison’s comments. “Our industry is a small user of skilled migrants. Around 97% of the national industry’s workforce is local workers and this has been consistent over the past five years,” Mr. Knott said.

“The industry goes to extreme lengths to employ locals first, but we still have a small but critical number of skills shortages in key areas and will continue to have these in the next couple of years.”

With the recent change of government from Labor to Coalition from 7 September 2013, we can expect a very different approach to the immigration policy. If you have concerns about your plans to migrate to Australia, contact NTRUST at +65 6299 0245 for advice or register for our upcoming seminar in Singapore.