In recent months the Department of Immigration and Citizenship in Australia have announced numerous changes to the processing and application systems for skilled migration to Australia.
We attended a news conference in London recently to find out more about the changes and how they would affect the skilled migration program. The new program, called SkillSelect will be rolled out on the 1st of July 2012.
Currently there are six skilled migrant visa subclasses which were announced as part of the skilled migration reforms on 8 February 2010 - see below:
1. Visa Applications in Australia
subclass 885 (skilled independent) subclass 886 (skilled nominated/sponsored) subclass 487 (skilled regional sponsored)2. Visa Applications outside Australia
subclass 175 (skilled independent) subclass 176 (skilled nominated/sponsored) subclass 475 (skilled regional sponsored)In an effort by the Australian government to keep the skilled migration program as responsive as possible, these six visa subclasses will be merged into three, starting from the 1st July 2012. What this means is that the applicant will apply for the same visa subclass regardless of whether they are onshore or offshore at the time of application. The new skilled visa subclasses are listed below:
subclass 189 (skilled independent) (will replace subclasses 885 and 175) subclass 190 (skilled nominated) (will replace subclasses 886 and 176) subclass 489 (skilled regional) (will replace subclasses 487 and 475)SkillSelect has been specifically designed to encourage state sponsorship and employer sponsorship in order to help resolve the current skills shortages, mainly in Regional Australia.
There has been a major change in the way that applicants will apply for the skilled independent, skilled sponsored and skilled regional sponsored visas. In order to be successfully accepted, the applicant must first complete an expression of interest (EOI). Submitting and expression of interest in order to apply for the Employer Nomination Scheme, Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme and Temporary Business visas is optional, however it is still highly recommended.
As soon as the EOI has been successfully submitted, the visa applicant will be listed on a central database where they may be considered for a skilled visa. This system will enable employers or state and territory governments to find potential applicants for sponsorship, or they could be invited by the Government to lodge a visa application.
Please note: The information provided by the applicant in the expression of interest will be thoroughly reviewed and the Department have stressed that any false or misleading information will need to be verified. If the applicant is invited to apply for a visa based on misleading information, this could lead to a visa refusal and a potential ban from the system.
Furthermore, in the budget for the period 2012 - 2013 the number of skilled visa places has been increased by 3,400 to a total of 129,250. This is another indication that the Australian government are working hard towards finding a solution for the current skills shortages.
We view this as extremely positive news for skilled migrants as we expect that most visa applications will be processed quicker than under the current system.
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