オーストラリアが移民受け入れ枠を絞る
Australia rejects 20,000 immigration applications
By Peter Smith in Sydney
Published: February 8 2010 08:16 | Last updated: February 8 2010 08:16
Australia has rejected 20,000 immigration applications as part of a package of reforms designed to address skills shortages and cut the number of foreign students enrolled in vocational courses securing permanent residency.
Canberra has also revoked its Migration Occupations in Demand programme, which covered 106 occupations, which will be replaced by a “more targeted” Skilled Occupations List. In addition, it is reviewing its points system whereby potential migrants score marks based on qualifications, skills and proficiency in English.
“The current points test puts an overseas student with a short-term vocational qualification gained in Australia ahead of a Harvard-educated environmental scientist,” said senator Chris Evans, minister for immigration and citizenship.
He said Australia needed a demand rather than supply-driven migration programme that addressed shortages in the healthcare, engineering and mining sectors. ”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 said.
Australia’s skilled migration programme rose from 108,540 to 114,780 in the year ended June 30. However, the government has forecast that number will drop back to 108,100 in 2009-10, down 20 per cent from estimates a year ago.
Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 5.5 per cent in December, low by developed world standards, as more jobs were created to absorb new workforce entrants. Kevin Rudd, prime minister, on Monday said the jobless rate looked to have peaked after government stimulus measures created an estimated 112,000 jobs.
Fitch, the credit ratings agency, this month warned of skills shortages in Australia’s energy and mining sectors which would lead to higher costs.
It said that liquefied natural gas projects being built in Australia – which could create 60,000 jobs – required the same types of workers as the mining and infrastructure sectors.
Maurene Horder, chief executive of the Migration Institute of Australia, an association for migration service providers, said the 20,000 would-be immigrants that had been rejected would be disappointed.
All of them lodged applications outside Australia before September 2007 under what Canberra said were “easier standards, including lower English language skills and a less rigorous work experience requirement”. Visa application charges will be refunded at a cost of A$14m.
Ms Horder said an overhaul of the migration system was overdue but important details were missing, including what jobs qualified for the Skilled Occupation List. That list is expected to be published in the coming months and will be reviewed annually by Skills Australia, an independent body.
“It leaves people in a hiatus,” she said. “Some students coming to Australia with the hope of getting residency will have already applied for courses and now they will not know whether that works.”
After a spate on attacks on Indian students living in Australia last year, Canberra clamped down on vocational educational providers. Many of the close to 100,000 Indian students in Australia are in vocational institutions, obtaining skills such as commercial cookery, hairdressing and automotive repair, in the hope of becoming permanent residents.
International students whose occupation is not on the new list have until 2012 to obtain a temporary skilled graduate visa once their studies are complete. That will give them 18 months to obtain relevant work experience and time to find an employer sponsor.
By Peter Smith in Sydney
Published: February 8 2010 08:16 | Last updated: February 8 2010 08:16
Australia has rejected 20,000 immigration applications as part of a package of reforms designed to address skills shortages and cut the number of foreign students enrolled in vocational courses securing permanent residency.
Canberra has also revoked its Migration Occupations in Demand programme, which covered 106 occupations, which will be replaced by a “more targeted” Skilled Occupations List. In addition, it is reviewing its points system whereby potential migrants score marks based on qualifications, skills and proficiency in English.
“The current points test puts an overseas student with a short-term vocational qualification gained in Australia ahead of a Harvard-educated environmental scientist,” said senator Chris Evans, minister for immigration and citizenship.
He said Australia needed a demand rather than supply-driven migration programme that addressed shortages in the healthcare, engineering and mining sectors. ”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 said.
Australia’s skilled migration programme rose from 108,540 to 114,780 in the year ended June 30. However, the government has forecast that number will drop back to 108,100 in 2009-10, down 20 per cent from estimates a year ago.
Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 5.5 per cent in December, low by developed world standards, as more jobs were created to absorb new workforce entrants. Kevin Rudd, prime minister, on Monday said the jobless rate looked to have peaked after government stimulus measures created an estimated 112,000 jobs.
Fitch, the credit ratings agency, this month warned of skills shortages in Australia’s energy and mining sectors which would lead to higher costs.
It said that liquefied natural gas projects being built in Australia – which could create 60,000 jobs – required the same types of workers as the mining and infrastructure sectors.
Maurene Horder, chief executive of the Migration Institute of Australia, an association for migration service providers, said the 20,000 would-be immigrants that had been rejected would be disappointed.
All of them lodged applications outside Australia before September 2007 under what Canberra said were “easier standards, including lower English language skills and a less rigorous work experience requirement”. Visa application charges will be refunded at a cost of A$14m.
Ms Horder said an overhaul of the migration system was overdue but important details were missing, including what jobs qualified for the Skilled Occupation List. That list is expected to be published in the coming months and will be reviewed annually by Skills Australia, an independent body.
“It leaves people in a hiatus,” she said. “Some students coming to Australia with the hope of getting residency will have already applied for courses and now they will not know whether that works.”
After a spate on attacks on Indian students living in Australia last year, Canberra clamped down on vocational educational providers. Many of the close to 100,000 Indian students in Australia are in vocational institutions, obtaining skills such as commercial cookery, hairdressing and automotive repair, in the hope of becoming permanent residents.
International students whose occupation is not on the new list have until 2012 to obtain a temporary skilled graduate visa once their studies are complete. That will give them 18 months to obtain relevant work experience and time to find an employer sponsor.
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