Highly qualified chefs and cooks will continue to be welcome in Australia, despite the removal of these occupations from the new Skilled Occupations List, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said yesterday.

The Minister said the removal of these occupations from the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) would not hinder the industry’s ability to target the skilled workers it needs, as employers can nominate chefs and cooks on 457 visas, employer-sponsored visas and the new state migration plans.

Chefs and cooks were just two occupations removed from the recently announced SOL, which dropped from 400 occupations to only 181 as part of Australian immigration reform to target specific workers needed by the economy. Read the full story

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The Australian Government released their 2010-11 Australian Budget last night and it contained mixed news for wannabe migrants.

Within the report, the Australian Government has announced it intends to sharpen the focus of the Australian skilled migration program on key skills shortages.

Overall, the Australian Immigration program will remain the current size but the focus will be on employer-sponsored skilled migration as the Government moves to create a more skill- and demand-driven migration system.

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said: Read the full story

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Scott Morrison Backtracks after he suggested that migration numbers would be cut

It’s not a rare occurrence when a politician needs to backtrack and opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison appears to be doing just that.

Following our article yesterday where we highlighted a potential risk of migration places being cut If the coalition got into power, in today’s news, Morrison says his comments about cutting the country’s migrant intake to curb population growth do not reflect official Coalition policy!

His comments come amid reports that some of his colleagues are angry that his earlier call to reduce migration was made before any discussion with the party room.

Yesterday there were also confusing signals from the Coalition about where it would want to see cuts made.

Business Council of Australia spokesman Graham Bradley has told Radio National the skilled migration program should not be cut. Read the full story

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Tony Abbott’s Coalition will cut net migration levels if it wins government, in a bid to stop Australia’s population reaching its predicted size of almost 36 million in 2050.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison yesterday told The Australian the Rudd government had allowed immigration to rise too high and the population figure that Treasury’s Intergenerational Report predicted last September for 2050 was unsustainable.

Mr Morrison said the Coalition would not allow the average net overseas migration of more than 300,000 a year that had occurred since the Rudd government took power to continue. Read the full story

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As a result of the recent General Skilled Migration (GSM) changes we wrote about on the 8th of February, a review of the GSM Points Test is to be undertaken in the first half of 2010 and a discussion paper will be placed on the department’s website for public comment until 12 March 2010.

The discussion paper has now been published and an excerpt of the paper is provided below:

The review of the General Skilled Migration (GSM) Points Test is part of a comprehensive reform of the skilled migration program. The Government has agreed on the following important principles which should underpin a new Points Test: Read the full story

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Today, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, announced a number of changes to the General Skilled Migration program.

 Let’s look at the key changes. We’ll cover these changes in more detail further on in this article.

• Offshore General Skilled Migration Visa Applications made before the 1^st September 2007 will be capped and then ceased.
• The current Critical Skills List (CSL) will be revoked and will be replaced by a new Skilled Occupations List (SOL) effective from the middle of 2010.
• The current Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) will be revoked and replaced with the same (and more targeted) Skilled Occupations List.
• The General Skilled Migration (GSM) Points Test will be reviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of the current test.
• New priority processing arrangements will be introduced for certain skilled migration visas.

Quite a lot to take in huh? We’ll try to break down the changes into a little more detail and as always, if you get stuck or have any further questions then feel free to pop into our forums. Read the full story

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Skilled Independent Migration Visa is one of the categories within the General Skilled Migration or Skilled Visa group which can be applied for both on-shore or from within Australia or off-shore or applicant is not in Australia.

The General Skilled Migration caters to those who are not sponsored by an employer and the applicant applies on the strength of his own qualification in this type of visa.

Generally, the applicant must have skills and qualifications for an occupation listed on Australia’s Skilled Occupation List (SOL), must be over 18 and under 45 years of age, with good English language ability, and recent skilled work experience or a recently completed eligible Australian qualification, among others. Read the full story

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One of the most critical questions for all potential migrants is to decide what class of visa to apply for.

The skilled migration Australia visa is one of the most popular, but is it right for most people? Let’s take a look at some of the different types of visa available.

A Working Holiday Visa is ideal for young people between 18 and 30 who want to spend up to a year in Australia. Whilst you can only have temporary or casual work, there are a great many of these visas available every year so you stand a good chance of getting one. Read the full story

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Western Australia job advertisements surged 6% in December which is the strongest monthly growth since May 2007.

Experts say that the renewal of the mining boom could force business to compete ferociously for workers. This isn’t good news for businesses in WA but it could be great news for folks looking to migrate to the state.

Just one day after Western Australia was declared the nations best-performing economy, treasurer Troy Buswell called for a state-based migration scheme as WA businesses were warned to brace themselves for skilled labour shortages. Read the full story

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From today (1st of January 2010), applicants applying for an offshore GSM visa who are nominating a trade occupation will no longer be able to meet the Australian Study Requirement. These applicants are now only able to meet the work experience criterion.

Work experience means that an applicant must have been employed in a skilled occupation for a minimum of 12 months of the 24 months immediately before the day on which the visa application was made.

This change relates to the following visa subclasses: Read the full story

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VETASSESS conducts assessments for over 200 occupations for people applying to migrate to Australia under the General Skilled Migration (GSM) and Employer Nomination Schemes (ENS).

From the 1st of January 2010, VETASSESS will be changing the requirements for assessment against these “Generalist Occupations” which are managerial, administrative, professional and associate professional occupations.

The new assessment process will help to ensure that applicant’s who meet the requirements under the new process are job ready and have the relevant skills and qualifications for employment in Australia in their nominated occupation.

From 2010, in order to receive a positive assessment, you will need: Read the full story

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From the 1st of January 2010, the Migration Regulations are being amended to allow Student visa holders who have been affected by the closure of their education provider in the preceding 12 months to lodge an application for a further Student visa to continue their studies and be entitled to a nil visa application charge.

Transitional provisions are being implemented from the 9th November 2009 to enable Student visa holders who were affected by an education provider closure in 2009 to lodge an application for a VAC refund.

This provision is available to students in circumstances where they need to apply for a further Student visa to continue their studies as a result of the provider closure.

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Getting your SOL’s mixed up with your MODL’s?  Alan Collette at Go Matilda  has written a  a great article  summarising  the myriad of occupations lists currently doing the rounds.

The Skilled Occupations List, or SOL

The SOL is a threshold list of skilled occupations – if your occupation is not on this list you do not meet one of the basic requirements of a skilled visa application, and as such cannot migrate to Australia under the general skilled program.

This list does not vary very often, but with a reclassification of skilled occupations having taken place in Australia in the last few months there is an expectation that the SOL will be subject to fairly significant amendment within the next year => as ever, if you are an intending migrant and you have an occupation that appears on the SOL as presently constituted it would be prudent to lodge your application sooner rather than later, just in case your occupation is omitted from a new SOL. Read the full story

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A member of parliament for the ruling Labor Party on Friday called for Australia’s immigration quotas to be cut in light of the threat from homegrown Islamic terrorists. That threat was exemplified last week when five men were charged over an alleged plot to storm an army base in Sydney.

Kelvin Thomson rational for the cut was that fewer migrants would mean more stringent background checks on applicants could be carried out.

He said Islamists were entering Australia through official immigration channels stating that this was “a far more serious issue than the prospect of us being attacked by another country”.

Hmmm, sounds like an interesting character this Kevin Thomson chap and I really don’t think he quite ‘gets it’. The current checks and as many of us who have been through the process can testify are more than rigorous enough. Read the full story

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As we mentioned yesterday, the Federal Government released their budget last night so instead of going through the reams of data coming out of the budget line by line and boring you to death, I thought I’d provide a very (sky) high summary of some of the key points which may be of interest to folks looking to one day call Australia their new home

The Federal Government has estimated Australia’s deficit will increase to $58 billion in 2009-10 and reach a total of $219 billion in the five years to 2012-13, due to a combination of reduced economic growth, decreased tax revenues, and initiatives to stimulate the economy.

The Government has predicted the Australian economy will contract by 0.5% in the 2009-10 financial year, but will be growing again by 2010-11. Read the full story

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Yet more restrictions  on the number of options for wannabe Aussies with the Australian business visa program (under the Skills Stream) being capped until the start of the next financial year, 01 July 2009.

The Australian business visa program allows investors and senior executives to settle in Australia so that they may develop opportunities in Australian business.

The Australian Government provides two options for emigrating to Australia through the business skills stream.

These include the Provisional Business visa, which can result in a permanent Australian visa, and the Permanent Residence Business visa, for those sponsored by a State/Territory.

Four types of people can apply for an Australian business visa in the Skills Stream, including owners/part-owners of a business, senior executives of major businesses, investors, and senior managers who have sponsorship from a State/Territory government.

In response to the current economic conditions, the Government assessed the number of people emigrating to Australia through the Australian business visa program and how that matched with the planning levels for Australian General Skilled Migration, and has decided to cap this financial year’s business skills visas.

This means that until 01 July 2009, no more than 6,650 offshore Australian business skills visas (class EA and UR) can be approved by the Government and an overall limit of 7,500 places for both onshore and offshore business skills visas.

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