The 2009 – 2010 skilled migration program

The planning for the 2009–10 skilled migration program publicized in the 2009–10 Budget build upon the current changes introduced by the Government to make certain the program is strongly targeted on the skills wanted in the Australian labor market.

Previous changes to the skilled migration program:
These changes recognize that the skilled migration program comprises three different elements:

•The employer-sponsored path, where skilled migrants are sponsored into employment that cannot be filled in the vicinity. Many of individuals granted employer-sponsored visas are previously in Australia working on a temporary visa.

•The government-sponsored path, where applicants are sponsored by state or region governments to address skill shortages particular to the jurisdiction.

•The independent skilled path, where applicants are not sponsored and do not essentially have a job to come to.

In the rouse of the global economic crisis and the following slowdown in the Australian economy, on 1 January 2009, the Government introduced the following measures:

•The dealing out of employer-sponsored skilled visa applications will be fast-tracked, as these visas mirror the skills currently wanted by employers.

•State and territory governments have been given bigger scope to back the skills needed in their jurisdiction.

•Where people search for to migrate to Australia without a sponsor, they will only be given precedence if they have an profession on the Critical Skills List (CSL), which is focused on medical, IT professionals and engineers.

Go after those changes, on 16 March 2009, the Government proclaim the 2008–09 skilled migration program would be reduced to 115 000. The decrease affects the self-governing skilled (non-sponsored) portion of the program.

2009–10 Budget announcements:
The priority arrangements implement on 1 January 2009 will stay in place for the 2009–10 skilled migration program, which has been put at 108 100 places. This will make sure that employer-sponsored and government-sponsored visas go on to be fast-tracked.
It remains open for the Government to formulate more adjustments to the skilled migration program in line with Australia’s economic and labor market needs.
The CSL will continue in place for individuals seeking to migrate to Australia not including a sponsor.

These arrangements make sure that only those with a job offer or skills in serious need will be given right of way in the present economic climate.
Besides those priority arrangements, the Government has also declared a reduction of the non-sponsored independent skilled path for trades occupations.

•The English language threshold will be greater than before from IELTS 5 to IELTS 6 in every one of the four IELTS components, which means visa applicants with a chosen trade profession will need to show a competent level of English.

•For temporary GSM visa subclasses with a confessional competent English component, the threshold English language standard will be greater than before from an average score of IELTS 5.5 to a standard of IELTS 6.0. .

•These changes will be valid from 1 July 2009 for people applying offshore and from 1 January 2010 for public applying onshore.

•A Job Ready test will be set up to complement the testing arrangements previously in place for offshore applicants in a number of trades. This will make sure that applicants have the skills claimed. This modification will apply from 1 January 2010.

These measures distinguish that a skilled migrant coming in the course of the non-sponsored pathway must struggle in the local labor market when they land (hence the need for top language skills) and have confirmed that they have the skills claimed.

All of these modifications are aligned with the Government’s longer-term goal to transfer the balance of the skilled migration program. In the past, the employer-sponsored and government-sponsored streams of the skilled migration program have jointly represented just 20 to 25 per cent of the skilled migration program whereas the majority entered through the non-sponsored sovereign skilled stream.

The Government has required to shift that balance. In the 2008–09 skilled migration programs, the employer-sponsored and government-sponsored streams will stand for 43 per cent of the visa grants. In the 2009–10 skilled migration programs, it is probable that the two sponsored streams will stand for close to 50 per cent of visa grants, with an equivalent turn down in the proportion of non-sponsored visa grants.

Source: www.immi.gov.au