Student visas continue to be refused across the globe for Australia for non-sensical reasons such as why couldn’t the applicant study English in their own country. As a passionate advocate for international education and immigration in general I have recently spoken on two radio stations with regard to these issues. Visa backlogs will be a major issue to sort out for the incoming government. Meantime, with skills shortages throughout both metropolitan and regional Australia, there is still a clear push to assist remote area employers to sponsor skilled migrants with an increasing number of DAMAs (Designated Area Migration Agreement). This allows employers concessions on occupations as well as skillset requirements to sponsor employees from overseas. One of the most recent ones was set up in the Pilbara area of WA and has occupations such as child care educator included in the list.
Recent legislation has been amended to allow those working on 482 or 457 employer-sponsored visas during the pandemic who work in short term occupations normally without a pathway to PR, to now be able to apply for PR within 3 years of sponsorship with the same employer. We hope this may be extended to all 482 visa holders in the future. In addition, age restrictions were also withdrawn for these visa holders working and sponsored during the pandemic. Skilled migration nominations from the states and approvals are flying through currently in light of the approach of the end of the current fiscal year.
Here’s hoping the new government will maintain its electoral intentions of creating more permanent residences for temporary visa holders in Australia.
This article was written by Melanie Macfarlane - ISEAA's Executive Director