Changes to Australian Migration laws

The Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Amanda Vanstone, and the Minister for Education, Science & Training, Julie Bishop, have jointly announced sweeping new changes to Australia's immigration laws that enable Australian graduates to apply for temporary work visas and build on their work experience, thereby, qualifying them for permanent residency. This announcement is aimed at addressing Australia's critical labour needs.

In the past, overseas graduates were exempted from meeting skilled migration requirements but this is no longer the case as the Australian government is assisting skilled migration applicants to meet the work requirements for that particular visa category. The announcement has been welcomed by Julie Bishop as a means of addressing disadvantage and retaining an edge in the competitive Australian job market.

"Australia needs to ensure that we are continuing to provide a quality education to international students to retain our competitive edge, she said. "Other countries are recognising the benefits of international education in terms of the cultural, social, economic and diplomatic benefits it brings and we need to stay ahead of the game".

In another sweeping change to skilled migration laws, applicants for that visa category will need to satisfy Australia's new English language proficiency requirements in an English proficiency test and the better the level of English language proficiency, the better chances of being successful. The Australian government is yet to reveal the finer details of the new proposal but it is expected to be implemented in late 2006 or early 2007.

By Neil Rao