According to expert immigration group 1st Contact, recent changes to Australia’s immigration policy presents good news to both current domestic workers as well as to hopeful migrants seeking to relocate to Australian shores.
In a bid to head off an impeding skills crisis, the Australian Department of Immigration has radically shifted their focus onto attracting more highly skilled professionals by scrapping the current Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) in favour of the new Skilled Occupations List (SOL).
This dramatic change was announced by Immigration Minister Chris Evans on the 8th of February 2010 who went on to say that ‘Immigration should be demand rather than supply driven.”
Sam Hopwood, managing director of 1st Contact’s Australian office says “It is clear that the government’s intention is to focus the migration policy toward sponsorship. Their view is that this particular change in policy will attend best to the problem caused by prior defunct policies that lured many thousands of accountants to Australia, who did not continue to work in their professions, and left continued shortages for local employers to cope with.”
It is clear that the government’s intention is to focus the migration policy toward sponsorship
The SOL is a far a more comprehensive and targeted list, making the MODL redundant. The most critical shortages are in the health-care, engineering and mining sectors. The need for international recruitment came on much faster than anticipated largely due to the 5.3% drop in unemployment rates and a positive upturn in Australia’s economy.
“The skills shortages that have occurred on the back of these low unemployment rates has directly caused the shift in immigration policy – a change that is vital in order for Australia to continue to feed its growing labour market.” Hopwood adds, “Skilled workers living outside of Australia would be best advised to employ the services of a specialised recruitment and visa company, such as 1st Contact, who have the contacts in Australia to be able to seek out appropriate employers who are searching for their skills.”
For more information on this issue, contact 1st Contact on www.1stcontact.com
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About 1st Contact Visas1st Contact Visas is an immigration consultancy incorporated in 1998 with the aim of becoming the premier visa service provider to people wishing to migrate around the world. 1st Contact Visas can assist with the full range of UK Visas, including the HSMP/Tier 1 Visa and working towards British Citizenship though Indefinite Leave to Remain. |
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