Australia is commended to have one of the most structured immigration system in place across the globe. As stated in the handbook of Department of Home Affairs, Australia’s Immigration and Citizenship Program has been based around a universal, non-discriminatory visa system, which focuses on the contribution a person can make to Australia rather than their ethnicity, gender or religious belief. The Federal government allocates places each year for people wanting to migrate permanently to Australia as part of its planned Migration Program. Department of Home Affairs administers Australia’s Immigration and Citizenship Program. The Migration program is planned annually with a fixed number of total available places. Such a program is designed to achieve a range of economic and social outcomes. The ceiling for 2019-20 was of 160,000 places. Migration Plan 2020-2021 is yet to be announced due to deferring of Financial Budget till October 2020 as a result of pandemic. Migration Plan 2019-20 is to be followed until any further notice.
The total permanent migration program is broken down into the following streams: Skill, Family and Special Eligibility. There is also a child program which is based on demand and outside the ceiling limit. During the last couple of decades, a shift in the balance of the Migration Program away from the family stream in favour of the skilled stream is clearly observed.
A stream for skill is designed to improve the productive capacity of the economy and fill skill shortages in the labour market, including those in regional Australia. As per 2019-20 Migration plan, about 108,682 places are allotted under this stream which constitutes about, 69.5 per cent of the program. The skilled component is dealt under four categories, namely, General skilled migration, Employer nomination, Business skills migration, and Distinguished talent. Skilled migration is instrumental in not only in supply of skill and labour wherever the domestic work force is unable to cater and building a diverse society, but also provides a significant opportunity for qualified individuals to explore a new horizon of their life and join workforce of a thriving economy. It offers an arena for skilled personnel to contribute their service in areas requisite by local market. They also stimulate economic growth through job creation, value addition and also through their contribution in form increased local spending, taxes and other means. The Skilled stream of the Migration Program is also beneficial for the applicants as it will place them at par for many social security benefits like Medicare.
The country is also witnessing a new phase of immigration wave brought in by revamping policy in terms of regional settlement. It is highly promoting skill transfer to regional areas, partly due to scarcity of skilled labour and employees in these areas and also to avoid saturation of major cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane. It is beneficial to prospective applicant as it enables penetration to robust and largely unexplored environment. It benefits investment and promotion local spending in regional areas.
The employer sponsored migration program allows skilled workers to be nominated by an Australian employer to fill skilled positions that are unable to be filled locally. It can be applied either when applicant is overseas or in Australia, and have an Australian employer who has shown an interest in sponsoring. A temporary or permanent visa can be obtained through employer sponsorship.
General Skilled Migration
General Skilled Migration stream is used by skilled professionals to migrate to Australia using their previously acquired skilled and qualifications. SkillSelect is an online service of Department of Home Affairs that enables skilled workers who are interested in migrating to Australia to be considered for a skilled visa. As part of General skilled migration, one can submit Expression of Interest (EOI) through SkillSelect outlining their skills, work experience and qualifications. Australian employers or state and territory governments can find potential immigrants through SkillSelect and nominate workers to apply for skilled visas. There are classes of visas for highly skilled individuals intending to work in Australia for notified occupations. The eligible individuals are those who are under 45 years of age, meeting health and character requirements with requisite level of English proficiency and other conditions required under each sub class of Visa. It is a points-based system and requires an Expression of interest in SkillSelect based on which an invitation to lodge an application for visa is made. The subclasses of visa options this regard are: Skilled Independent Subclass 189 Visa, Skilled Nominated subclass 190 Visa and Skilled Regional /family sponsored visa subclass 491 visa. Subclasses 189 and 190 provides for permanent residence and subclass 491 visa is provisional and pathway to permanent residence. While subclass 189 visa is directly invited based on the overall eligibility points, subclasses 190 and 491 visa are based on state nominations after satisfaction of requirements of respective state/territories.
Skilled Occupation
In order to apply for any of the skilled migration visa, individuals should be qualified to work or train in an eligible skilled occupation in Australia and can meet all other requirements. The skilled occupation list summarises the occupations Australia needs to fill skill shortages. The list is reviewed regularly by the Department of Jobs and Small Business to respond to changes in the Australian labour market and regional variations across Australia. The current list of eligible skilled occupations can be found in a legislative instrument for the relevant visa program.
On 19 April 2017, Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) replaced the previous ‘Skilled Occupation List’ (SOL) Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) replaced the previous ‘Consolidated Sponsored Occupation List’ (CSOL).
Migration (LIN 19/051: Specification of Occupations and Assessing Authorities) Instrument 2019 as amended is presently in force with respect to aforesaid sub classes of skilled migration. At present, there are 212 occupations in Medium and Long‑term Strategic Skills List, 215 occupations in Short‑term Skilled Occupation List and 77 occupations in Regional Occupation List. Each list consists of occupations and their corresponding Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) code and Assessing Authority. The ANZSCO provides information on the skill level of jobs, qualifications and/or experience needed to work in occupation.
The applicable list for each subclasses of visa are as follows:
a) Subclass 189 (Skilled—Independent): Medium and Long term Strategic Skills List
b) Subclass 491 (Skilled Work Regional (Provisional eligible family member sponsorship stream)) not nominated by a State or Territory government agency; – Medium and Long term Strategic Skills List
c) Subclass 190 (Skilled—Nominated) visa and nominated by a State or Territory government agency- Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List and Short term Skilled Occupation List
d) Subclass 491 (Skilled Work Regional/family sponsored (Provisional)) and nominated by a State or Territory government agency – Medium and Long term Strategic Skills List; Short term Skilled Occupation List; and Regional Occupation List.
Each state government/territory creates its own list eligible for state nomination under state nominated visa stream, i.e. subclass 190 and subclass 491 visa applications depending upon their local requirement. The applicant has to consult website of each State/territory from which nomination is applied to understand the list of occupation eligible for nomination. This list is State or territory specific and is very dynamic in nature.
Occupation ceilings
‘Occupation ceiling’ refers to restriction or limit to invitations issued under the independent, skilled regional (provisional) visa not nominated by State in respect of a particular occupation group. It is to ensure an equitable distribution of skill migrations. The occupation ceilings are fixed for a Program year and once the number EOIs reaches the limit for any occupation group, no further invitation shall be made for the said occupation. Invitations will then be allocated to intending migrants in other occupation groups even if they are lower ranking. Occupation ceilings do not apply to State or Territory Nominated, Employer Sponsored or Business Innovation and Investment visa subclasses.
Occupation ceiling values are based on a percentage of stock employment figures for each occupation. Employment figures are provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and represent the number of people employed in Australia in each occupation. Occupation ceilings do not apply to State or Territory Nominated, Employer Sponsored or Business Innovation and Investment visa subclasses.
In addition to occupation ceilings, there is also Pro-rata Arrangement whereby Department of Home Affairs allocates only a small number of the more popular occupations each month, so they are not all used in one Invitation round. The occupations which are affected by pro-rata invitations tend to attract a higher pass mark. SkillSelect first allocates available places to Skilled – Independent visas (subclass 189), and thereafter the remaining to Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) – Family Sponsored. If all places are taken up by subclass 189 visas then there will be no invitations issued for subclass 491 visas in these occupations.
Choice of subclass of Skilled Migration visa
Although above mentioned visa subclasses of 189, 190 and 491 are similar in nature of their processing and skill assessment requirement; there are some significant distinctions among them on the basis of their invitation, length of stay, sponsorship of relative, location etc. The choice of each subclass also invariably depends on eligibility criteria, probability of invitation, nature of skill, chances of successful skills assessment and regional preferences. Hence, it is essential for every aspirant to have a basic understanding of each of these subclasses to make an informed choice. It may be kept in mind that Visa rules are very dynamic in nature and one need to familiar with updated Rules before opting for the mode of application.