On July 1, the Australian government will launch a new skilled migration selection model based on Expression of Interest (EoI) to address Australia's future skill needs and its growing economy, said its Consul-General for South India, David Holly, on Wednesday.
Talking to reporters, he said: “This is the biggest skilled migration programme in the history of Australia that has been put in place. The intake for 2011-2012 would be 125,850 places against 113,850 last year.”
Assistant Secretary of the Labour Market Branch within the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Peter Speldewinde said that the programme was meant to try and spread the talent to large cities and towns in Australia and it was not country specific. The target areas were engineering, medical profession, nursing, scientist and mathematicians among others.
Of the 125,850 places, the major chunk of 46,000 was meant for employer sponsored; followed by 44,500 places for skilled independent; 24,000 for state-sponsored migration workers; 7,200 for highly-skilled business workers; and 4,050 for family sponsors.
Mr. Speldewinde is on a tour of Indian cities to explain about the salient features of skilled migration points test that was different from the current system and recognition of degrees awarded by Indian colleges among other things. He will be visiting China and Philippines soon.
“In the next five to ten years, there would be a demand for a wide range of workers. The new Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMAs) would allow major resources projects to gain access to overseas labour for genuine skills vacancies that could not be filled from the Australian labour market. EMAs would be available to projects valued at A$2 billion that need 1,500 workers. Priority would be given to Australian firms. Fourteen major projects have been approved and Indian joint venture companies might quality for it,” he said.
According to him, from July 1 onwards, the job-aspirant has to give EoI online and subsequently, the applicant would be invited to make a visa application.
“After completing the process, the applicant can login either to make changes or get further information. The registration is valid for two years. The applicant will be ranked according to national score and the Australian government would periodically issue advertisement about the job offers and those with high scores on the points test would be invited,” he said.
An official release issued by the Australian Consulate General said about two-thirds of the increased migration programme would be for skilled migrants to help fill critical skill needs, particularly in regional areas.
