Skills surprise in migration plan

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Bernard Lane

From: The Australian

May 25, 2011 12:00AM

THE federal government plans to increase by almost 30 per cent the skilled migrant category that was targeted by cookery and hairdressing students.
In a surprise development, the 2011-12 migration program projects a 29.6 per cent increase in independent skilled migrants, lifting the number of places to 44,350.
The government had been winding back this category after a blowout in visa grants to low-skilled overseas students.
Monash University researcher Bob Birrell said the extra places were good news for former overseas students waiting for a decision on migration applications.
The government said the queue had shortened from 150,000-plus in May last year to just below 132,000 in April this year. A tougher points test emphasising advanced skills and superior English starts on July 1.
A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said it would take time for applicants under the new points test to make their presence felt in the system. "While it is not possible to predict accurately, it is likely that initially a large proportion of skilled independent visas will be granted to people who are assessed under the old points test," she said.


These could include former overseas students whose professions, such as accountancy, were on the new, better targeted occupation list, Dr Birrell said.
Universities Australia chief executive Glenn Withers said more places in the independent category, together with the new points test, would help universities replace retiring academics and hang on to promising post-graduate students.
It was unclear whether extra places in the independent category also would allow the government to clear the backlog of cookery and hairdressing students who had an easy path to permanent residency under the old rules.
When the new points test was foreshadowed last November, departmental officials said they had been working to reduce the dominance of the independent skilled category. "In 2006-07, the independent category was about 55 per cent of the [entire skilled] migration program," they said. "That's come down now. We're projecting it's going to come in at about 30 per cent in 2010-11."
But in the 2011-12 program, the share allocated to the independent category rises to 35.2 per cent. And the employer-sponsored category gets only a modest 4.19 per cent increase to 46,000 places. "That's quite striking in the light of rhetoric about favouring employer-sponsored migrants," Dr Birrell said.
Mr Bowen's spokeswoman said: "The decision to balance skilled migration planning levels between employer-sponsored and independent migration reflects macroeconomic conditions, the need for skills in key occupations, and the likely demand for various visas. Priority continues to go to employer-sponsored categories."
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