The Australian government has committed to a review of the current migration program in light of the Parkinson review. Proposals are included in the "Migration Strategy: Getting migration working for the nation" paper released December 2023.
The next round of implementation will be the first two tiers of the "Skilled in Demand" visa. This visa will replace the existing Subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage visa but rather than a root and branch overhaul, the new system appears more of an incremental change. Implementation is expected later this month, November 2024.
Key Structural Changes
1. Three New Visa Streams
- Specialist Skills stream: For highly-skilled workers earning over $135,000 per year
- Core Skills stream: For workers in shortage occupations earning over $73,150 per year
- Essential Skills stream: A more regulated pathway for lower-paid workers (still under development) for earnings under the Core Skills salary threshold
2. Income Thresholds
The existing Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold, a salary floor for sponsoring workers on the Sc 482 visa, will be amended by legislating indexation. This will make it more difficult for future governments to prevent indexation.
Earnings will automatically increase from 1 July based on Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings.
3. Occupation Lists
The Specialist Skills stream will be open to all occupations except trades workers, machinery operators and drivers, and labourers, provided remuneration is above the stream's salary threshold (initially $135,000).
The Core Skills stream restricted to occupations on a new Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL). Jobs & Skills Australia has released its recommendations to the Minister for Immigration however the list is yet to be made public. Unofficial statements from Department officials suggest changes are likely to be minimal.
Essential Skills stream occupation requirements remain under development but are expected to be in fields such as childcare, aged care and disability support where remuneration is often below the Core Skills salary threshold.
The government recently announced that the Australian & New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations will be retired and a new Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA) will be released in December. It is unclear if or when the CSOL will be aligned to the new system.
4. Labor Market Testing Changes
Despite extensive discussion about the value and nature of Labour Market Testing by stakeholders in response to the proposed scheme, changes will be minimal. The validity period will increase from 4 to 6 months.
5. Reduction in Work Experience
It is expected that the SID will require 1 year work experience in a closely related occupation.
6. Greater access to Permanent Residency
The new SID visa is intended to provide greater access to permanent residency. So far limited details about this have been released but include:
- Work experience for any employer will count towards the requirements for permanent residency
- Access through a reformed points test (no details at this time)
7. New Transparency Measures
The government will introduce a new public register of all approved work sponsors, including the number of sponsored workers and their occupations.
The government has announced the purpose of the register is to provide greater transparency to existing visa holders as to which employers are currently engaging sponsored visa holders to better enable transition between employers.
Potential new policy changes
A number of commitments in the Migration Strategy remain unaddressed or only loosely addressed. The following changes have been announced without specific implementation information:
Processing Targets
The Migration Strategy recommended implementation of greater clarity around processing times. It is unclear how, or if, these will be implemented at this time.
- 21 days for general processing
- 7 days for Specialist Skills pathway
- Priority processing for accredited sponsors
Employer Fee Structure
The current framework relies upon the employer making large upfront payments, in particular for the Skilling Australians Fund levy. The Migration Strategy recommended revising this process to allow employers to pay on a periodic basis.
Action now
While the changes announced are unlikely to be transformative, where applications can be lodged prior to the implementation date of 23 November, this may reduce potential risks associated with changes to the program settings.
Roam will release further information on the changes once they are announced.
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