2009–10 Budget Immigration
(c) immi.gov.au
The Australian Government has further cut the permanent skilled migrant intake to 108,100 places for the 2009–10 Migration Program, in response to the continued economic slowdown, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said today.
In March, the Government cut the 2008–09 permanent skilled migration intake by 14 per cent from 133,500 to 115,000. This reduction to 108,100 places represents an overall drop of almost 20 per cent on previous planning levels.
In addition to the cutback in places, the Government will be increasing the English language level required for trades-related occupations and introduce a targeted skills-testing regime to ensure that migrants have both the language and skills needed to participate in the labour market.
The Government has also announced a tightening of the non-sponsored independent skilled pathway for trades occupations.
The English language threshold will be increased from 5 IELTS to 6 IELTS, which means they will need to demonstrate a competent level of English. This change will apply from 1 July 2009 for people applying offshore and from 1 January 2010 for people applying onshore.
A job readiness test will be introduced for onshore applicants, in line with the testing • arrangements for offshore applicants. This will ensure that applicants have the skills claimed. This change will apply from 1 January 2010 for people applying onshore.
Note, that under the priority arrangements, fewer trades-level occupations will be granted a visa in 2009–10.
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