Canberra: India continues to be the top source country of migrants to Australia. Latest available statistics show there were 33,310 migrants from India during the 12-month period ended June 2018. Although Indians were the largest constituency (20% of the overall migrant population going down under), there was a 20.5% decline in their numbers. These numbers cover migrants in the skill stream, family stream and special eligibility stream, but exclude those on student visas.
A recent announcement by the Australian government on reduction of the migration cap by 15% (this does not include student visas) to 160,000 for the year 2019-20, which commences from July 1, has dampened enthusiasm. However, the government has also sought to incentivise new migrants to settle outside the already congested big cities, by introducing two classes of ‘Regional (Provisional) Visas’ from November 2019. All of Australia will be defined as ‘regional’ except the metropolitan areas of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Perth.
Cyrus Mistry, the Perth-based director of EasyMigrate Consultancy Services, is quick to point out that the reduction in migration cap is similar to the final count accepted during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018. The announcements are likely to have a mixed impact for Indians aspiring to migrate to Australia, with those from the non-IT sector standing to benefit. As IT companies are predominant in metro areas, technology sector workers aspiring for an Australian visa are less likely to be eligible for the new regional visas.
“The new regional visas will be attractive to those who are planning to engage in basic service sectors such as agriculture, hospitality and tourism, child-care, aged-care, medical practitioners, construction, machinery-maintenance, and mining, to name a few,” Mistry said. “It is unlikely to provide adequate incentives for metro-centric industries such as IT and higher education.”
A release from the office of Australian PM Scott Morrison states that the holders of the new ‘Regional (Provisional) Visas’ will be able to access permanent residence if they live and work in regional Australia for three years. In other words permanent residency will be possible post-November 2022. The release adds that 23,000 seats (out of the total cap of 160,000) will be set aside for the new categories of regional visas. However, according to immigration experts, this will eat into the number of independent skilled visas that allowed visa holders to live and work anywhere in Australia.
A statement from Australia’s department of home affairs explains that the new skilled regional provisional visas will be for skilled migrants and dependent family members. One class, the ‘Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) Visa’, will be for those sponsored by an employer in regional Australia. The second class, known as the ‘Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa’, will be for those nominated by a state or territory government, or sponsored by eligible family members to live and work in regional Australia. These visas will be granted for a period of up to five years - the current regional visa program offers tenure of up to four years.
A wider range of occupations will be covered by these visas and priority processing will be available. There will also be additional points for visa aspirants who are sponsored to settle in regional Australia.
