The Australia visa program has received quite a lot of changes in the last few months. According to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, these changes where necessary in order to better regulate the country's immigration intake. However, as expected, these changes have garnered a wide range of reactions from many groups.
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Australian Highly Skilled Visa - The Skilled Migration Program is an initiative to help to overcome skill shortages within the Australian workforce and to identify individuals who can bring valuable economic benefits to the Australian economy. |
As can be recalled, the DIAC started to implement the changes since last year. One of the biggest of these changes was with the skilled migration program. Here, the program was heavily reorganized in order to better attract more higher level professionals into the country. The requirements for the said visa was also made stricter in order to better select qualified applicants.
Just two months ago, the DIAC has yet announced a new set of changes. This time around, the department focused on the points assessment section of the applications process. Here, the department said that they have redistributed the points in order to better screen out applicants. The main focus this time around has been English proficiency and
However, many sectors have reacted negatively to the changes that the DIAC has made. The biggest reactions came from the visa applicants themselves. According to them, these changes have deprived them of the chance to of getting into the land down under. Some have also added that the new changes are somewhat discriminating of people coming from particular countries.
On the other hand, many affected industries in the country have also voiced our their own concerns. One of their biggest worries is how the changes will affect their worker intake. As it is, many business in the country actually depend a lot on immigrants for both their labor and income. One particular industry that was heavily hit by the changes was the foreign student sector. This is mainly because a lot of schools get their income from the foreign student market.
Because of the significant effect of these changes, these groups have clamored for a review of these new rules they argue that the DIAC should have consulted the affected sectors first before making the changes, in order to make the appropriate ones.
For their part, the DIAC said that they gladly welcome these reactions. However, they remained firm that the changes that they have implemented are necessary in order to better regulate immigration in the country. But they do agree that a lot more discussions are needed to be done in order to be sure that these changes would indeed be able to do what they are supposed to.
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