Australian skilled migration reform

In other words, the changes of the new general skilled migration policy scheduled for September 2007 1 are as follows.

1. Improve English requirements but keep appropriate exemptions, and reward applicants with strong English skills.

As one of the four basic requirements for general skilled immigrants in Australia, under normal circumstances, the English level will be improved from the current professional English level (that is, four 5 points in IELTS listening, speaking, reading and writing) to the proficiency English level (that is, four 6 points in IELTS), and applicants who have reached the proficiency English level will only be given 15 points (currently 20 points). The Immigration Department has approved the exemption requirements of two types of applicants. One is that if the occupation nominated by the applicant is a mechanic, the English requirements will still be mainly professional English. The other is that for the current 495 visa applicants (which will be changed to 475 and 487 visas after September 1), if the state where the applicant applies for sponsorship participates in the English training program, the main applicant only needs to reach the IELTS average score of 5.5 and is willing to pay for admission. On the other hand, the Immigration Department gives high marks to applicants with outstanding English ability. The specific measure is that if the applicant can get four 7 points in the IELTS test, he will be given a 25-point immigration score. Compared with the previous draft, the average score is 7, and the single item is not less than 6, which is improved.

2. Emphasize the role of work experience.

First, increase Australia's technical work experience. The specific requirement is that the applicant has at least 20 hours of paid technical work experience related to his nominated occupation in Australia every week, and can get an immigration score of 10. Under the current policy, Australia's four and a half years of work experience can only get 5 points in the reward sub-column, which has now become an independent scoring standard. The so-called technical work experience, the Immigration Department usually requires applicants to have relevant academic qualifications before they have certain "skills". Therefore, the part-time experience of undergraduate students may not be recognized.

Second, if you don't have more than one year's relevant work experience, you won't get the shortage of professional scores. According to the current policy, as long as the applicant can pass the assessment of the occupation in short supply, he can get a score of 15. According to the new policy, he needs to have at least 12 months of work experience related to jobs in short supply in the four years before submitting the application to meet the requirements. International students who are in short supply of majors in Australia can get 10 working experience in Australia in addition to the shortage score if they can engage in jobs related to their professional titles for 12 months after graduation.

Third, the so-called work experience, as one of the basic conditions, no longer requires different working time because of different scores of nominated occupations, but adopts the current requirement of 60 points for nominated occupations and uniformly requires working time, that is, no matter whether the professional title occupation is 60 points, 50 points or 40 points, only the inventory working experience of 12 months in the 24 months before submission can meet the work experience requirement. At present, for applicants with a nominated occupation of 50 or 40, they need 24 months of work experience to submit. Working hours are still not less than 20 hours per week. Moreover, the Immigration Bureau is particularly clear that maternity leave, whether it is mother's maternity leave or father's maternity leave, is no longer regarded as work experience as long as it is unpaid.

3. Add a brand-new 476 technology-recognized graduate visa.

This technically recognized graduate visa No.476 is for suitable graduates outside Australia. The validity of the visa is 18 months. Applicants are allowed to work or study freely in Australia, and they can apply for a permanent residence visa at any time when they hold a visa. The premise is that you have studied in a university recognized by the Australian government and have the skills that Australia urgently needs.

4. Australia's high education is favored, with a doctor's degree of 25 points.

First, applicants who have obtained a doctorate in Australia through at least two years of study will get an Australian academic score of 25 points, which is 10 higher than the current policy.

2. Eligible international students who have studied in Australia for more than three years (all taught in English) will be given an immigration score of 15. And provides three ways:

Study for not less than one year to get a bachelor's degree and study for not less than one year to get a master's degree.

Study for not less than one year to obtain a bachelor's degree, and study for not less than one year to obtain an honorary degree (not less than 1 class 2).

Study for not less than three years and obtain an honorary bachelor's degree (not less than 1 class 2).

Third, for other international students who meet their two-year policy of Australian education, they will be given an immigration score of 5 points.

5. Simplify the visa system for ordinary skilled immigrants and allow universal online application.

The first is to integrate the existing 15 general skilled immigrant visas into nine new visas, including four offshore and five onshore. Please refer to the attached table for the specific visa number and name.

Secondly, in view of the possible impact of this policy change on international students' application for permanent residence in Australia, the Immigration Department has set up a 485 technical postgraduate visa for international students who have graduated from Australia but can't meet the requirements for permanent residence for the time being. The visa is valid for 18 months, and you can work or study at will. International students can apply for a permanent residence visa at any time with this visa.

Third, for applicants from New Zealand, the same number of visas will be issued to immigrant applicants from other countries in the world, instead of handling them separately as before.

Fourth, in order to improve efficiency, the Immigration Department can apply for nine visas online under the new system, regardless of whether the applicants are in Australia or not. Previously, I could only apply for some domestic visas and 495 visas online.

6. What are the outstanding issues?

It is not difficult to see that the policy change in September 2007 1 day should not have a great impact on the overseas students after September 2007 1 day. In fact, since the new policy also proposes that you can apply for an onshore visa even if you nominate 50% of the international students with a career, any international student who has completed two years of full-time study in Australia and obtained a degree need not worry about leaving Australia after the implementation of the new policy. From this point of view, although the English requirements have been raised under the new policy, it has extended the time for Australian students who have not met the immigration requirements to make efforts.

The announced new policy doesn't cover all aspects of the reform. For example, speaking silently, international students can get 5 points for mastering the community language. However, according to the published scoring system, the reward points are neither variable nor constant (that is, occupation and age), which is like negligence. More importantly, at present, the Immigration Department has not made a clear statement on some key issues. For example, everyone is concerned about whether the passing score of immigrants will be improved (the current passing score is 120), and the answer of the Immigration Bureau is "considering"; Regarding whether the "two-year policy" will be adjusted, the Immigration Department's answer is "under consideration"; The immigrant's answer is "under consideration" on the question that he can get five bonus points by investing 6.5438 million Australian dollars in deposits.