by Sarah Gillis

BA, LlB, MMIA, JP NSW, MARN 9359588

The announcement on 8 February 2010 of further changes to the criteria for GSM visas for Australia appears to be another nail in the coffin for the skilled migration programme for international students.

Following closely on the heels of changes to skills assessment criteria on 1 January 2010 which saw international students nominating trade occupations required to gain 12 months full time experience before being eligible to apply for permanent residence, the 8 February changes further reduce the prospects for international students to move from their student visa status to provisional or permanent residence.

The Australian Government’s focus, in the skilled migration programme, is to ensure that it is ‘attuned to labour market needs’ by selecting skilled migrants with occupations that need to be filled now, and with training, experience and English language abilities which will provide good prospects for employment.

In summary the 8 February changes are as follows:

• Renovated SOL
  
  ‘Skills Australia’ will announce the new SOL by the end of April with effect from mid-2010 with expectations that ‘controversial’ occupations such as cook and hair dresser may be removed for onshore applicants.
  
  Skills Australia has been established to ‘identify skilled occupations of high value to the economy that align with its national workforce development strategy’.
  
  The new SOL will NOT apply to persons who:
  
  - hold a temporary Skilled Graduate visa and lodge their provisional (Skilled Regional Sponsored) or permanent (Skilled Independent, Skilled Sponsored) GSM visa prior to 31 December 2012
  or
  - have already applied for a provisional or permanent visa
  
  Nor will it apply to existing Students (in sub-classes 572, 573 & 574) who wish to apply for the Skilled Graduate visa however those applicants will have to meet the new SOL when applying for a provisional / permanent visa later.
  
  

• Removal of the MODL
  
  … and the 15 points that go with it.
  
  As for the SOL, MODL points will still be available to applicants with pending GSM applications and to Skilled Graduate visa holders who apply for their provisional / permanent visa before 31 December 2012.
  
  
• Removal of the CSL
  
  
• Introduction of new priority processing list as follows:
   
  ENS and RSMS applicants
  State / Territory nominated applicants under a ‘state migration plan’
  applicants with occupations on the CSL (until this list is disbanded)
  applicants with occupations on the MODL
  family sponsored applicants
  all other applicants
  
  
• Capping of pre-1 September 2007 visa applications.
  
  For the approximately 20 000 applicants who will be outside the new quota,  having waited patiently for almost two and a half years, their applications will be ‘withdrawn’ and their lodgement fee refunded, small compensation for their investment of time and effort into their dream of living and working in Australia.
  
  
• Shift in emphasis towards matching employers and states with skilled migrants with less emphasis on independent migrants who may have less certain prospects for attaining jobs in Australia.
  
  
• Points test review.
  
  Up for consideration are issues such as allocation of points for different occupations, whether excellent English language ability should be rewarded, value for employment.
  
  
• State Migration Plans
  
  States or Territories can seek to have approved a plan for the level and type of skilled migration sought in the coming four years. Plans which focus on an ‘economic development perspective’ will be favoured.
  
  
• Proposed: capping of visa grants per occupation
  
  

The new TRA ‘Job Ready Programme’ has been another nail in the GSM coffin for international students.

Introduced to overcome the skill shortfall in recently qualified tradespersons in Australia – the occupations of Cook and Hair Dresser being in the spotlight but many other occupations are also affected: Nurseryman, Graphic Pre-Press tradesperson,  Motor Mechanic – the programme limits recent graduates to obtaining, initially, a provisional skills assessment which enables them to only apply for a temporary Skilled Graduate visa.

Completion of 12 months full time employment in the nominated occupation – including having employers register the employment, workplace assessment and several thousand dollars later, applicants may then be eligible for the final skills assessment, enabling them to apply for permanent residence.

The silver lining for completing that employment is that applicants will be able to claim 10 bonus points for Australian employment, substituting for many the necessity of achieving the hard to reach score of 7 on the IELTS test.

Another light in the gloom: on 1 January changes were made to the Migration Regulations which required onshore GSM applicants nominating trade occupations to provide a ‘new’ skills assessment from TRA dated from 1 January 2010 onwards.

The Department of Immigration has now indicated that it will be relenting on this issue and from a soon-to-be-announced date, applicants will be able to provide an existing skill assessment when applying for a GSM visa.

And TRA is not the only authority to ‘tighten up’ its assessment criteria according to the new world order. In line with the ‘job ready’ approach, applicants seeking a skills assessment in a paraprofessional (40 or 50 point) occupation from Vetassess also require a minimum component of 12 months work experience in a related occupation in order to obtain an assessment for PR.

Overseas students who may have, until now, been able to reach the 120 pass mark even with a 50 point occupation or may have sought and obtained state sponsorship after completing a course in marketing, HR, finance or health, will now be required to have 12 months employment first.

Thus the majority of international students are being pushed through the Skilled Graduate temporary residence pipeline, narrowing over time to allow only a select few to graduate to PR.

As the Minister, and this columnist, has stated, international students travel to Australia to study. Their ability to apply for permanent residence in Australia on completion of studies is a separate matter which, practically, intersects greatly with the skilled migration category.

The above-mentioned changes will necessarily have an effect on the international student sector, a sector which we know from experience adapts like a chameleon to its surrounding environment of immigration eligibility.

For those international students who propose to continue on the pathway to provisional or permanent residence, a new, ‘mature’ approach will be required, that does not merely require ‘turning up’ to school, but will require a commitment to their own career and their dream country by starting their settlement process from day one, enhancing their English language ability and seeking employment opportunities, adapting to a brave new GSM world.

Sarah Gillis is Principal Consultant with Aspire Australia migration consultants located at Suite 7, Level 8, 97 Pacific Highway, North Sydney, NSW 2060. Tel: 02 9956 6011. Email: visas@aspireaustralia.com.au. Website: www.AspireAustralia.com.au