| April 26, 2006 12:24 – Welcome to Immigrate Perth News
Welcome to my first entry in the Immigrate Perth News. Here you will find regular updates on immigration information and Life in Perth. So if you are planning on a move to Perth and want to know more about what is going on be sure to keep in touch!! I look forward to bringing in regular updates to your desktop that will help you in your Move to Perth.
April 26, 2006 13:41 – Migrant numbers set to surge after visa rush
DIMIA figures show a spike in the number of skilled workers and their families being offered long stay visas compared to last year. The shortage of workers available to fill positions in the Australian job market makes the 457 visa popular among employers, especially in resource industries like petroleum and oil. This is because with the use of electronic processing a skilled foreigner could arrive and be working in Australia within a month of applying. When you look at the alternative and the 12 months plus time frame for the permanant migration process The indication is that the number of temporary visas issued this year surpass previous years by tens of thousands. In the six months from July through to December last year, 39,500 skilled workers or their relatives were granted the “457” visas. A total of 49,855 visas were issued in the 2004-05 financial year. A report released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found Western Australia’s economic growth fell sharply to 2.7 per cent in 2004-05, coinciding with a skilled labour shortage. The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry predicts a return to steady growth of 6.5per cent this year, but says the labour shortage is more critical now than two years ago. The popularity of the “457” visa leads to an increase in the number of migrants settling permanently in Australia. After four years, the workers and their dependents can apply to stay permanently in Australia. Among those hoping for a permanent shift to Australia is, one of five female welders from The Philippines. The 30-year-old signed up in Manila and recently arrived in Perth, leaving her children, aged six and eight, in her sister’s care. She was not told her family could immediately join her under the terms of her temporary skilled visa, but she is now she knows they can she is busy saving for their airfares. She said she earned about $300 a day, 30 times her Philippine wage, at a metal fabrication firm and wants to bring her kids here, and also her welder husband after he finishes a stint as a guest worker in South Korea. Other long stay migrants include three Filipino colleagues who arrived to work at a packaging company last month. They said their treatment in Australia was far better than that received in the Middle East. Filipino-Australian Club president Marino Salinas said the boom in 457 visas was a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. Victoria Laurie April 2006 source
April 27, 2006 19:43 – Australia’s booming economy fuels global recruitment drive
The Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) has just topped up its Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) adding builders, bakers, glaziers, roof plumbers, tilers and stonemasons, among others, to its list of preferred migrants. This brings the total number of occupations on the MODL which inlcudes other occupations such as hairdressers, chefs, accountants, doctors, nurses, bricklayers and cabinet makers to 81. The MODL and Skills Occupation List (SOL) form part the backbone of Australia’s point-based skilled migration strategy. The Australian mining and construction industries are booming with no immediate signs of a slowdown, so if your trade is in the building industry and you like the idea of living in Australia now is the perfect time. There are the jobs available but not the local candidates to fill them so the skills are added to the MODL in a proactive attempt to attract migrants with the skills Australia is short of. Applicants under the points tested General Skilled Migration (GSM) program who nominate an occupation on the MODL are awarded the maximum number points for the category. Of course a skill on the MODL and SOL are only part of the skilled migration points test,which is based on six main criteria;
- age,
- English language ability,
- occupation,
- qualifications,
- work experience
- skills.
April 30, 2006 11:03 – Prospective immigrants may soon have to pass a test on the English language
Today the parliamentary secretary to Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone, Andrew Robb said he would consider the introduction of a compulsory citizenship test. A statement following the concerns that many Australians believed that assessments of basic English competency in prospective citizens was highly subjective. PROSPECTIVE immigrants may soon have to pass a test on the English language as well as Australia’s values, customs, laws and history. Andrew Rob said in a speech to the Sydney Institute “From my point of view, successful integration is overwhelmingly in the interests of migrants and the broader community, for this reason, I am prepared to have a serious look, over the next couple of months, at the merits of introducing a compulsory citizenship test.” A compulsory national citizenship test for migrants has previously been called for by Labor. Competency in English is an important skill for immigrants. 90 percent of skilled migration applicants who spoke English fluently found jobs within six months of arrival Mr Robb said terrorism and the challenges of attracting skilled migrants as the population aged were making it even more important for newcomers to be successfully integrated into Australian society. “We will need to become even better at welcoming and integrating people from diverse backgrounds into our Australian family,” he said. Herald and Weekly Times source
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