Occupational Ceilings

A discussion paper has just been released seeking views on how occupational ceilings should work in the skilled migration program.

Once an occupational ceiling has been reached, no further invitations or nominations for that occupation can be issued for the remainder of the programme year. Occupational ceilings do not apply to employer sponsored visas so specific skilled vacancies can still be filled through those visa subclasses even after the relevant ceiling has been reached for the points tested visa subclasses. 

Of the approximately 200 occupational groups covered by occupational ceilings, the following six reached their ceilings in the 2012-13 programme year:

•   Chemical and Materials Engineers (ANZCO Code 2331);

•   Electronics Engineers (ANZCO Code 2334);

•   Other Engineering Professionals (ANZCO Code 2339);

•   ICT Business and Systems Analysts (ANZCO Code 2611);

•   Software and Applications Programmers (ANZCO Code 2613); and

•   Telecommunications Engineers (ANZCO Code 2633). 

The system is designed to make sure there is a balance between not filling up the skilled migration intake too quickly against making sure that occupations in demand are filled. It probably all seems a bit unfair if your occupation is one of the six listed. 


If you want to have your say submissions are open until 16 December 2013

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Labour Market Testing - 457

Misuse of the 457 visa scheme apparently continues and the response this time around is to introduce labour market testing ("LMT"). Getting rid of LMT was one of the big reforms the last time there was a major overhaul of the Employer Nomination Scheme…never mind!

I am very grateful to the MIA's email to members this afternoon which provided a very useful summary of the new requirements and which I summarise below:

LMT must be undertaken by standard business sponsors prior to lodging a nomination. Standard business sponsors must provide information with their nomination about:

• Their attempts to recruit Australian workers;

• How they have determined on the basis of these attempts that there is not a suitable qualified and experienced Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible visa holder available to fill the position.

There are some exemptions for Working Holiday Makers and for Work and Holiday visa holders in the agricultural sector. Thankfully LMT is not needed where it would conflict with Australia’s international trade obligations.

Evidence of LMT must be provided with the nomination. This includes a completed "domestic recruitment summary table" which includes the following:

• List all modes of advertising or recruitment efforts in the last 12 months for that occupation, for example, online, social media, newspaper, internal recruitment, trade publications);

• Provide details of where the advertisement or recruitment effort took place (for example, name of publication, website, job or careers expo);

• Period/dates of advertising or recruitment;

• Fee(s) paid for advertising or recruitment;

• Provide details of who the fees were paid to;

• Geographical target audience;

• Number of applications received;

• Number of applicants that were hired;

• Reasons candidates were not successful;

An authorised person then has to sign off on it: I declare that the information I have provided in this document is, to the best of my knowledge, true and accurate and I am aware of the penalties for providing misleading or false information to the Commonwealth. 

Policy will be released later in the month. In the interim keep checking the DIBP website for more info.

Drowning on our watch

On 1 September 2013, the ABC program "Background Briefing" examined some of the issues about responsibility for rescue at sea.

Australia’s search and rescue authorities stand accused of unnecessary delays, disregarding distress calls and passing responsibility to Indonesia, which is not equipped to carry out rescue operations

Those accusations were again made over the weekend with another sinking and drowning near Indonesia. The issues are complex.

The boat was in Indonesia's search and rescue zone, which covers most of the ocean between Indonesia and Christmas Island, so Australia's maritime safety authority transferred responsibility to its Indonesian counterpart, BASARNAS.
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Indonesia's BASARNAS office in West Java, which responds to boats in distress on the coastline commonly used by people smugglers, is hopelessly ill-equipped to conduct open sea rescues. The head of operations there, Rochmali, says all they have at their disposal are rubber boats and traditional fishing vessels, which can't go more than five nautical miles from shore.

The podcast is compelling listening or if you prefer there is the transcript:

Asylum Seeker Politics

I have again been dismayed by the politics of asylum seekers. This blog post was partly inspired by a weekly newsletter that I received from the Law Council of Australia. A quick browse down the list of articles this week in the "immigration section" reveals the following:

Brisbane Times - Aug 01, 2013

The first plane carrying asylum seekers denied all chance of resettlement in Australia under Labor's hardline new refugee policies flew from Christmas Island to Manus Island on Wednesday night. Special Broadcasting Service - Jul 31, 2013 Immigration Minister Tony Burke says the opposition is silly to announce plans to build a 2000-bed asylum seeker centre on Nauru. The Age - Jul 29, 2013 The first group of asylum seekers to be sent to Manus Island under the new deal with PNG are expected to arrive from the end of the week as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd indicated that The surge in boat arrivals sparked by Labor's hardline Papua New Guinea refugee resettlement plan is unlikely to be.... The Daily Telegraph - Jul 28, 2013 ANDREW BOLT: Prime Minister, in 2008 you scrapped our tough border laws. Now, an Australian Federal Police report compiled around September in that same year warned that people smugglers, and I'm quoting, "will market recent changes to Australia's immigration policy to entice potential illegal immig The Age - National - Jul 28, 2013 AAP Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has refused to say when his hardline plan to banish boat asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea will work, as another refugee vessel is intercepted en route to Australia. I am not an expert on the Refugee Convention, but even with my basic knowledge, I am having trouble understanding how the PNG solution (which is obviously politically ingenious)  could not be in breach of the Convention. I am sure there is non-political analysis of this out there, but I refer to the following two articles: International Law Matters - even on Manus (New Matilda 30 Jul 2013) and PNG Policy places politics over principle (Eureka Street 19 July 2013) I wish the game of political table tennis and the race to the bottom to find the harshest policy would stop! Creative commons acknowledgment for the photograph

457 in the press

The 457 (temporary 4 year working) visa has been controversial since its introduction by the former Howard government. On one hand employer groups complain of labour shortages and the inability to fill skilled vacancies, on the other hand, the unions and employee groups say it should be jobs for Australians as a priority. In the middle are the (sometimes exploited) foreign workers.


In this post, I have collected some of the recent media stories:

1. On 23 February the Minister announced some further changes to the program -  Reforms to the temporary work (skilled) (subclass 457) program
2. One of the predicted responses -  Opposition slams immigration visa reform
3. More reports of rorts
4. Then there are issues about compliance and monitoring
5. Some self interest from the IT sector
6. Then there followed the revelation that senior members of the Prime Minister's own staff were holders of 457 visas - link here;
7. The Premier of Western Australia defended the 457 visa scheme
8. The Australian Industry Group has its view as well
9. More rhetoric from the PM
10. Crikey's view is that the debate is xenophobic 
11. Are the PM and her department talking about the same thing - DIAC report on the 457 visa

I will restrain myself from going on, but the heated debate continues on....

Creative commons acknowledgment for the photograph.

New Visitor Visas

From 23 March 2013 there are a number of changes to visitor visas. There are now 5 subclasses of visa:

1. The Temporary work (short stay activity) visa (subclass 400) lets you come to Australia on a temporary basis to: (a) do short-term work; or (b) conduct an activity as an invited participant in an event;
2. The visitor visa (subclass 600) lets you visit Australia for tourism or business visitor activities.Tourism includes holidays, recreation and seeing family or friends. Business visitor activities may include attending a conference, negotiation or an exploratory business visit.
3. Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) (subclass 601) and an eVisitor visa (subclass 651) will be available to passport holders of specific countries; and
4. There will also be a new medical treatment visa (subclass 602)

There are more details (and explanatory videos) on the DIAC website.

Creative commons acknowledgment for the photograph.