Review of the points test underway

The review of the points test for Australian general skilled migration is underway - with changes to be implemented around the middle of the year.

The departmental discussion paper is available by clicking HERE, but the executive summary of the objectives to be achieved is:

"The Government has agreed on the following important principles which should underpin a new Points Test:

• it should contribute to the selection of applicants who offer the most human capital and will therefore make the optimal contribution to Australia’s demographic and economic future;

• it should not preclude very good applicants from offshore or in Australia, including former international students;

• it should be able to operate flexibly under both current arrangements and any new arrangements for skilled migrant selection;

• it should enable applicants with high value attributes across a number of areas such as English language ability, academic qualifications and work experience, to achieve the maximum number of points; and

• it should not give undue weight to any one factor, so as to avoid distortions in the program arising from applicants seeking to meet that factor."

None of that (in my view) is controversial - the real challenge will be how it will be implemented. We continue to wait and see.

Meanwhile review of the skilled occupation list is also underway by Skills Australia.

Creative commons attribution for photograph:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maleny_steve/ / CC BY-SA 2.0