Enquiry into the health requirement

All Australian visas are subject to a health requirement, which simply stated is that applicants will not meet the requirement if

1. they are considered to be a risk to public health or a danger to the community (usually if they have active TB); or

2. they have a disease or condition that would likely result in significant costs to the community or would prejudice access by citizens to health care and community services.Some (but not all) visas have facility for a waiver of this condition.

The health requirement is imposed on a "one fail all fail" basis, so that one family member who does not pass will result in no family members being granted a visa. There was a case which received media coverage last year of a foreign doctor whose visa was refused on the basis that he had a Downes Syndrome child.

Whether the health requirement should be relaxed and/or the circumstances in which a waiver is granted is currently the subject of a parliamentary enquiry. It is interesting to read the various submissions, but one recurring theme is that the current policy is discriminatory because it does not distinguish between a disease on one hand and a disability on the other.There was also an article about the inquiry by Natasha Bita in The Australian on 28 January 2010.

The committee's final report was released this week and is available by clicking the link to the inquiry's home page.

The MIA (in its email bulletin to members) summarised the report in the following way:

"Making 18 recommendations to Government, the Committee supports: modernised and transparent "significant cost thresholds"; a visa waiver process for "social and economic contributions" for those who fail new health requirements; a revision of the so-called "one fails, all fail" rule; a strengthening of compelling and compassionate visa waivers; and the distinguishing of disabilities from public health risks."

It will be interesting to see what changes are actually adopted.

Creative commons attribution for photograph:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianclarkmbbs/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Capping is coming

Public submissions are currently being sought on the Migration Amendment (Visa Capping) Bill 2010.

This bill is part of the package of reforms that the Australian government is currently implementing to the General Skilled Migration program. One of the problems is that various things are coming to light in a piecemeal fashion and many things seem to have (apparently unforeseen) collateral consequences. This bill would give the Minister power to cap the number of visas granted either by visa class or by other characteristic (such as occupation). In other words if the Minister decided enough visas had been granted to accountants (for example) in a given year, then no further applications from accountants would be allowed.

The draft bill is available and it has already had its first and second reading in parliament.

The bill's homepage (includes explanatory memorandum and speeches) is available by clicking here.

Watch this space as more changes come to light....makes me curious what's going to happen to the points test?!

Creative commons attribution for the photograph:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisisbossi/4083776490/

New Skilled Occupation List

The much awaited skilled occupation list was announced today (17 May 2010).

The following extract from the accompanying fact sheet is a fair summary in my view:

"The current SOL has more than 400 occupations. The new list of occupations, which was announced by the Minister on 17 May 2010, includes 181 occupations. The new list is available on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) website at: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/whats-new.htm

It is intended the new list of occupations would deliver a general skilled migration (GSM) program more tightly focused on delivering high-value nation building skills. The new list is intended to align the GSM program with Australia’s overall workforce development strategy, also developed by Skills Australia. The new list is focused on targeting specialised occupations that require a long lead time of formal education and training. It includes managerial, professional, associate-professional and trade occupations. The list of occupations will be reviewed annually but it is expected that it will be relatively stable over time."

I have provided links to:

1. the SOL
2. the Factsheet
3. FAQ