The report published by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) hints at potentially far-reaching changes to Australia’s immigration planning, and has implications for future migration from Greece.
The publication of DIAC’s Outlook for Net Overseas Migration which forecasts trends in migration to Australia, coincides with a meeting next week between Victoria’s Greek community led by the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV), and Immigration Minister Chirs Bowen MP, to discuss how migration from Greece to Australia might be further encouraged.
Registered migration agent Penny Dimopoulos, part of the delegation says that they will be talking to the minister about the perceived obstacles Greek citizens face in obtaining visas. The debate on the pros and cons of ‘Big Australia’ continues, with big business advocating faster population growth, and detractors of the plan warning of its unsustainability, on the grounds that the country will be unable to afford the new infrstructure to support such fast population growth.
The report in fact shows that annual Net Overseas Migration has slowed in recent years, and will bottom out at 158,000 for 2010-2011, but projections forecast that the annual rate will jump to 180,000 and beyond by mid-2014 – well on-track to increase the population by 14m over the next 40 years, and deliver ‘Big Australia’.
Though it is reported that the number of enquiries by Greek citizens about migration to Australia has increased over the past three years, figures supplied by DIAC show that between July 2008 and June 2010, just 251 Greek citizens applied for and were offered Permanent Residency visas to Australia, the vast majority of which (189) related to family migration. These figures however only tell a part of the story.
Between the same period, over 12,600 Offshore Visitor visas were offered to Greek citizens, which include Tourist and other temporary visas, often a path to longer term residence. Dr Robert Birrell, Reader in Sociology at Monash University,says the reason for the recent slowdown in NOM reflects the tightening of points-tested eligibility rules. “The report shows a decline largely because of the number of visas offered to overseas students has dropped sharply.
The most obvious way they’ve toughened this up, is that cooks and hairdressers are no longer eligible occupations to apply for, under the points-tested skill categories. That’s crucial.” With the report warning that the large number of people wanting to emigrate from poor countries, particularly from Asia, was challenging the “integrity” of the migrant intake to Australia, it’s clear that the Long-Term Planning Framework DIAC is putting in place, will seek to further target immigration to suit the needs of Australia’s main economy drivers. With continuing growth in the Australian economy, the good news, says Penny Dimopoulos, is that employers across the board will look to immigration to address skills shortages, and this may offer further opportunities.
“It’s likely to push up the demand for temporary work visa holders – subclass 457.
“Skilled individuals may be eligible for a work visa, provided that they have an employer who is willing to sponsor them.” Dr Birrell says the projected growth forecast in the report is expected to be in the 457 visa category and extra permanent resident numbers, particularly persons sponsored by regional employers.For those seeking a visa in the Skilled Migration Program without employer sponsorship, the process is changing.
A DIAC spokesman told Neos Kosmos, that to ensure Australia selects the best and brightest people from a large pool of potential migrants, “the government will introduce a new points test to better address this country’s skills needs. The new points test emphasises the importance of English, work experience and high-level qualifications.”
The changes take effect from 1 July 2011, but employer-sponsored visa categories will not be affected by these changes. It may be tempting to look to history when considering the issue of migration from Greece to Australia, but parallels between the situation at the beginning of the 21st Century, as opposed to the 20th Century, are few and far between. In the 1950s and 1960s Australian government policy was to build a population for a diverse range of industry, particularly manufacturing, which needed labour, and along with it, growth in the domestic market for those industries’ products.
“The present situation is completely different,” says Dr Birrell. “We’re about to enter an era of very strong structural change which will diminish what’s left of those manufacturing industries.” Birrell foresees a temporary strong demand also for construction workers, though “the most likely scenario is that will be supplied from Asia and the Middle East.”
With Greece at the end of the chain-migration process that was the hallmark of the thousands who migrated in the 20th Century, the 21st Century offers new challenges for the new diaspora. Outlook for Net Overseas Migration which forecasts trends in migration to Australia, coincides with a meeting next week between Victoria’s Greek community led by the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV), and Immigration Minister Chirs Bowen MP, to discuss how migration from Greece to Australia might be further encouraged.
Registered migration agent Penny Dimopoulos, part of the delegation says that they will be talking to the minister about the perceived obstacles Greek citizens face in obtaining visas. The debate on the pros and cons of ‘Big Australia’ continues, with big business advocating faster population growth, and detractors of the plan warning of its unsustainability, on the grounds that the country will be unable to afford the new infrstructure to support such fast population growth.
The report in fact shows that annual Net Overseas Migration has slowed in recent years, and will bottom out at 158,000 for 2010-2011, but projections forecast that the annual rate will jump to 180,000 and beyond by mid-2014 – well on-track to increase the population by 14m over the next 40 years, and deliver ‘Big Australia’. Though it is reported that the number of enquiries by Greek citizens about migration to Australia has increased over the past three years, figures supplied by DIAC show that between July 2008 and June 2010, just 251 Greek citizens applied for and were offered Permanent Residency visas to Australia, the vast majority of which (189) related to family migration. These figures however only tell a part of the story. Between the same period, over 12,600 Offshore Visitor visas were offered to Greek citizens, which include Tourist and other temporary visas, often a path to longer term residence.
Dr Robert Birrell, Reader in Sociology at Monash University,says the reason for the recent slowdown in NOM reflects the tightening of points-tested eligibility rules. “The report shows a decline largely because of the number of visas offered to overseas students has dropped sharply. The most obvious way they’ve toughened this up, is that cooks and hairdressers are no longer eligible occupations to apply for, under the points-tested skill categories. That’s crucial.”
With the report warning that the large number of people wanting to emigrate from poor countries, particularly from Asia, was challenging the “integrity” of the migrant intake to Australia, it’s clear that the Long-Term Planning Framework DIAC is putting in place, will seek to further target immigration to suit the needs of Australia’s main economy drivers. With continuing growth in the Australian economy, the good news, says Penny Dimopoulos, is that employers across the board will look to immigration to address skills shortages, and this may offer further opportunities.
“It’s likely to push up the demand for temporary work visa holders – subclass 457.”Skilled individuals may be eligible for a work visa, provided that they have an employer who is willing to sponsor them.” Dr Birrell says the projected growth forecast in the report is expected to be in the 457 visa category and extra permanent resident numbers, particularly persons sponsored by regional employers.For those seeking a visa in the Skilled Migration Program without employer sponsorship, the process is changing.
A DIAC spokesman told Neos Kosmos, that to ensure Australia selects the best and brightest people from a large pool of potential migrants, “the government will introduce a new points test to better address this country’s skills needs. The new points test emphasises the importance of English, work experience and high-level qualifications.”
The changes take effect from 1 July 2011, but employer-sponsored visa categories will not be affected by these changes. It may be tempting to look to history when considering the issue of migration from Greece to Australia, but parallels between the situation at the beginning of the 21st Century, as opposed to the 20th Century, are few and far between. In the 1950s and 1960s Australian government policy was to build a population for a diverse range of industry, particularly manufacturing, which needed labour, and along with it, growth in the domestic market for those industries’ products.
“The present situation is completely different,” says Dr Birrell. “We’re about to enter an era of very strong structural change which will diminish what’s left of those manufacturing industries.” Birrell foresees a temporary strong demand also for construction workers, though “the most likely scenario is that will be supplied from Asia and the Middle East.”
With Greece at the end of the chain-migration process that was the hallmark of the thousands who migrated in the 20th Century, the 21st Century offers new challenges for the new diaspora.