New simplified Australian employer-sponsored immigration program from July

Australia, 4th May: Here comes a news going to bring smiles on many aspirants of Australian employer-sponsored visas.

Come 1st July, 2012 and the government of Australia is all set to introduce new process of immigrating to Australia.

Australia will be putting into effect new simpler norms for Australian skilled immigration (employer-sponsored sub-class visas). The aim of such changes is to help the nation meet skills in acute shortage.

Changes to Australian employer-sponsored visa program—

• Increasing the limit for the upper age to 50 from 45 for applicants for Australian permanent residency;

• Introduction of fast-track Australian permanent residency route for holders of eligible skilled 457 visas; and

• Eliminating the requirement of language testing for current 457 visa holder applying for Australian permanent residency.

SkillSelect from 1st July, 2012—Plans are to amalgamate new RSMS and ENS with SkillSelect. The latter is a model for skilled migrant selection. SkillSelect will be introduced from 1st July, 2012 and will require submitting an EOI (expression of interest).

It is an electronic system requiring submission of a skilled migration claim from aspiring Australian visa applicants by an online EOI.

Only then can the aspiring applicants apply for Australian visas based on their EOI.

Current rules for Australian subclass visas---As per current Australia sub-class visa rules, there are six subclass Australian visas.

These include the following—

• Australian Subclass 856 and Australian Subclass 121 visa under Two ENS(Employer Nomination Scheme)

• Australian Subclass 857 and Australian Subclass 119 visa under Two RSMS(Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme)

• Australian Subclass 855 and Australian Subclass 120 visa under Two Labor Agreements.

New rules will merge these Australian Subclass visas into two stated below—

• Australian Subclass 186 under ENS(Employer Nomination Scheme); and

• Australian Subclass 187 under Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme.

Each of these Australian visa subclasses will be further divided into three different streams mentioned below—

• Direct Entry Stream will allow applicants who have not held any Australian subclass 457 visa for a minimum of last two years period or making applications from outside Australia and are not tested in labor market of Australia.

• Temporary Residence Transition Stream will allow holders of Australian 457 subclass visas having employed for a minimum of last two years duration and the employer shows willingness to provide a permanent employment in the same occupation.

• Agreement stream is meant for applicants getting employer sponsorship under a regional migration agreement or a negotiated labor agreement.