Tue. Nov 5th, 2024
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Minimum English language requirements for international students will be increased, and more restrictions will be applied to stop onshore “visa hopping” as the federal government seeks to curb the number of migrants living in a “permanently temporary” state in Australia.

Alongside a clampdown on international student and graduate visas, the government will also create a new temporary “Skills in Demand” visa to attract highly skilled workers who have the “potential to grow the skills and expertise of the Australian workforce”.

The federal government will tomorrow unveil its long-awaited migration strategy, a 100-page document detailing immediate and future steps it will take to overhaul Australia’s “broken” migration system.

The plan contains 25 new commitments to “get migration working for the nation” following a review by Dr Martin Parkinson which found Australia’s migration program “not fit for purpose”.

The government has also revealed that Australia’s net migration level is believed to have peaked last financial year at 510,000 and is forecast to fall to more normal levels, down to 375,000 next year and 250,000 in 2025.

Labor says without its suite of new policies, migration levels would have remained higher for longer — at 440,000 next year and 305,000 in the following year.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said changes to the migration system announced and implemented earlier this year are already putting “downward pressure” on net migration.

“Having inherited a basket case of an immigration system from the Coalition, we’ve worked around the clock to strike the best balance in Australia’s migration system,” she said.

“If we kept the settings we inherited from the Coalition, we would not expect to see the same reductions in migration levels this financial year and next.

“The Migration Strategy is all about getting migration working for the country, including by the right settings to ease workforce shortages that are holding our country back without putting undue stress on other parts of our economy.”

International students and graduates in focus

The new strategy includes several measures targeting international education which the government says will ensure foreign graduates help meet skills shortages.

From early next year the English language requirements for student and temporary graduate visas will be increased to “improve the quality of students’ educational experience in Australia and reduce potential workplace exploitation”.

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