Australia tightens migration

Published by rudy Date posted on February 9, 2010

CANBERRA—Australia tightened its migration rules Monday in favor of English speakers and professionals, saying the country had been attracting too many hairdressers and cooks and too few doctors and engineers.

In London, the government said Sunday it is tightening its rules on student visas to prevent people from flouting the rules and working illegally.

The changes—which are effective immediately—won’t stop genuine students from traveling to Britain to study but will close an avenue that has been exploited, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said Sunday.

“There’s an awful lot more of adults, not young people, not coming to study degrees at universities but coming on short courses into this country,” Johnson told the BBC.

Asked if many of those students were “bogus,” Johnson said, “Yes, yes.”

Under the new rules, those from outside the European Union who come to Britain for short courses—less than six months—can no longer bring their dependents.

Johnson said the number of hours foreign students will be able to work will also be cut from 20 hours a week to 10, and that a higher standard of English will be required.

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans blamed the over-representation of lower skilled immigrants on a system put in place by Prime Minister John Howard, whose government lost power in the 2007 elections.

“Under the Howard government, we had a lot of cooks, a lot of hairdressers coming through,” Evans told reporters.

“We were taking hairdressers from overseas in front of doctors and nurses—it didn’t make any sense.”

The new rules will favor applicants who already have job offers over those who merely have qualifications or who are studying. The measures are expected to dampen enrollment in Australian colleges by foreign students hoping to settle in the country.

The number of foreign students enrolled in Australian colleges exploded in 2001, when the government changed migration rules to allow them to apply for permanent residency while studying. Until then, skilled workers had to apply offshore for visas to fill jobs from a list of more than 100 trades and professions that were suffering shortages in Australia.

Australia continued to have a shortage of accountants, partly because many of the 40,000 accountants who immigrated in the past five years did not have the professional or language skills to find work, Evans said.

“You’ve got to say if they don’t have the English-language skills, don’t have the trade skills and can’t get a job, then really they should not be eligible for permanent residency,” Evans said.

The new policy will favor applicants who score highly in an English language test. Moreover, immigrant numbers in certain jobs could be capped for the first time. The government has not identified which jobs. AP

July 2025

Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”

Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.

Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar.  Reject Military!

#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos

Time to support & empower survivors. Time to spark a global conversation. Time for #GenerationEquality to #orangetheworld!

July


3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 Ju
ly – International Plastic Bag Free Day
 
5 July –
World Youth Skills Day 
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day 
17 July – World Day for
International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons 


Monthly Observances:

Schools Safety Month

Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month

Weekly Observances:

Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week

 

Daily Observances:

First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines

Categories

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.