The Australian Government has assured India that its new visa policy is not going to impact Indians much. The Ministry of external Affairs said on Wednesday that the Government is in touch with the Governments of the United States of America and Australia on the new visa matters and is also making full assessment of impact of these recent changes in consultation with all stake holders.
“The changes announced by the Government of Australia recently replace one scheme with another. Senior Australian officials have conveyed to us that the impact of the changes will be negligible on Indian workers, most of whom fall in high skill category,” MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said. Australia on Tuesday scrapped its 457 visa programme that allows foreign nationals to work in its country. This programme is replaced by a short term and a medium term visa
policy.
Baglay added that in the case of H1-B visas, the cap has remained at 65,000 since December 2004 when the H1-B Visa Reform Act of 2004 was enacted by the US Congress.