Maintaining it is time to put ‘Australians First’, Australia on Tuesday scrapped the 457 visa programme for skilled migrants, largely preferred by Indians, in a move that comes ahead of the US too set to cut down H1B visa to curb flow of migrant workers into that country.
The announcement by Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull came barely a week after his State visit to India. The Ministry of External Affairs said that the Government is examining the consequences of new policy in consultation with all stakeholders. “This is also a matter we will be looking at in the context of CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement) negotiations,” MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.
The 457 visa is a business visa given by the Australian Government for four years to a worker and their family from another country. The protectionist measure by the Australian Government is expected to have a major impact on the Indian migrant workers since they take away the major chunk of the nearly 90,000 visas granted to the foreign nationals going to Australia for work. The majority of the visa holders under 457 programme are from India, followed by the United Kingdom and China.
The 457 programme will be replaced by two new visas - short term for two years and medium term for four — with new restrictions that include having higher payment rates, stronger command over English language and higher skills. It will also prioritise the areas where foreign nationals can be hired and till what period. In any case the Turnbull government has made it clear that Australian workers are to be given Rsabsolute first priority’ for jobs and businesses will be able to temporarily access the critical skills they need to grow if skilled Australians workers are not available. Current visa holders will not be affected by the changes.
The Australian Government said the new two visa regimes will be underpinned by more focused occupation lists that are responsive to genuine skill needs.
The 457 visa programme allows business houses to employ foreign workers for a period up to four years in skilled jobs where there is a shortage of Australian workers. “We are an immigration nation, but the fact remains Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs, so we are abolishing the 457 visa, the visa that brings temporary foreign workers into our country,” said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Turnbull’s sharp measures come close to US President Donald Trump’s announcement on curtailing the H1B visas. Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to revamp a temporary visa programme as he pushes for RsBuy America Hire America’.
In New Delhi, while justifying the calibration Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu, said the entry of skilled workers is vital to Australia’s economic growth and Indian nationals in the IT sector still have visa options. “India provides the highest number of temporary skilled workers to Australia of any country: eight out of the top 10 occupations for Indian 457 visa holders (as at December 2016) were IT professionals. The occupation list for the four year visa includes IT professionals, so there continues to be visa options for skilled Indian nationals,” Sidhu said.
According to the Australian government more than 110,000 foreign workers entered the country in 2013 under the then labour government. “Some were allowed to work in the fast food sector at the expense of young Australians who were looking for work. That will not happen under this government. We are making it easier for Australians to find work and we have restored order to our borders so we can ensure foreign workers have an opportunity to arrive through the appropriate channels,” Turnbull said. The Australian government has been slowly cutting down the visas and during the year 2015-16, it was brought down to 96,084 from 126, 348 given in 2012-13.
Meanwhile, the Russian government has relaxed visa norms for Indian tourists and businessmen travelling to its Far East region.