Australian temporary work visa take-up halved
January 12 2010 by Liam Clifford
Applications for temporary Australian work visas have halved, according to new figures from the Australian immigration department.
The figures, released yesterday, show
that applications for category-457 visas fell by 49 per cent in the five months
to November 2009, following the introduction of laws that made employers pay
immigrants working in Australia the same as locals.
The average salary of
people living in Australia on temporary skilled work visas increased to $85,300
over the period, rising $74,700 from the same period a year before. This
statistic obviously shows that hiring a skilled foreigner is more expensive than
it used to be, since the more stringent laws were introduced. They also require
better conditions of employment to be offered to foreigners.
Despite the
drop in applications, they did begin to pick up in October and November, after
prospective immigrants and employers began to understand the new
restrictions.
Australian immigration minister Chris Evans says that
general medical practitioners and registered nurses are among the largest group
of immigrants moving to Australia on the temporary skilled work visa programme.
He added, ''almost 90 per cent of primary visas granted were to managers and
administrators, professionals or associated professionals.''
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