Australian work visas needed to mitigate impending skills shortage
October 13 2009 by Liam Clifford
Department for Immigration and Citizenship will look at lowering Australia visa policy because of impending skills shortage.
The recent Australian Financial Review has stated that skills shortages are set to intensify in coming years.
The review has called for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to urgently look at reviewing 'skilled worker' Australian visa policies to ensure that these shortages can be filled. More immigrants will be needed to work in Australia in industries such as energy and mining which, according to the review, face a major skills shortage unless something drastic is done to alleviate it.
Major Australian firms such as infrastructure giant United Group have also released warnings to the government that they will be facing skills shortages within 12 to 18 months.
The firm’s CEO Richard Leupen declared that the shortage has been brought about as a result of the tightening of the business visa rules. He says this has coincided with the company’s reduction in training programmes for staff in response to the recession.
One of the main problems facing Australian visa applicants is that many are facing waits of up to three years for their state-sponsored visas.
These delays have been caused by changes to the priority processing system.
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