SBS language | Decline in skilled migrants, increase in family visas, as Australia grants 160,000 permanent residences

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said the influx of migrants in 2020-2021 had exceeded expectations, despite border restrictions and visa processing delays caused by the ongoing health crisis.

“Australia’s well-managed migration program is producing results that support economic recovery, create jobs and protect the safety and security of Australians.

“Offering a full 160,052-seat program involved tapping into the pool of candidates on land due to global restrictions related to COVID-19. It has been very successful given the difficult circumstances this year, ”said Minister Hawke.

Strong points:

• Australia granted 160,000 permanent residence visas in the 2020-2021 program year
• Indians have become Australia’s second largest source of permanent migrants
• The government has the most extensive partner visa program in 25 years, but skilled migration has taken a hit

Former deputy secretary of the immigration department, Abul Rizvi, said the government could implement a full program due to the large number of temporary migrants on land.

“The other thing the government did last year was that it started to clear the backlog of partner visas, and indeed, if the government had wanted it, it could have put in place. is carrying out a much larger program than it has done, ”he said.

Indians emerge as the second largest recipient of permanent residence scholarships

Migration figures released by the Home Office on September 21 reveal that of the total permanent residence visas granted in 2020-2021, Indians received the second largest share with 21,791 places, or nearly 4 000 less than the number of visas granted in 2019-20.

China became the main source with 22,207 subsidies.

“The reason there was a higher grant rate for Chinese migrants compared to Indian migrants is due to the larger category of partners and the larger category of business migration and the smaller category. qualified freelancers.

“The business category is dominated by Chinese migrants, while Indians dominate the skilled self-employed category. Now if you do one small and the other bigger you get the inevitable result,” Rizvi said.

Government offers largest partnership program

The 2020-2021 migration program offered 77,372 places in the Family component. Almost 72,000 places have been granted to partner visa applicants, the vast majority of them on land, registering the largest increase in the number of people resettled in this category in 25 years.

“The pipeline as of June 30, 2021 for the Partner category was 64,111 applications, a decrease of 33.4% from the pipeline of 96,361 as of June 30, 2020,” according to the migration program report.

The government has offered the largest partnership program in over 25 years.

Getty Images

Commenting on the surge in partner visa subsidies, Melbourne-based migration officer Navjot Kailay said he was cautiously optimistic about the outcome.

“If the government continues to provide a high number of visa grants to partners in 2021-2022, we can expect that the partner visa backlog will eventually decrease.

“Otherwise, if you just look at last year’s figures, over 100,000 people were waiting for visas to be granted to their partners, of which 28,000 are still waiting. In the meantime, new applications are filed every day, so the backlog is steadily increasing, ”he said.

Mr Kailay suggested that the government should ensure that partner visas are processed on a ‘first come, first served basis rather than following a random order’ to ensure faster processing of visas in this category. .

Decline in skilled migration

The inflow of skilled migrants to Australia plunged from 70 percent of the total inflow of permanent migrants to just over 50 percent.

Getty Images / FotografiaBasica

The government issued 79,620 places under the Skill component, which represented 50.7% of the total result, of which at least 71% of the candidates were present on land.

The highest number of places in this stream went to candidates who applied in the Employer Sponsored category, which obtained nearly 23,000 places, followed by the Nominated by State and Territory category in which nearly of 14,000 visas have been granted.

While 9,584 visas were granted under the Global Talent (Independent) program in 2020-21.

Dissecting the numbers, Kailay said the government has dramatically reduced the number of skilled migrants, which has now grown to just over 50 percent of 70 percent of the country’s total permanent migrants.

“There is no doubt that the inflow of skilled migrants has been hit hard because the government slashed planning levels last year.

“If we focus on the number of places awarded under this stream in 2020-2021, the employer-sponsored and state-appointed categories received the highest allocations. And I can expect that even in the times to come, these two categories will continue to receive more attention, ”he added.

Impact on the 2021-2022 migration program

Announcing the planning levels for the 2021-22 program year, the government said that Family and Skills stream places will be maintained at their 2020-21 planning levels, with a focus on onshore visa applicants. , including reduction of the onshore partner visa pipeline.

Mr Rizvi said things will largely stay on track in the first half of the program year.

“At least for the first half of 2021-2022, due to the cap on international arrivals, we will likely see a continued focus on land visa grants, but once the international borders open, I think we We will see a slight increase in offshore visa grants, ”Mr. Rizvi said.

Disclaimer: This content is for general information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisers.

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