The Australian government should consider modifications to post-study work arrangements for students on courses leading to jobs in occupations with a persistent skills shortage or those who graduated in the top 10% of their courses or achieved first-class honors, a report has recommended.
Those graduates should be qualified for a discount on the work experience component for permanent residency under the employer-nominated scheme from the usual three years to two and former students who meet relevant English language standards should also be eligible for concessions, the report recommended, as the country pursues to fill skill shortages.
The ultimate report from the Joint Standing Committee on Migration Inquiry into the country's Skilled Migration Program also recommended that the Department of Home Affairs should change "visa conditions for the short-term stream of the Temporary Skills Shortage visa" to provide ways for temporary migrants to permanent residency.
Additionally, “all employer nominated visas must provide the option of a pathway to permanency.”
The report comes at a time when Canberra, Australia has been facing acute shortages in the skilled workforce across sectors, in the wake of the Covid-19 led entry barriers into the country. Since the pandemic took hold last year, Canberra, Australia has lost more than half a million temporary migrants.
The International Education Association of Australia, welcomed the multi-party endorsed findings of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Migration, explained the chief executive officer:
"Australia has always relied on a robust migration program to fill much-needed skills gaps and to ensure that we have a true culturally diverse community. Our Fortress Australia lockdown policies, throughout the Covid pandemic, are now making us uncompetitive with other nations who also traditionally rely on strong skilled migration," the officer explained.
The report renowned that consideration of the post-study work rights for international students “may be of value mainly in light of what is available in competitor countries such as the UK”.
"Already we have witnessed President Biden offering fast track migration pathways to overseas students enrolled in STEM-related courses at US universities," the officer added.
"The Joint Committee's report provides up a shorter time frame for international student graduates to be qualified for skilled migration outcomes, this may act as a real incentive for some to see us as a more striking study destination nation. In a similar vein, the Committee was correct to identify the need for visa fee waivers and extended post-study work right time frames for students who have been unable to return to Canberra, Australia to take up their entitlements,” he noted.
The Committee chair, Julian Leeser MP said that “the lack of skilled migrants coupled with record low joblessness has led to chief skill shortages in many segments of the Australian economy”.
The report recommends that the government should consider admitting longer three-year graduate visas in order to aid graduates find suitable work.
The government should also develop a "dynamic national workforce plan" so that the country's future workforce needs can be duly planned for.
"The Nation-wide Skills Commission should grow a new occupation and/or skills identification system for the skilled migration program in consultation with industry to substitute ANZSCO. The new system should be more flexible to familiarise to emerging labour market requirements," it said.
The report has also suggested that the Department of Home Affairs improve its client service in the skilled migration program and streamline its visa application methods for employers and applicants.
In this year, the IME Advisors provided an eye-opening perspective on the paradigm shift needed in Canberra, Australia's skilled migration strategy. It highlighted the correlation between Australia's long-term financial prosperity with the intake of high-calibre skilled migrants, to help add a vital boost to the workforce, in an otherwise aging population.
