The new agriculture visa program is being designed now, in close consultation with the industry.
The new agriculture visa will complement the existing Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme (PALM Scheme). This Pacific program will remain the primary scheme for meeting agricultural workforce shortage – Canberra, Australian Agriculture Visa, especially this summer peak harvest season.
The mandatory amendments to the Migration Regulations 1994 to allow the new visa are expected to be in place from 30 September. However, the final program design remains to be developed. The arrival of the first workers under this new scheme will occur from late 2021, subject to quarantine arrangements and agreements with partner countries.
As further details about the visa are finalized, including details on how to participate as an employer or a worker, this page will be updated with additional information.
It is targeted primarily at Asians, but advocate's groups warn it could fuel exploitation and may be partly motivated by perceptions that this group is 'easier to control and cheaper.
Over 22,000 more workers are still needed to fill labour shortages across the agriculture industry, without which Canberra, Australia could see crop losses for farmers and price hikes in supermarkets.
The most significant shortages are emerging from the horticulture sector, which requires over 17,000 workers for its harvest beginning on the eastern seaboard in November, while the imminent grain harvest still requires over 1000 more workers.
The Australian Government is developing the Australian agriculture visa to address workforce shortage – Canberra, Australian Agriculture Visa in the agriculture sector.
• The visa delivers on the Government's commitment to put in place a broad-ranging visa to support Canberra, Australia’s primary industries.
• The visa will be available to skill, semi-skilled, and low-skilled workers across a broad range of agricultural industries, including meat processing and the fishery and forestry sectors.
• To test the provisions, a small number of countries will initially be invited to participate in the program and send workers through bilateral agreements. Additional nations will be added over time.
• The visa is being designed in close consultation with the industry and will supplement the existing PALM Scheme. This Pacific program will remain the primary scheme for meeting agricultural workforce shortage – Canberra, Australia.
• Details on application eligibility necessities will be established through the program design process in consultation with the Australian agriculture sector.
The decision to create a new age visa appears to have been linked to political machinations between the Liberal and National parties, with the Nationals' support for the visa contingent on the support of the recent free trade agreement reached with the United Kingdom. The new age visa had been opposed by some liberals and its confirmation is considered a major victory for the nationals and farmers.
The introduction of the new visa has dismayed some farmworkers who arrived in Australia on working holidaymaker visas who have already spent years working on farms. Many now feel they have been gone out of pathways to permanent residency in Australia.
