The 2020-22 pandemic from COVID19 has impacted Australian migration policy in many ways. Due to closure of Australian borders for almost 2 years, international student and working holiday visa applications have dropped substantially and Australia now faces a critical shortage of skilled and semi-skilled workers. The construction, agriculture, hospitality and allied health industries are the most affected. Waiters, baristas, café and restaurant managers, cooks, painters, carpenters, hotel receptionists, hotel domestics, fruit pickers, carers in nursing homes servicing disability and aged care and even cleaners are in short supply. In remote regions of Australia like Darwin and North Queensland there is almost zero unemployment and growing unfilled job vacancies. Some small businesses are even closing down due to lack of key staff.
To deal with the critical shortage of skilled workers the following changes have been made by the Department of Home Affairs:
1. International students can work more than 40 hours a fortnight until 30 June 2023.
2. International student graduates applying for the 485 temporary graduate visa no longer have to obtain a skills assessment or nominate an occupation from the skilled occupation list. The length of stay has also been increased for certain graduates.
3. The S.48 bar has been waived for onshore applicants for the regional 190, 491 and 494 skilled visas. S.48 prevents a person from applying for most visas while onshore if they had previously had a visa refused or cancelled. In the past the only visa applicants exempt from the S.48 bar were those seeking the partner visa, protection visa or medical treatment visa.
Skilled Workers through international relations and humanitarian aid
The Australian government is one of the few in the world that has programs to help people escaping political persecution and civil unrest due to war. More recently, the government adopted a dual purpose to alleviate the critical skills shortage in Australia.
Hong Kong passport holders or those who acquired the BNO passport after 1997 are given priority processing when applying for business skilled visas or student visas and HK international graduates are automatically given 5 years residence on the 485 temporary graduate visa as compared to the 2 years granted to other 485 visa holders.
The PALM Scheme is one where Pacific Islanders (such as from Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu) are given opportunities to work in the Australian agriculture industry especially during the fruit picking season. The visa is usually granted for 9 months. More recently the PALM scheme has been enlarged to include East Timor and to other occupations such as carers in disability and aged care. This temporary visa can now be granted for up to 4 years with a pathway for permanent residence to those from East Timor. It covers workers in the agriculture, construction, hospitality and allied health industries.
Another Pilot Visa Scheme involves an international organisation based in Australia which sources skilled people from refugee camps and matches them with regional employers in Australia, UK and Canada under a company specific labour agreement. Major concessions are given on age, skill assessment, English levels, travel documents and police check due to the difficulty refugees face in accessing such standard requirements in other visa applications. More importantly, this new visa has a very fast processing time of only 8-12 weeks. The quota for this pilot scheme is only 200 for Australia but it has tremendous potential given global events happening in Afghanstan, Middle-East and Ukraine.