By political reporter Nour Haydar for the ABC
A Qantas flight arrives at Sydney International Airport. Photo: 123RF
Minimum English language requirements for international students will be increased, and more restrictions will be applied to stop onshore "visa hopping" as the federal government seeks to curb the number of migrants living in a "permanently temporary" state in Australia.
Alongside a clampdown on international student and graduate visas, the government will also create a new temporary "Skills in Demand" visa to attract highly skilled workers who have the "potential to grow the skills and expertise of the Australian workforce".
The federal government is due to unveil its long-awaited migration strategy, a 100-page document detailing immediate and future steps it will take to overhaul Australia's "broken" migration system.
The plan contains 25 new commitments to "get migration working for the nation" following a review by Dr Martin Parkinson which found Australia's migration programme "not fit for purpose".
The government has also revealed that Australia's net migration level is believed to have peaked last financial year at 510,000 and is forecast to fall to more normal levels, down to 375,000 next year and 250,000 in 2025.
Labor says without its suite of new policies, migration levels would have remained higher for longer - at 440,000 next year and 305,000 in the following year.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said changes to the migration system announced and implemented earlier this year were already putting "downward pressure" on net migration.
"Having inherited a basket case of an immigration system from the coalition, we've worked around the clock to strike the best balance in Australia's migration system," she said.
"If we kept the settings we inherited from the coalition, we would not expect to see the same reductions in migration levels this financial year and next.
"The Migration Strategy is all about getting migration working for the country, including by the right settings to ease workforce shortages that are holding our country back without putting undue stress on other parts of our economy."
International students and graduates in focus
The new strategy includes several measures targeting international education which the government says will ensure foreign graduates help meet skills shortages.
From early next year the English language requirements for student and temporary graduate visas will be increased to "improve the quality of students' educational experience in Australia and reduce potential workplace exploitation".
Under the International English Language Testing System, students applying for a Graduate visa will require a score of 6.5, up from 6, while Student visa applicants will need a 6 up from 5.5.
The government says international students and graduates make up the largest share of "permanently temporary" migrants with 108,000 having stayed in Australia for five or more years.
Under the new plan, there will be more scrutiny of those applying for a second visa, with the number of international students staying in Australia on multiple successive student visas growing by more than 30 percent to 150,000 last year.
"Rarely are these further student visas driving professional advancement and are instead often used by former students to stay in Australia in lieu of meeting permanent resident or other skilled visa requirements," the strategy said.
It also outlined concerns that dodgy private vocational education and training providers were helping "non-genuine students" gain access to Australia's labour market through the use of student visas.
"Where growth is driven by non-genuine students and unscrupulous providers, it threatens the integrity and reputation of Australia's international education sector," the document said.
To address this the government will introduce a new "genuine student test" for all international students which will make it "clear that the vast majority of international students in Australia will return home".
"The Genuine Student test will clearly incentivise applications from genuine students and discourage non-genuine students, whose primary intention is to work rather than study, from accessing Australia's international education system," it said.
Student visa applications will also be prioritised based on the "risk level of providers" with those considered higher-risk to experience slower processing times.
With more than 50 percent of graduate visa holders working significantly below their skill level the government will move to adjust the length of work rights and eligibility of such visas, and Temporary Graduate visa holders will be restricted from transferring back to a student visa while onshore.
New specialist visas to attract highly skilled workers
To get more highly skilled migrants into the country the government will establish a new "specialist skills pathway" to help businesses recruit people with specialised and unique skill sets.
The new pathway will be open to eligible applicants earning at least A$135,000 (NZ$145,000) in any occupation except trade workers, machinery operators and drivers, and labourers.
The government believes the new pathway will add $A3.4 billion to the budget bottom line over the next 10 years.
"Highly skilled migrants bring significant economic benefits," the strategy stated.
"They are more likely to bring productivity enhancing knowledge and ideas, create jobs for locals and generate significant fiscal returns through taxation.
"They help meet labour needs that exist at an individual firm level and assist companies in acquiring specialist knowledge, niche technologies or research expertise unavailable in Australia, and skill sets not picked up in occupational definitions."
The government projects around 3000 people would come to Australia each year under this pathway and has committed to an average 7-day turnaround for visa processing.
"These migrants are prime candidates to choose other countries if we do not provide competitive visa offerings and better compete in the global race for talent," the strategy said.
The strategy includes policies the government announced earlier this year, including the scrapping of Pandemic Event visas introduced during the height of Covid, and the re-implementation of a cap on the number of hours international students could work each fortnight.
The income threshold for temporary skilled migrants was also lifted from $53,900 to $70,000 in July.
- This story was first published by the ABC.
