The "war" for global talent - Australian style

The global "war" for talents is on. The Australian Minister for Immigration The Honorable Minister David Coleman in a speech at The Sydney Institute last night stressed the importance of immigration for the country and laid out Australia's immigration policy under the new Morrison government. Autonomous, goal oriented and fair are the governing principles, which will effectively limit future Australian to high achievers, the rich and not more than 18.000 people which will be allowed in on humanitarian grounds.

The cap of 190.000 immigrants, which was not fully used over the last few years, will be lowered to 160.000. Among these the Minister wants to see up to 5.000 highly talented people which start-ups or high-tech firms require and can't find in the domestic market. But with the same quota also the government will define skills which are lacking and through recruiting specialists attached to Embassies such as Berlin, San Diego etc. try to bring qualifying people to Australia by facilitating immigration procedures.

The Investment Visa Scheme will be improved, and up to 7.000 investment visas per year will be issued based on a what's good for Australia.

Since the education industry contributes AUD 35 Mrd. to the Australian industry and is responsible for 200.000 Australian jobs, the easy access to student visa will remain a priority. Students studying and living in regional Australia will benefit of an extension of their post-graduation work permits.

23.000 visa will be available for qualified immigrants settling in regional Australia for 3-4 years, with people under this scheme being eligible for permanent resident status thereafter. 

For relatives of Australians and permanent residents, who care for family members renewable visa of up to five years maybe granted.

The processing time has already been brought down to 7 working days for short-term temporary working visa, and for short-term skilled visa and for medium- and long-term strategic visa procedures have been and should be further reduced to not more than a month.

Working Holiday Schemes should see their length extended for foreign visa holders, staying and working in regional Australia.

Regarding the humanitarian intake, Australia recognizes that woman and children are most affected and wants to gradually increase the share of women in the general humanitarian quota to 60%. With respect to the geographic focus of the program, Australia will continuously monitor the humanitarian needs on a global bases and direct its policies accordingly, if need be also with special intake programs.