Australian Government wants more Immigrants

Australia is booming economically. In order to keep up with the demand the government are calling for skills through mass immigration. If recent statistics are anything to go by Australian Immigration policy is heading in the right direction.

This week the Australian department of Immigration and Citizenship released the latest Immigration Update showing the number of permanent additions to Australia from July to December last year. It shows an increase of as much as 8.8% in Australian permanent immigrants.

Australia desperately needs skills mostly due to an aging workforce and an extremely low unemployment rate. Therefore under Kevin Rudd’s government immigration is seen as a key solution to skills shortages.

“Australia immigration has become increasingly popular,” says Erin Ryan of www.globalvisas.com, “and foreigners are flocking to the shores down under and Australia is reaping the benefits of these skilled immigrants.”

Last year the Australian government counted 98 233 permanent additions which compromised of “69 597 settler arrivals, plus 28 636 onshore grants,” said a government spokesperson.

According to the report New South Wales is the most popular destination for immigrants to reside with 32% of the immigrants and most of the foreigners come from Europe and often the United Kingdom.

And all these people who come to Australia do not have to fear that they will not find employment as statistics show that most people who immigrated in the past ten years are employed and are professionals.

Australia is currently feeling the effects of the worst skills shortage in history with foreign pilots even being called in to fill airline staff shortages. The last time foreign pilots were brought was in 1989 when there was a pilot strike. There is also a need for doctors, nurses and plumbers and mining creates gaps for engineers and surveyors

To deal with this the government has eased their immigration policy allowing in a 25% increase in immigrants next year, which will be as many as 190 300. The majority of those allowed in will be skilled professionals in sectors where shortages are rife. Other ways to ease the process will be through allowing some illegal immigrants to get permanent residence as well as bringing in guest workers.

The Rudd government can afford to make Australian immigration policies more lenient for the professional worker as they use these immigrants as a tool to manage the present economic growth. As Immigration Minister Chris Evans says, immigration will be soon become a major player in the “structure of Australia’s workforce.”