We are now just over 5 months away from probably the most significant change to General Skilled Migration (GSM) since the introduction of the Migration Regulations in 1994.  From 1 July 2012 you will no longer be able to apply for migration under GSM – you have to be invited by the government to apply.  This will require that you lodge an expression of interest and then wait for up to 2 years in a pool of potential migrants  - if you don’t get an invitation after 2 years, your expression of interest will lapse.

If you are thinking about lodging an application under the current legislation, you should get moving as soon as possible. Skills assessments are taking several months and then if you also need state sponsorship, time will be tight.  This means that after the middle of February, we will be unlikely to be able to start the whole process with any certainty of lodging before the changes.  So don’t delay and contact us now.

Blog written by Helen Duncan, Registered Migration Agent (MARN) 0003187 and Partner at Australian Migration & Visa Lawyers.

For advice or assistance with lodging your application for a skilled visa in Australia contact Australian Migration & Visa Lawyers today or complete our free online visa assessment here.

The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown that migrants are officially "more employable than Australian-born job seekers", as reported by The Australian filling 81,000 new jobs in the past year.

According the The Australian;

A detailed analysis of the Bureau of Statistics jobs data shows that while immigrants account for less than 30 per cent of the labour force, they have claimed more than half the jobs created since the start of 2010.

Rather than struggling to fit in, as opposition citizenship spokeswoman Teresa Gambaro suggests, newly arrived immigrants are going straight to work and helping keep the economy growing. The figures for November, which are not seasonally adjusted, place the unemployment rate for Australian-born at 5 per cent and the overseas-born at 4.8 per cent.

Immigrants from Britain and Ireland had an unemployment rate of 2.8 per cent, Malaysia 3.8 per cent and The Philippines 4.8 per cent. The Chinese were on par with the Australian-born at 5 per cent, the New Zealanders above them at 5.4 per cent and the Indians at 6.8 per cent.

But the New Zealand- and India-born are still gaining jobs overall and their participation rates of 78.7 per cent and 76.9 per cent respectively are much better than the Australian-born figure of 68.1 per cent.

Vietnamese-born and the Lebanese-born have above-average unemployment rates of 9.7 per cent and 8.4 per cent, respectively, and below-average participation rates (58 per cent and 45.3 per cent).

The Vietnamese and Lebanese have traditionally suffered higher unemployment rates because their intakes contained large numbers of refugees who arrived during Australia's stagflation era in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The latest immigrant waves -- from old and new source countries -- have been greeted by a booming economy.

The big four overseas-born groups in Australia today are from Britain and Ireland, New Zealand, China and India. Between them, because of their sheer numbers, they claimed the bulk of the jobs in the 12 months to November.

The New Zealanders were the most popular with employers, with an extra 33,000 hired, the Chinese second with 23,700, the British and Irish with 21,400 and the Indians another 13,100.

To read the article in full, visit The Australian here (subscriber link).

Planning to migrate to Australia? Our friendly and professional Registered Migration Agents (RMA) are here to help, offering expert advice and assistance with temporary and permanent Australian visas. Complete our free online visa eligiblity assessment here or contact us to get in touch with one of our RMA's. Australian Migration & Visa Lawyers specialise in all visa categories.

The following blog post written by Karen on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's (DIAC) Skilled Migration Blog explains the difference between Net Overseas Migraton (NOM) and the Migration Program, and what they mean to Australia's population growth.

Did you ever wonder why the outcomes from NOM and the Migration Program do not look the same? Put simply NOM includes all long term temporary and permanent migration whereas the Migration Program only counts permanent migration.

Net Overseas Migration
Net Overseas Migration (NOM) is the net gain or loss of population through immigration to Australia and emigration from Australia. Overseas arrivals only count as NOM arrivals if they are inAustraliafor 12 months or more over a 16 month period. Conversely, overseas departures are subtracted from NOM if they are away for 12 months or more over a 16 month period. So the level of NOM is the balance of NOM arrivals minus NOM departures—easy!

This ‘12/16 month rule’ means almost all short term movements such as tourists do not count as either NOM arrivals or departures. It also means that people who are not permanent residents ofAustraliacan be counted as NOM arrivals so long as their residency stints add up to 12 months within a 16 month period.

Permanent Migration Program
The permanent migration program refers to the number of visas granted during a given year against specific visa streams. These streams are skilled, family and special eligibility. The permanent program provides visas to people who are not Australian residents and wish to live in Australia permanently.  Of these visas granted 25% of family, 59% of skilled and 89% of special eligibility visas (for 2010-11) are granted to people currently inAustralia, that is onshore. Onshore grants of permanent visas are effectively NOM neutral as the applicant will already have been counted in to NOM after their initial temporary stay.  So NOM arrivals are a combination of temporary and permanent migrants.

Why is NOM so important?
NOM is effectively how we measure migration’s contribution toAustralia’s population growth. For instance the March 2011 NOM was 167, 100 which accounted for 54% of our population growth of 1.4% for that 12 month period—the other 46% coming from natural increase (births minus deaths). NOM is a truer reflection on what is occuring in our communities and labour markets than permanent migration, particularly given our large temporary student and worker populations. NOM also captures long term New Zealander movements in and out ofAustralia, which are not covered under our permanent migration program. While the Migration Program hands out the prize of Australian permanent residency to individuals and has been and remains an important focus of our work NOM is a better measure of what is actually happening out there.

NOM and Permanent Migration Program: Back in Balance
For the first time in six years, DIAC forecast the level of NOM for the year ending June 2011 to be 171 200, well below the number of permanent residence visas granted during that year. This drop in NOM restores the long-run relationship where the number of permanent residence visas and NOM move roughly in tandem and corrects the previous spike in NOM for the year ending
December  2008 where NOM reached 315 700 and when temporary residents seemed to be staying longer term. Further reforms and strengthened integrity measures for our student and immigration programs have now restored the long term balance.

To follow DIAC's Skilled Migration Blog, click here.