A Look at Australian Immigration Policy

I was looking at the Australian Immigration Policy over the internet and 3 features caught my eyes, firstly, the candidate need to check if his/her skill fit the Skilled Occupation List (SOL), secondly, the candidate need to pass the English Proficiency Test and thirdly, the candidate need to have a Employer Sponsor him/her for work.

I looked into the insight on how the Australians controlled the immigration flow into their country, especially when skilled immigration may threaten the locals. The Australian immigration policy looked into importing skills that are in shortage in Australia. Not liked us where our PAP gov imported people who are cheaper to compete with Singaporeans.

I observed an interesting immigration policy of the Australians immigration, when I key in the my own answers into the Australian Visa Wizard, and pretended that I wanted to work in Australia and stay more than 12 months.


Source: http://www.immi.gov.au


In the Visa Wizard,

I was "rejected" by the Visa Wizard if:

1. I do not have a Sponsor such as Employer, Family members or State or Territory government agencies.

2. Even My skill or qualification is Listed on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL).


To be able to proceed to find out if I am able to be qualified for any Visa, I need to be:

• sponsored by a Employer or Government Agencies
• my skills must be in the SOL.

After that requirement is met, then I was informed that I will be eligible to apply for a "Business - Long Stay (subclass 457) visa" (Staying more than 12 months)


Source: http://www.immi.gov.au

The requirement for the Business - Long Stay (subclass 457) visa is summarized (Staying more than 12 months):

• be sponsored by an employer
• have skills, qualifications, experience and an employment background which match those required for the position
• have an offer of employment from your sponsor
• meet the English language requirement unless eligible for a waiver
• be eligible to hold a license or registration for your position (if required)
• be paid the rate of guaranteed salary specified in your relevant nomination, based on the market salary rate for your position.

If I decided to choose stay permanently in Australia in the Visa Wizard, I will be eligible to apply for a "Skilled - Independent - Migrant (subclass 175) visa" (Permanently Staying)


Source: http://www.immi.gov.au

The requirement for the Skilled - Independent - Migrant (subclass 175) visa is summarized (Permanently Staying):

• be under 45 years of age
• have the skills and qualifications that meet the Australian standard for an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL)
• meet the Australian study requirement, or meet the recent work experience requirement (you must have worked for 12 months in the last 24 months in any occupation on the SOL)
• meet the English language requirement.

Of course, the logical argument is that Australia is a large country with plenty of natural resources that are able to support the Australians economically. Thus I cannot compare Singapore with Australia.

However, I believed that our beloved PAP gov can learn some lessons from the Australians policy makers on protection of their own citizens from competition in the same job pool. The PAP gov gave excuse to the liberal immigration policy by saying Singapore have to support the aging population with high tax if Singapore did no increase immigration. These high up in their ivory towers ministers must have forgotten that Singapore is only 697 sq km.

They must do more to boost birth rate among the true blue Singaporean families rather than taking the easy way: opening up immigration, especially to the Mandarin speaking people.

On the language qualification of our immigrant, the Immigration should make basic English a requirement for PRs or Citizen requirement. Singapore is a multiracial country, even though we have 4 official language, English is still the working language in Singapore. The PAP gov did not look into the feelings of the non Chinese citizens in Singapore too. Non-Chinese citizens also contribute to the GDP and served NS right?