At the end of May, South Australia’s skilled migration Registration of Interest (ROI) applications for onshore applicants closed for the current program year. In the current year South Australia received more than 12,000 ROIs seeking a state nomination for the skilled independent visas. Where the Federal Government for the current program year had given South Australia allocation of 2,300 places.
The program will remain open to offshore applicants and those successful, will be invited to apply for South Australian state nomination. All ROIs received to date will be processed by 30 June 2024. ROIs in the online system that have not yet been submitted will be deleted. The system will re-open for ROIs in the next program year once the Federal Government allocates new places to South Australia.
Earlier in May, the South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has gone on record saying that in order to achieve Australia’s commitment to AUKUS the country will need to improve the immigration system. He said the submarine project was so big that it would only succeed if it was treated as a national enterprise and not just a shipbuilding project.
In order for that the happen Mr Malinauskas said that the country needed to have a lot more skilled migrants able to enter the country.
It is optimistic that the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently said the Federal Government would make it easier for South Australian business in the regional areas to hire offshore workers to bridge their skills gaps. Employers are able to hire workers in areas where locally none are available under the South Australian Regional Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) with more moderate eligibility requirements.
The Federal Government has agreed to increase the visa cap under the South Australian DAMA from 780 employer sponsored positions endorsed in the fiscal 2023 to 2,000 places annually, which will continue until the end of June next year. There are 128 new occupations on the South Australian DAMA Skilled Occupation List that now covers 319 occupations for employer nomination. The additional occupations include those in high-tech and digital fields, construction, health, aged care and renewable energy.
Perhaps South Australia will receive higher allocation of numbers available under the skilled independent migration programs too.
Photo by Gilly Tanabose on Unsplash
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