AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

Government Pushes State Sponsored Visas to Australia

Monday, 7 July 2008

Immigration Minister Chris Evans has called on states and territories to increase their use of the state sponsored skilled migration scheme.

Department of Immigration and Citizenship figures from recent years show that state and territory sponsored skilled migration forms less than 10 per cent of the overall skilled migration program whereas employer sponsored migration is closer to 20 per cent.

In the 2006-07 financial year, Victoria granted 9178 state sponsored visas, followed by South Australia where 7158 were granted.

“There is the capacity within the Federal Government’s permanent skilled migration programme for states and territories to sponsor overseas skilled workers in occupations in demand”, Senator Evans said on yesterday.

Mr Evans indicated that the Government would consider providing extra flexibility to states and territories to enable them to sponsor more skilled migrants in areas of high demand.

"I will be encouraging the states and territories to increase their use of state-sponsored migration to better link skilled workers to the economic needs in their jurisdictions," says Evans.

The government has already announced an additional 31,000 additional skilled visas to the 2008-09 migration programme in the May budget.

This may mean states and territories can sponsor more skilled workers in areas of high demand under the skilled migration sponsorship programme.

If you are interested in Visas to Australia, contact Migration Expert for information and advice on which visa is best suited to you. You can also try our visa eligibility assessment to see if you are eligible to apply for a visa to Australia.