Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

Australia's Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) is heading to London to try to recruit British immigrants, to fill a severe skills shortage. Australia, as reported earlier on workpermit.com, hopes to recruit 20,000 skilled workers from around the world.In 2004, 18,000 Britons migrated to Australia, and the UK provides the largest percentage of skilled immigrants to Australia. Recently the Australian Government raised its 2005 target for skilled immigrants to 97,500.

Australia is currently undergoing its largest immigration drive in 40 years, tempting workers tothe country with promises of shorter hours, a better climate and alower cost of living. Europe – and especially the UK – is the maintarget.

Under the currentprogramme, Australia will offer immigrants four-year employer orstate-sponsored immigration, with the option to stay on permanently.

Australia is seeking to attract 20,000 skilled workers from Asia and Europe in the biggest recruitment drive for migrants in more than 40 years, Immigration spokesman Abdul Rizvi said.

The government is seeking doctors, engineers and trades people to fill labor shortages, Rizvi said in Canberra. The Immigration Department will hold recruitment fairs in London, Berlin, Chennai and Amsterdam in the next few months, Rizvi said.

A declining birth rate and a dramatic slump in immigration rates are behind a levelling off in New Zealand's population.

According to figures released by Statistics New Zealand today, New Zealand's estimated resident population at June 30, 2005 was 4,098,200. Population growth for the year to June was estimated to be 36,800 (0.9 per cent), compared with 52,200 (1.3 per cent) in the June 2004 year.

The June 2005 year estimate is below the average annual increase of 42,500 (1.1 per cent) for the June years from 1995 to 2005.

The New Zealand Department of Labour recently announced it will begin requiring a blood test that screens for HIV, hepatitis B, and liver and kidney function for all foreign visitors who plan on staying in the country for more than one year.

New Zealand, which has a shortage of skilled workers, is looking to Germany to find more workers.

A recruitment agency said a number of regional development organizations, recruitment companies and the Department of Labour's Immigration Service will start a campaign in October for skilled migrants at an employment expo in Bonn and Potsdam.