Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

Plans to allow businesses to recruit specialist foreign workers for up to 12 months, without requiring a 457 visa, have been scrapped by Australia's federal government. The move comes as officials consider other options to overhaul skilled migration visas to boost Australia's competitiveness in the global talent market.

Australian Immigration Department reforms are now focused on what is it describes as a 'new, simplified system that relaxes visa requirements, improves the visa application process and reduces overlapping visa pathways.'

The island of Tasmania in Australia is set to launch a major recruitment drive in an attempt to attract UK dairy farmers to work in the island's dairy units. Milk production on the island has grown at an average rate of about 5% per year over the last ten years. That is a 43% increase overall in comparison with a national decline of 4% across Australia as a whole, Tasmania is in need of UK workers to meet demand.

The case of a British man, in Australia on a working holiday visa who was recently deported, has led to calls for an overhaul of the Australian visa system. Chris Bailey, the chief operating officer of high growth start-up company, Disrupt, was stopped by Australian immigration officials following his return from a business trip to the United States.

Labour hire firms in Australia face being licenced should a key recommendation of a Senate inquiry into foreign worker visas be introduced. A recently published, 373-page Senate committee report says that labour hire companies, with strong links to South East Asia, had been subjecting illegal workers to 'slave-like' working conditions.

However Coalition committee members objected to a number of the key recommendations made, meaning that most of the suggested changes are unlikely to occur.

The Australian Senate Committee says that there is exploitation of temporary foreign workers in Australia who enter the country under a range of schemes including the Seasonal Worker Program for Pacific Islanders, working holiday visas (417 and 462) and 457 visas for skilled workers. The Australian Senate Committee says the situation is a 'national disgrace.'

Despite initially resisting calls to scrap the controversial 'backpacker tax' for those on the popular Australian working holiday visa for young people – as reported by Workpermit.com on 1 March 2016 – the Australian government has succumbed to pressure, taking the decision to dump the controversial plans. The move comes amid concerns from farmers facing a potential labour shortage during harvest times.