New Rules for Applications for Australian Permanent Residence

New rules for applications for Permanent residence (P.R) will apply from 1 September. The new rules are available on the Department of Immigration website: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/changes/index.htm

Ahmad has been studying the changes, attending information sessions and leading a discussion on the Orkut “Study in Australia” community. Excerpts from the discussion are reproduced here with Ahmad's permission.

Ahmad wrote:

There is very high chance that the two years study rule may be changed such that the two years must be the result of one single qualification, effectively ruling out any people who use multiple qualifications to make up two years.

Furthermore, MODL (Migration Occupation in Demand List ) points will no longer be given without work experience, and a 18 month TR (temporary residence) will be introduced.

The asked:
So the overall picture is positive or negative for future students?

Ahmad replied:

"Positive for:

• Students studying for 3 yrs or more

• Students with higher IELTS scores at time of application

• Students willing to stay on and get work experience before

• Students completing occupations in many diverse fields, as the incentive of MODL is not immediate, and is now dependent on 1 years' work experience

Negative for:

• People trying to use an MODL occupation as a pathway to a PR using qualifications that were often unrelated to each other and sandwiched together to make up 2 years, which is nothing but exploitation of migration rules, and the fact that it had lead to market saturation, thereby disadvantaging more deserving applicants

• People with low English language proficiency, which often meant a low factor of work-readiness

In general, the new rules are meant to reduce the concentration of people in areas like IT and accounting, and better prepare people for the job market by encouraging them to get work experience and more proficient English language skills."