In January this year, enquiries for international removals company Anglo Pacific were up a significant 45% on the equivalent period in 2011. When isolating the figures for Australia alone, this shot up to 60%. New legislation effective 1 July 2012 which will make it tougher to obtain permanent residency in Australia is believed to be responsible for this surge in interest.
Jason Diggs, Sales Director for Anglo Pacific, explains, “Whilst January always sparks a peak in traffic as the British public wallows in winter and post-Christmas blues, 2012 has been particularly unusual. The Australian dollar hasn’t weakened, the British housing market hasn’t strengthened and we’ve seen no mass advertising campaigns or migration events backed by the Australian Government. All fingers seem to point therefore at the biggest change to Australia’s skilled migration programme since the points test was introduced 33 years ago - SkillSelect. From 1 July applicants will face an invitation-only visa system with no guarantee of permanent residency. The message to would-be migrants is to get in your application now and, judging by our enquiry levels, it would appear that the message is coming through loud and clear.”
Whilst the current system allows for anyone who meets eligibility criteria on points to apply for a visa, under SkillSelect migrants must first go through a skills assessment and English test before submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI) and hopefully be placed into a skills “pool”. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) will then invite the brightest candidates with the highest points tallies from the pool to apply for a skilled migration visa within 60 days. Demand for different skills will vary state-to-state but expect nursing, construction and engineering to continue to be sought-after.
Jason continues, “There are several real downsides to SkillSelect. The first is that applicants can remain in this pool for up to two years and never have any guarantee of being invited to progress any further making it hard to form any kind of long-term family or career plans. Once those two years have expired, another EOI must be lodged. Secondly quotas will exist for the number of skilled workers from each sector allowed in the pool each year to stop it from being dominated by certain occupations. Lastly an EOI is not a visa application and therefore will not count as bridging visa. However, if a visa is granted under the existing points system, candidates have a five year window to make the move, so it’s well worth doing the paperwork now even if you’re not quite ready to make the physical leap.”
Anglo Pacific sponsors the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) which represents over 2,000 registered migration agents worldwide. Communications Manager Brian Duff explains, “Over the past three years the UK has been Australia’s first or second largest source country for migrants in every major category, except student visas, and it has been of historic importance for immigration. Pull factors such as the climate, way of life and relative economic stability have kept them coming in big numbers. SkillSelect could help Brits to gain greater access to employer sponsorship as their qualifications are more evident and skills more transferable than migrants from arguably any other country.”
Brian continues, “Statistics produced by the DIAC show that there has been a significant decrease, 52% over three years, in the number of General Skilled Migration entrants from the UK but demonstrable increases, 61% over three years, in Employer Sponsored types of visa. At the MIA we fully expect this trend to become more pronounced over coming years as General Skilled Migration is virtually eliminated and Australia proceeds with a much more demand-driven programme. And, by limiting the number of people invited to apply for visas, processing times should dramatically drop.”
Unsurprisingly it’s not just removals enquiries that were up by 60% in January; job registrations via the Anglo Pacific jobseeker service were up by a similar 60% year-on-year. If you want to register your CV online, for free, visit http://www.anglopacific.co.uk/jobs_abroad.htm and we will connect your skills with specialist recruiters to help get the ball rolling on a move Down Under – or indeed to New Zealand or South Africa. For removals enquiries contact Anglo Pacific on 020 8838 8081, email removals@anglopacific.co.uk or visit www.anglopacific.co.uk.
About Anglo Pacific - As the UK’s largest independent international removals company, Anglo Pacific handles around 20,000 baggage shipments and overseas removals annually. A known market leader for shipping to Australia, shipping to New Zealand, shipping to USA, shipping to Canada and shipping to South Africa, Anglo Pacific has been established for more than 30 years and has an unrivalled reputation for friendly, professional and reliable container shipping services. What's more, as a fully bonded member of the British Association of Removers, clients’ belongings could not be in safer hands.
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