What is Australia’s new 10-year immigration policy and what is special about it for Pakistanis wanting to move to Australia?
Australia’s government says it will halve the number of foreigners coming to the country over the next two years in a bid to improve Australia’s “challenged” immigration system.
The announcement was made on Monday at the launch of the country’s ’10-year migration strategy’, which is likely to affect foreign students living in Australia on temporary visas the most.
A change in the migration policy of any country is a very important news for foreigners living there or those who wish to visit there. Sydney-based Dr. Ayesha Jahangir also has a network of people who want guidance regarding this new policy.
Dr. Ayesha Jahangir works as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Center for Media Transitions at the University of Technology, Sydney, and was previously associated with a migration agency for three years.
Speaking to the Media, he covered the ongoing debate on the policy and the general climate around Australia’s migration strategy. She says that ‘It has been 48 hours since the policy came, so there is a lot of uncertainty and people are confused.’
“They don’t understand how this policy can affect them. Will immigrants whose visas are still being processed be affected?
This happened not only with Dr. Ayesha, but a Pakistani student living in Sydney, Ammar Randhawa, while talking to Media, said that since the policy was introduced, he has received two to three calls.
These were calls from Pakistani students whose visas are at risk of cancellation (following this policy).
“They are now trying to get into PhDs because the Australian government has said we need skilled people.”
Ammar himself went to Australia for higher education before the global epidemic of Corona and has been living in Sydney for the past five years. He has now completed his Masters and is thinking of pursuing a Ph.D.
Ammar explains that some of those who call him are genuinely interested in pursuing higher education, but there are others who only want to do so for a visa. “But they still want to write a proposal for a PhD or enroll in fields that are required by the Australian government.”
It should be noted that according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of foreign immigrants who came to the country during the last one year has been 500,000, while before the restrictions of Kovid were implemented, this number used to be around 250,000 annually. .
But what is this new ten-year policy, why has it been implemented by the Australian government now and what are Pakistanis living in Australia thinking about it?
What is the new policy?
Long story short, the Australian government announced a new ten-year migration strategy on Monday, saying it hopes to reduce the annual number of foreigners entering the country to 2.5 million by June 2025.
According to official data, there are about six and a half million foreign students currently living in Australia and most of them are staying here after obtaining a second visa after the first temporary visa (student visa) expires.
Under the new plan, visa rules for international students and low-skilled workers will be tightened.
There is still a shortage of skilled workers in the country and there are still difficulties in bringing them into the country.
It is for this reason that the ‘Skills in Demand’ visa will be issued in place of the earlier ‘Temporary Skills Shortage’ visa. There will be three different routes for this four-year visa. One route would be for people with ‘specialist skills’ and would seek to attract the most talented people from the technology and energy sectors to Australia.
One way would be in terms of ‘core skills’, where the list of areas would be changed according to the demand of the Australian market. But this way the manpower shortage will be met.
A third way is in terms of ‘essential skills’ ie sectors such as healthcare where there is a shortage of workers. Details regarding this are still under consideration.
These new rules set stricter standards for international students in English language tests, namely IELTS.
That is, where earlier IELTS band 6 was required for graduate visa, now it has been increased to 6.5. While the IELTS requirement for student visa has been increased from 5.5 to 6.
Apart from this, additional questions will be asked of the second time visa applicants. During this time they have to prove how further studies will help them to improve their career or their education.
Visa procedures have also been improved for immigrants with ‘special’ or ‘essential’ skills to give them a better chance of securing permanent residence.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neill said that the new policy will provide an opportunity for skilled people to come to Australia, which the country needs more. Also, the exploitation of those already living, working and studying in the country will be stopped.
Students coming to ‘fake’ colleges and scams
The Australian government’s term ‘backdoor’ is also mentioned repeatedly in the 99-page strategy, whereby various ‘bogus’ colleges bring students to Australia but then return their degrees. There is no benefit.
These ‘fake’ colleges have been talked about before, from Australian local newspapers to the government level, but this time the government is signaling a concerted crackdown.
Dr. Ayesha has spoken to Media in detail about this.
“What happens is that these colleges or institutions help bring students to Australia, but they don’t find a place in the workforce here.”
“Because the competition here is not just between the people of a town or a city, but between people from all over the world.”
Ayesha says, “Then these migrants usually do not fit into the system but become a burden and the term ‘permanently transient’ is used for them.”
We tried to talk to a few Pakistani students based in Sydney and Melbourne who came to Australia through these colleges and are now making a living driving Uber and who will be most affected by this change. Most of the students refused to talk to us, but one student spoke to us briefly on the condition of anonymity.
He told how he had come to Australia many years ago for a huge amount of money but then could not focus on his studies properly and could not earn enough to get into a good university.
He said that ‘now we are trapped, the government should crack down on those who have abused us but give us some concession.’
Costs are high, income opportunities are low
Keep in mind that the cost of living in Australia has increased and rental housing has become difficult to find, and students have to live far away from their place of work or study.
Ammar Randhawa, speaking to the Media from Sydney, said that in this policy, students will now only be able to work 20 hours per week instead of 40. This is the discount that was given to them during covid.
Ammar says that the rents have gone up a lot here, until two years ago you could get a studio for $300, now you can’t get rooms for less than $250. Now the problem that more students will face will be financial crisis, they will face problems in paying their fees.
He says that ‘Earlier we used to make at least 1500 dollars by doing any work for 40 hours a week, of which we used to save up to 1000 dollars and save 4000 dollars a month and thus pay the fees. used to be able.’
“Now the situation is that the government has again set the capacity for only 20 hours a week and now the rent has also increased so much, how will the students survive.”
Dr. Ayesha draws attention to another important aspect here and that is about the feelings of the local population towards the immigrants in general on such occasions.
“When governments talk about people entering the country through the backdoor and taking advantage of the loopholes in the system, society can see it differently,” she says.
It should be noted that during the years 2008 and 2009, protests were held by Indian students in Australia against the crimes committed against them in the country and this led to a diplomatic gulf between Australia and India.
Dr Ayesha says that the government should go and explain to Australians that this crackdown is not being done because it is the fault of foreign students, but because even local small businesses are taking advantage of this loophole. are.’