The Morrison government has initiated two new regional skilled migrants visas and will allow skilled migrants to apply for 25,000 regional visas to live and work in 7 designated areas across Australia, which require migrants to stay up to three years in regional communities before they are eligible to apply for permanent residency.
The Australian government has also created two new regional visas such as the 'regional visas include a skilled employer-sponsored regional visa for people sponsored by an employer in regional Australia. That is a skilled work regional (provisional) visa, for people who are nominated by a state or territory government or sponsored by an eligible family member to live and work in regional Australia, which will also be introduced.
The Federal Australian government wants to reduce its migration program from 190,000 to 160,000 a year, but at the same time, it wants to reduce traffic congestion in Australian big cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. It also wants to boost the regional population and economic growth.
Perth, Gold Coast, and South Australia and Northern Territory are some of many regions among others that have expressed interests and want more migrants and international students.
Though these visas are for good purposes, Human Resources & Employment at the Queensland University of Technology professor Julian Teicher says they may not stay for long as these regional communities don't have their community members who speak their languages, who may have the same belief or same culture, unless a warm welcome and integration programs that enable them to be part of those communities are put in place.
What is more concerning is that the former Deputy Secretary of the Immigration Department, Abul Rizvi says that there is a catch. It is not sure if skilled migrants want to live in regional areas as they may prefer major cities. But the wage-earning is an issue. The Australia government wants these skilled migrants to live and work in Australian regional for 3 years and they have to earn their income up to over AUD 53,000, They are not sure that they will earn that money like their counterparts who reside in big cities.
