Australia announces to increase permanent migration spots from 160,000 to 195,000

Australian Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil has announced the permanent migration cap would be raised from 160,000 to 195,000, an increase of 35,000 spots for the current financial year. More announcements are underway as the job summit continues.

Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil and Minister for Immigration Andrew Giles during the Jobs and Skills Summit at Parliament House in Canberra. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE

Key Points

• The Labor government's jobs and skills summit aims to ease the skills crisis
• An increase of 20% has been announced to the permanent migration intake limit
• The number of regional visas will increase by 9000 to 34,000

To address immediate gaps in the healthcare, infrastructure, and technology sectors, the Labor Government lifts the migration cap for this fiscal year 2022-23.

Addressing the final day of the Jobs and Skills Summit, Ms Neil announced, "there will be an increase of 9000 regional migrant places to 34,000, and an increase of 11,000 state and territory sponsored visas to 31,000."

"In 2022-23, 4700 additional places will be allocated to the healthcare sector, 6100 to workers with 'critical infrastructure skills,' and 6,800 to the technology sector," she says.

Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil during the Jobs and Skills Summit at Parliament House in Canberra. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE

According to Ms Claire, Labor's priority is to shift away from short-term migration to citizenship, nation building, and permanent residence.

Andrew Giles, the immigration minister, said the government will invest 36.1 million dollars in clearing the visa backlogs.

Mr Giles further stated that a temporary worker's income threshold would also be raised by the government.

Increasing the skills and training of locals is part of a deal between trade unions and businesses to address the skilled labour shortage in the long run.