Hi John,

I’m back in Australia on my second working holiday visa.

I want to stay here permanently and apply for an independent skilled visa.

I’m 27 and am a motor mechanic with more than three years experience in Australia and Ireland.

I want to apply as soon as possible.

Am I eligible and what is the process to get my skills assessed?

Ian O.

Dear Ian,

To apply for an independent skilled migration visa, you must first meet the 120 points eligibility requirement and have at least 12 months recent work experience in your trade, i.e. 12 months in the 24 months before applying.

As motor mechanics are on the current skilled occupation list, an Irish passport holder under 30 with three years’ experience – including a year’s work experience in Australia – would likely meet the 120 points.

Sixty points are available for motor mechanics. To claim these points you must first get your skills assessed.

Once you have your skills assessment, you should be ready to lodge your independent visa application. Remember, these independent applications (where you have no sponsor) are currently taking two to three years to process, and no bridging visa is granted. Therefore, it’s worth considering employer or state sponsored options with faster processing times.

Don’t forget the points’ eligibility program is due to change in July 2011, so plan accordingly. Recent changes to the independent visa skills assessment process introduced by the Australian government came into effect on December 5, 2010.

Trades Recognition Australia has been named the assessing body for all trades but have outsourced assessment for certain trades and passport holders.
As such, Irish passport holders in 14 different trades, including motor mechanics, will be required to apply through Vetassess (a vocational education and training assessment provider) for their skills assessment, unless they lodge an application direct to TRA before December 23, 2010. Other tradesmen from Ireland that will now need to apply to Vetassess for independent skilled visa assessments include: bricklayers, carpenter joiners, electricians, plumbers and metal fabricators.

The Vetassess assessment process has three stages and will cost $2,000 – a huge increase from the $300 charged by TRA, and a longer process to boot.
Anyone currently preparing a TRA skills assessment application for an independent skilled visa should lodge by December 23, 2010 or start afresh with Vetassess.

See http://www.deewr.gov.au/skills/programs/skills

assess/TRA/offshoreassessment/ages/overview.aspx
It appears that people sponsored on 457 visas or those applying under the Employer Nomination Scheme or under a State Migration Plan, will still apply to TRA through the Skilled Worker Program.

The current government continues to issue increasingly complex lists of occupations. The latest is 49 pages long with four different lists. This is making it difficult for individuals to determine the correct path to choose.

I recommend seeking a full assessment from a registered migration agent before committing you hard earned dollars. See http://mia.org.au/

New figures from the Department of Immigration reveal that the number of Irish people emigrating to Australia has increased sharply.

Just over three thousand Irish citizens were granted permanent residency in the financial year ending June 2010, representing a 22 per cent rise on the previous year.

Overall, the numbers making the move Down Under were down by nearly two per cent, with a 13 per cent fall in General Skilled Migration (GSM).

Irish people accounted for 1.8 per cent of the total migration program for 2009/2010 year and with a total of 2, 950, ranked fifth behind the Philippines, the US, India and the UK in terms of those granted 457 temporary business visas.

Meanwhile the numbers of Irish people granted Working Holiday Visas (WHV) were down sharply on the previous year. Just 14, 833 arrived on WHVs up to the end of June compared to 22, 786 the previous year.

Accountants, computing professionals and nurses were the top three occupations in the skill stream, followed by mechanical and civil engineers. Department of Immigration planning levels for total migration next year allow for 168, 700 people, including 113, 850 under the skilled migration program.

And with further cuts just announced in this month’s budget, Ireland looks set for a continued mass exodus. In July, the state’s economic think tank the ESRI predicted up to 120 thousand Irish people would leave the country by the end of next year.

by Clare McGreal

The Australian government has unveiled plans to amend the points test for would-be skilled migrants.

The changes should make it easier for applicants from Ireland – or any country where English is the first language and who have a third-level qualification – to emigrate to Australia.

In another first, the government will accept applications from skilled applicants up to the age of 50.

While the changes have yet to be approved by parliament, initial reaction to the proposals has been positive.

The changes, if approved, will be activated from July 1, 2011.

“The new points test is focused on selecting highly skilled people to deliver a more responsive and targeted migration program,” a Department of Immigration release stated.

“It will deliver the best and brightest skilled migrants by emphasising high level qualifications, better English language levels and extensive skilled work experience.”

You can download the new points test here.

The decision to increase the age threshold for applicants to 50 will be welcome news for recession weary Irish workers looking for an option to emigrate.

However, the points test is weighted so only those with the highest qualifications and most experience will make the threshold.

It remains to be seen whether or not the age threshold will be extended to the employer sponsorship route, favoured by most Irish applicants.

Ireland is not returning to the dark days of mass emigration, Taoiseach Brian Cowen pledged today.

With 100,000 people predicted to flee over the next four years, Mr Cowen accepted the Government had been unable to create enough jobs.

But the Taoiseach (pictured above with young GAA players from Parnells club in Dublin) said the country was not facing the prospect of a repeat of the huge exodus of young workers in the 1950s and 1980s.

“We’re not going back to those days,” Mr Cowen said.

“What we’re talking about here is the fact that we have many people who have come to Ireland over the past 10 years, many of whom are also returning home because the job opportunities obviously are no longer there in the numbers that there were.

“And there are also many of our own people who are leaving, some voluntarily, some because we haven’t been able to produce enough jobs in the immediate term.”

Mr Cowen said 65,000 people left the country this year, while 30,000 came in.

The Government yesterday revealed taxpayers would be hit with a €6bn slash-and-burn budget next month, with spending cuts making up two-thirds of the package.

Outlining details of the four-year budgetary plan the Department of Finance revealed it expects 100,000 people to emigrate up to 2014, with 45,000 to go next year.

“There’s a flow of people coming and going so we’re simply reflecting that in the projections for the four-year plan,” Mr Cowen added.

Meanwhile, efforts to calm investors’ fears by revealing the Budget target for next year appear to have had little impact, with the cost of borrowing on international markets hitting 7.7 per cent.

But in a boost to the Government’s efforts the EU’s Internal Markets Commissioner Michel Barnier predicted the situation would improve.

“I know your government and you as a parliament are taking courageous measures,” Mr Barnier told the Oireachtas European Affairs Committee.

“I am confident that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Mr Barnier also moved to assuage fears that Europe could force a hike in Ireland’s 12.5 per cent corporation tax by insisting the country would keep control of its tax policies.

Live Work Travel Australia is a new glossy magazine for Irish nationals looking for a new life Down Under.

To be published in early October, LWTA will contain news, features and information for Irish nationals looking to live and work in Australia.

For those twentysomethings looking to come to Australia as a Working Holidaymaker or as temporary residents, LWTA will include all the latest visa and recruitment news.

For those individuals or families looking to emigrate, LWTA will offer a unique insight into the jobs and challenges of starting a new life down under by talking to Irish people who have already made the move.

The magazine replaces the previously published Irish Down Under title.

LWTA will be distributed throughout Ireland via

• The Working Abroad Expo (Dublin Oct)

• Newsagents

• Australia specialist travel agents

• Australia visa seminars

• Graduate fair (Dublin)

• By mail-order via website

The backpacker section will contain all you need to know about making the most from your year (or two) down under.

Our recruitment section will take a look at the Australian jobs market and sponsored visa opportunities for skilled workers.

The Emigrate section will examine the ups and downs of making the big move down under by talking to individuals and families who have done it.

To pre-order a copy of the Live Work Travel Australia, click here.

If you want to book advertising space, click here for more information.

If you want to be a stockist for the magazine, contact the publisher click here.

Irish nurses face possible pay cuts as part of the Irish govt's cutbacks plan

Irish nurses will still face the bizarre prospect of having to take an English language test, should they wish to undertake skilled work as a nurse in NSW. The Labor Party stressed that the requirement was not just limited to Irish nurses. The Australian Government relies on the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC) to assess a person’s skill level for the purposes of migration to Australia.

“The ANMC has determined that proficiency in English is a critical element for skilled work as a nurse in Australia. As such, the ANMC requires that all internationally-qualified nurses and midwives applying for a full skills assessment to the ANMC under the general skilled migration scheme complete an English proficiency test,” a Labor spokesperson said. “The requirement is not limited to just Irish nurses and was introduced to address concerns … [it] ensures that they are able to communicate competently and safely with patients and their families, colleagues and other health professionals.”

Last year, the Irish Echo reported that an Irish nurse had been required by the Nursing Board of NSW to sit an English language test at a cost of $250, plus an $80 application fee. The ruling requiring all non-residents of NSW to undertake the test came into effect on January 1, 2009.

Campaign immigration rhetoric points to tighter visa conditions.

Unemployed people in Ireland looking to emigrate to Australia will have to adopt a wait-and-see approach until after the Federal election, as both the main parties avoided sending clear signals to those considering skilled migration.

It is an outlook that may be a source of frustration for those looking to work abroad after the release of live register figures, which show unemployment is at a six-year high.

The figures released by the Central Statistics Office indicate that 452,500 people are now without work in Ireland. The unemployment rate is currently at 13.7 per cent. A fifth of the people now signing on are professionals.

The Irish Echo asked the main Australian parties about their plans for the skilled migration stream.

A Labor spokesperson did not give any indication of Labor’s skilled migration plans beyond the August 21 election, and referred to decisions made earlier this year.

“The Gillard Labor Government in May announced an increase to the Skilled Migration Program for the 2010/2011 year. The skill stream has been increased by 5,750 places, a 5.3 per cent increase from 2009-10 planning levels of 108,100. This means the skill stream accounts for 67.5 per cent of the migration programme, up from 64.1 per cent in 2008-09,” said the spokesperson.

The Coalition’s immigration policy document proposes reducing the annual rate of net overseas migration from 298,924 in 2008-09 to no more than 170,000 per year by the end of their first term.

“The Coalition will ensure that two-thirds of our permanent migration programme will be for the purposes of skilled migration,” says the policy.

Using that calculation, skilled migration would be set at 57,000 by 2013. States such as Queensland and Western Australia will be afforded a high priority for permanent and temporary skilled visa applications, under the Coalition.

Registered migration agent John McQuaid, who provides visa advice in the Irish Echo’s regular visa-bility section, said that there is some ‘electioneering’ on the immigration debate and that would-be Irish migrants should not be concerned

“The real outlook is that it’s business as usual for anyone who wants to come to Australia,” said Mr McQuaid.  He said that the Labor Government had not really made any changes to the skilled migration. Rather they had moved the numbers around.

“If you look behind the rhetoric, skilled migration is still needed. The ageing population demands that they still need skilled young people. The reality is that the numbers aren’t going to change.”

Mr McQuaid added that if the Coalition were elected on August 21 it would be at least until this time next year until they could make any changes to the skilled migration programme.

by Luke O’Neill

Convict sites across Australia – rich with Irish history – have been added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) World Heritage List.

The sites include Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney, Port Arthur in Tasmania, and Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.

Professor Elizabeth Malcolm, Gerry Higgins Chair of Irish Studies at the University of Melbourne, was one of those to welcome the move.

“Anything that goes to protect convict heritage would have to be welcomed by anyone working in the field of Irish studies,” she told Irish Australia.

Australia’s Environment Protection and Heritage Minister Peter Garrett also welcomed the World Heritage committee’s decision to inscribe 11 local convict sites on the list, helping to ensure their preservation into the future.

The recognition of Hyde Park Barracks has particular significance for the Irish community in Australia. Acting at times as a prison, immigration processing centre, orphanage, infirmary and ‘madhouse’, among other things, the site now also hosts Australia’s Monument to the Great Irish Famine.

Another recognised site, Fremantle Prison, was home to one of the most infamous and audacious prison yarns in Australian history. The Catalpa Escape of 1876 saw six members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood escape on the whaler which travelled 11 months from Massachusetts to collect the convicts in Bunbury.

Bevan Beaver, the executive manager of Fremantle Prison, said he was delighted with the news.

“It is significant because it is recognition of the convicts’ efforts,” said Mr Beaver.

“Western Australia was set up as a free colony. But it was failing. So from our perspective the story of forced migration is what got Western Australia up and running. Basically convict labour saved the day.”

Five of the 11 World Heritage listed sites are located in Tasmania.

State Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage, David O’Byrne said that obtaining World Heritage recognition of Australia’s convict past is a significant milestone.

“Forced penal migration had a particular impact on Tasmania because of its sheer scale in relation to the general population,” Minister O’Byrne said.

“This is a major part of the Tasmanian story. “I’m quite proud to own up to some convict ancestry — my family is descended from four brothers, the O’Byrnes, who were convicted in Ireland and transported.”

Other sites included in the announcement are Cockatoo Island Convict Site and Old Great North Road, in NSW; Brickendon and Woolmers Estates, Darlington Probation Station, the Coal Mines Historic Site and the Cascades Female Factory in Tasmania, and Kingston and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area on Norfolk Island.

www.unesco.org

Detailed questions about what would-be migrants can expect after the federal election were submitted to the Labor party and the Coalition by the Irish Echo.

Specifically, the parties were asked if they would cap or cut skilled migration visas, temporary business (457) visas and student visas.

The Coalition
THE Coalition has named 170,000 a year as its target number for net migration, figures for which would include working holiday visa holders, student visa holders and returning Australian residents among its whole.

Some 57,000 allocations of that number would go towards the skilled migration stream, which means that considerably fewer skilled migration visas than now would be awarded under an Abbott government. The Coalition has indicated that there is likely to be no change to the 457 scheme.

“A Coalition Government will also quarantine the level of employer nominated skills migration and temporary business visas (457s) to at least the levels it inherits. In addition, the Coalition will seek to liberalise arrangements for temporary business visas (457s) subject to clear standards, to make them more accessible to business, especially small businesses, and business in regional areas with proven skills shortage needs,” their policy document says.

Irish people seeking to emigrate to Queensland or Western Australia may find that their applications are processed more quickly, as the Coalition will prioritise the two states.

“To address the skills needs of regional areas and small business we will encourage the settlement on either a temporary or permanent basis of new arrivals in regional and rural areas. States such as Queensland and WA will be afforded a high priority for permanent and temporary skilled visa applications.”

The Liberal Party has also outlined that it wishes to produce a White Paper on immigration by the end of this year, if elected. Its policy gives little away by saying that this paper will “reframe the structure and composition of Australia’s immigration programme to address the policy challenges of sustainable population growth”.

Labor
LABOR has said that skilled migration visas, 457 visas and student visas all remain uncapped but they have not indicated if this will change after the election. Labor does not have a full immigration policy document.

“The Gillard Labor Government in May announced an increase to the skilled migration program for the 2010-11 year. The skill stream has been increased by 5750 places, a 5.3 per cent increase from 2009-10 planning levels of 108,100.

“This means the skill stream accounts for 67.5 per cent of the migration program, up from 64.1 per cent in 2008-09,” a Labor spokesperson said.

Temporary business (457) visas are uncapped. Irish people already here who are considering extending their stay by applying for student visas will be happy to know that this programme is also uncapped.

by Luke O’Neill

Net emigration from Ireland  over the next four years could eclipse the massive exodus of the 1980s, economic analysts have predicted.

But in an ominous sign forIreland’s economic prospects, the departure of more than 300,000 people over the next four years is seen as crucial to the country’s prospects of recovery, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has declared.

While official figures from the Australian Department of Immigration were unavailable at the time of going to press, ESRI officials in Dublin said that staff in the Australian Embassy in Dublin had reported that there has been a major increase in the number of visa applications from Irish nationals.

The emigration estimates were contained in an ESRI report on Ireland’s economic recovery. The report presented two scenarios, an optimistic and a pessimistic outlook.

Even based on the most positive assumptions, the ESRI still estimated that “there would be cumulative net emigration of over 160,000 over the period 2009 to 2013.”

In the negative scenario, which commentators have described as more realistic, that number could almost double.

However, the ESRI has also claimed that increased emigration is crucial to lowering Ireland’s joblessness, which now stands at over 13 per cent.

“If migration were not to resume to this extent, this would lead to a higher unemployment rate and a slower decline in the unemployment rate in the recovery period,” the report declared.

Other commentators have gone further, claiming that people will “have to emigrate” if the Irish economy is to recover.

More than 120,000 people — or 5,000 a month — will emigrate by the end of next year, according to the state’s economic think-tank.

Jean Goggin, a co-author of the ESRI report, said: “It’s quite significant — we expect 70,000 to leave in 2010 and a further 50,000 in 2011.”

Unlike last year, most of these emigrants will be Irish, the figures suggest.

Many foreign workers – mostly in construction and retailing — whose jobs disappeared have already left the country.

“In the two years 2008 and 2009, the number of non-nationals employed in Ireland fell by 87,500,” the report says. “The biggest adjustment was in the number still in Ireland. It fell by 60,200, or 12 per cent.”

“It is very difficult to estimate how Irish workers will react to the situation,” senior researcher Alan Barrett told the Irish Independent.

“But the evidence from things like visa applications for Australia points that way.”

by Billy Cantwell