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Australia to Slash Migrant Intake

Here's somewhat sad news for people who wish to migrate to Australia. According to a report, the country could cut down on the number of migrants; however, it is also reported that it may prefer to give more chance to skilled workers as compared to the unskilled ones.

Australia is very strict when it comes to taking action against migrants who break the law, and this is the reason the country has decided to focus on only letting in the best and the brightest resources who go on to become law-abiding and resourceful citizens.

If we see the numbers, Australia currently allows nearly 200,000 migrants per year, and according to the report this number could be slashed by anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 people, which means a cut down of almost 20%. Per the report, the country would prefer more of skilled people over the unskilled ones any given time, which means there will be an increase in the proportion of skilled migrants accepted as part of the program.

Furthermore, per Prime Minister Scott Morrison, if the migrants want permanent residency in Australia, they may need to spend at least five years in a regional area as a primary requisite; however, it will be up to the states to plan where new migrants should settle under potential changes to Australia's national migration program, as the states plan a lot of things including roads, hospitals, schools, etc. The responsibility altogether lies on common shoulders of states and Commonwealth Government now to bring all this together in a streamlined way, as the earlier process wasn't working rightly where the state governments were telling the federal government on how many migrants were required. He also cited the example where NSW Government initially asked for more people, but later said they need less.

According to the Prime Minister, states are the best judge about their carrying capacity in state and territory. The Prime Minister also reiterated that states must work closely with the Capital (Canberra) on where migrants should go, and where expansion should happen.

The new number will be demand-driven but will also be set considering the carrying capacity of state and territory. Migrants will be strategically pushed out to regional areas with conditions on non-permanent visas, and whosoever found non-compliant with the terms of their visa shall be asked to go back. In short, migrants will get permanent residency of Australia only if they stay compliant will all the terms of their visas, else not!

The focus of the new program is to encourage the migrants to move towards regional areas, which will benefit overall and homogeneous growth of the country, and all this will be done by introducing incentives for migrants who choose to move to regional areas. These incentives may depend from state to state and territory to territory.

For detailed information on this, please read our upcoming blogs! 

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