Australia increases immigration targets for UK skilled workers |
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The Australian government is increasing the number of Australian visas issued to skilled workers from the UK. Australia's growing economy is creating Increased demand for skilled workers creating labour shortages in many highly skilled job sectors. In an effort to meet this demand immigration targets for UK skilled migrants for the 2007-08 period have been increased from 97,000 to 102,500. As of September 2007, changes will be made to the points-based Australian immigration system. An extra five points will be awarded to anyone passing an optional standardised English language test. Overseas Emigration Visas migration agent Owen Small was interviewed for The Herald regarding the recent changes. He warned the Australian government will continue to cherry-pick the best of the applications: "The government there is still very selective and you would be surprised at the number of people who are still rejected. The points system is about selecting the people they want. That's why the English speaking has gone up. They only want good English speakers now." The workers who are now actively being sought by the Australian government include teachers, doctors, quantity surveyors, plumbers, nurses, carpenters, dentists and IT managers. The country's Migration Occupations in Demand List, updated last week, now includes 38 managerial and professional jobs, 10 computing specialisations and 46 trades.
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