Australia has always been one of the top destinations for students and skilled migrants.
In particular, China is the largest source of immigrants to Australia and has become the first choice for many international students.
But recently, everything has changed.
Rents in Australia have risen by 14 percentage points in the past year, and the increase in the number of international students and immigrants is now cited as the main reason for the increase in housing prices.
Now it's not just Australia that has tripled the cost of buying a property in Australia for foreign buyers.
The Australian government has begun to step up efforts to cut immigration, and Australia hopes to halve the number of net migrants within two years by raising the threshold for student and temporary skilled migration visas.
Under the federal government's policy of aggressively cracking down on immigration
"We are dealing with the pressures of population growth, and net overseas migration next year is expected to be only half of last year's," Finance Minister Chalmers said.
From a record 528,000 last year to 260,000 pledged next year.
The much-anticipated budget for Australia's new fiscal year has finally been announced
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, the number of places in the Australian permanent migration program is set at 185,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous fiscal year.
About 70 per cent of the quota of 132,200 will be allocated to the skilled migration category.
The specific quota for each visa is announced below.
The total quota for immigrants is 185,000
Seventy per cent of the quota was allocated to skilled migrants, a total of 132,200.
There are 132,200 quotas for skilled visas, which is about 70% of the total quota:
·
189 independent skilled immigrants: 16,900
Employer Sponsorship: 44,000
Business Investment Immigration: 1000
GTI Global Talent: 4000
Australian Exceptional Talent: 300
Regional visa: 33,000
State Collateral: 33,000
·
Not only will the government's new budget reduce the size of immigration, but restrictions on the number of immigrants and international students will also be increased, with the permanent immigration quota reduced by 5,000, the net number of immigrants drastically reduced, and the number of international students enrolled in educational institutions will also be capped.
The Australian Department of Home Affairs announced a series of immigration policy reforms in December last year, including raising the minimum English proficiency requirements for international students, strengthening restrictions on "skipping" visa categories in Australia, shortening the temporary visa period for graduates to stay in Australia, and raising the income threshold for temporary skilled migrants.
Foreign students who previously stayed in Australia can apply for a temporary visa for up to five years after graduation to continue to live and work in Australia, and after expiration, they must apply for another type of visa. However, once the reform comes into effect, the validity period of temporary visas will be shortened to two years, and changing the type of visa after expiration will be subject to more rigorous review.
In addition, in order to curb the abuse of the "back door" of student visas, the League plans to increase the cost of student visas and work with universities, especially well-known universities in large cities, to reduce the number of international students in Australia.
This is likely to indicate that in order to control the overall net number of overseas immigrants, the immigration bureau will further reduce the age threshold and visa duration of these two types of student programs in the future.
Obviously, the USCIS wants to control the net inflow of ordinary international students.
This adjustment is widely seen as an attempt by USCIS to proactively respond to possible future changes in immigration policy.
This has a great impact on Chinese students
In the past, international students had "basically been given away upon graduation", but immigration reform has disrupted many people's plans.
The Australian government "has a feeling that it will not be needed when it runs out of international students...... There are also old immigrants who applaud, and they feel that there are fewer competitors. ”
Li Feng from China revealed that many Chinese students around him have now changed their minds and decided to return to China directly after graduation.
Li Feng went to Australia to study six years ago and worked in a company after graduation.
Workers in Australia are worried that it will be difficult to change their visas
Wang Na, who joined Perth in Western Australia after graduation, also complained about the unfairness of immigration policy reform.
She said: "We work for Australia, spend a lot of money on visas and rent, and the Australian economy has to tighten its visa policy after it has taken dividends from us." ”
If she fails to find a job before her temporary visa expires next year, she may have to change her plans to return to Singapore to find an opportunity.
Under a series of reform measures, universities will be forced to limit the number of overseas students enrolled after decades of unprecedented growth in the number of international students.
The USCIS will first let the groups that are most beneficial to it at the moment unimpeded, and when the new policy is tightened, it will only be international students and new immigrants who will be affected.
In the future, the immigration policy will further increase the technical content, and put forward higher requirements for the age, language, skills and educational qualifications of applicants.
The federal government's budget for the new fiscal year has once again reduced the quota for permanent residence to 185,000 from 190,000 in the current fiscal year, of which 4,900 are for skilled immigration categories. This undoubtedly adds more uncertainty to applicants.
Dutton's Statement:
Opposition leader Darton bluntly said that the current number of 700,000 international students is too much, and advocated increasing the housing supply by slashing permanent immigration.
His reasoning was that the number of immigrants in the past two years had reached nearly 1 million, far exceeding government expectations. If he takes office, he will reduce the annual permanent immigration quota from 185,000 to 140,000.
He plans to reduce the number of permanent migrants Australia receives to 140,000 per year
and limit the number of net overseas migrants to 160,000 per year.
It seems that the opposition party is only responsible for opposing regardless of the goal, which is a typical case of inconsistent actions and goals, and inconsistent decision-making and implementation.
He wants to cut 10 times the number of Australian PRs!
If he does cut immigrants and students too much, the move will cut the inflow of skilled immigrants, which could lead to higher costs of goods and services, and even force companies to abandon planned investments.
and may drive up the cost of goods and services, or force businesses to abandon planned investments.
And the most serious question is, who will work in Australia in the future!
Drastic cuts in immigration policies will hurt the economy, starve Australian society of workers or slow down the construction of new homes.
Dutton and others have a hard time explaining their policies, which will cause economic pain for all Australians.
You can't cut immigration to solve Australia's housing problem
You can't solve the Australian job shortage by exacerbating the skills shortage
You can't solve the problem of hospitals by exacerbating the shortage of nurses
You can't scale back immigration to solve Australia's workforce problem
A chaotic immigration policy can have serious consequences in Australia.
Their position on immigration is a mess, and they are unable to explain the most basic details of their immigration policy
The most ironic thing is that there is a serious housing crisis in Australia, where the government planned to build 1.2 million new homes, but now there is a shortage of people to build houses, and housing construction is facing a shortage of 90,000 construction workers.
However, in the newly released draft of the Priority Immigration Skills List, occupations such as yoga instructors, martial arts instructors, and dog trainers are included
It was selected earlier than the jobs in the construction industry such as plumbers, bricklayers, and cabinet makers
At present, the proportion of migrant workers in the construction industry is too low and the supply exceeds the demand.
Builders' associations and trade unions have also spoken out, calling on the government to prioritize jobs in the construction industry and put them on the priority list for immigrants as soon as possible to solve the urgent need.
I don't know what the Australian government is doing?
Do you solve the housing problem by cutting the quotas for international students and new immigrants and letting yoga instructors, martial arts instructors and dog trainers solve it?
It's a mess, and it's infuriating.
Australia cuts immigration, who will do the basic work of Australian society in the future?
What do you think about this?