The Migration Amendment (Visa Capping) Bill 2010 amends the Migration Act 1958 (the Act) to give the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship greater power to effectively manage the migration program.
The number of places in the skilled migration program available to applicants who are not sponsored by an employer continues to decline, as the government’s priority is to support demand driven—that is, employer sponsored—migration. At the same time, the number of pending applications continues to grow as the demand for general skilled migration visas exceeds the number of places available in the program.
The general skilled migration visa program has also become dominated by applicants nominating a limited number of occupations even though there are some 400 occupations that are acceptable for general skilled migration purposes. This has made it difficult for the program to deliver the broad range of skills needed in the Australian economy and the Australian labour market.
In the 2007-08 program year, of the 41,000 general skilled migration visas granted, more than 5,000 went to cooks and hairdressers. Further, there are currently 17,594 valid applications which have been made by people nominating their occupation as a cook or hairdresser which have not yet been finalised.
This matter is currently being addressed through priority processing arrangements. Under these arrangements, applicants that are sponsored by an employer, nominated by a state or territory government authority, or have an occupation which is in critical demand in Australia have their application processed before other applications.
However, these arrangements alone do not address the problem of large numbers of valid applications that continue to be made by applicants who are not sponsored and who are nominating occupations that are not in demand. Currently there are 147,000 primary and secondary applicants for general skilled migration visas waiting in the pipeline for a visa decision.
Amendment to ‘cap and terminate’ measures
To address these issues, the bill proposes to introduce a power by which the minister may cap visas and terminate visa applications on the basis of certain characteristics.
Currently, the Act gives the minister the power to make a legislative instrument in a certain class or subclass to cap visas and terminate applications for that class or subclass. The proposed amendments will enable the minister to cap visa grants and terminate visa applications based on the class or classes of applicant applying for the visa.
In particular, the proposed amendments will allow the minister to make a legislative instrument to determine the maximum number of visas of a specified class or classes that can be granted in a financial year to visa applicants with specified characteristics. Similar to the current power, the amendments will also allow the minister to treat outstanding applications for the capped visa as never having been made.
Characteristics that may be specified include the occupation nominated by the applicant, or the time at which the applicant made their application. The characteristics will be objective, and relate to information that is provided to the department when an application for a visa is made.
The characteristics that will be specified will depend on the purpose of the particular determination to cap and terminate visa applications and will be consistent with Australia’s international obligations. For example, if the determination is made for the purpose of limiting the number of applicants in the skilled migration program with the same nominated occupation, then a cap would be placed on applications which nominate that particular occupation.
To terminate a visa application is different to a decision to refuse a visa application. When an application is terminated it is taken not to have been made. Applicants who are affected by a cap will have their visa application charge refunded to them. Further, a visa application which has been terminated is not subject to merits review.
Application to the general skilled migration visa program
The amendments proposed in this bill not only provide a power to cap general skilled migration visas and terminate general skilled migration visa applications but are broad enough to allow other classes of visas to be capped. This provides the government with a tool for the targeted management of all aspects of the migration program which will be available as the need arises.
The exception to this will be protection visas. The minister cannot make a cap and terminate determination in relation to protection visas.
However, the primary policy imperative of the proposed amendments is to allow the minister to end the ongoing uncertainty faced by general skilled migration applicants whose applications are unlikely to be finalised because their skills are not in demand in Australia.
The proposed amendments will better address Australia’s skills shortages by limiting the number of general skilled migration visas able to be granted to applicants whose occupations are in oversupply, thereby leaving more spaces in the program available to applicants whose occupation is in demand.
This will allow the Australian government to deliver a skilled migration program that is more tightly focused on high-value skills that will assist in meeting the medium- to long-term needs of the Australian economy.
The government’s intention is to establish a realistic balance between providing the skills Australian employers need and ensuring the maximum opportunities for Australian citizens and permanent residents in a changing employment market.
This amendment is just one in a package of reforms the government is currently making to the skilled migration program to ensure that it is able to target skilled migrants with the high-value, nation-building skills that Australia needs.
Conclusion
This bill represents an important step in achieving the government’s objectives of a flexible skilled migration program that can be adapted to the economic and business cycle and the needs of Australian business and industry.
Debate (on motion by Mr Robert) adjourned.
大家应该在论坛上看到有人发帖子关于修改移民部长职权，其中强调了VISA CAPPING这个权利，这个对于广大的留学生，包括正在等待PR的人，可以说是一个狠招，澳洲在2002年大规模的放开了留学生移民的项目，其中特别是TAFE留学生，因为澳洲本地的劳动力不足以满足市场的需求，大家要注意当时执政党是LIBERAL PARTY，以HOWARD为首。在澳洲，每个政党都代表了一个集团的利益，这也就是为什么在大选的时候每个政党有足够的钱去拉选票，而LIBERAL代表的是大集团的老板，工商企业主，小生意经营者的利益。对于这些老板来说，市场上的劳动力越多，相对付出的劳动力成本就越低，这是一个恒久不变的市场规律，对于这些工商企业主，当然是再好不过，简单的说，做同样一个工作，为什么要花25刀每小时去雇人，而有人15刀就愿意给他们工作。但是到了LABOR Party,就完全不一样了，工党代表的是所有工人的利益，也就是说是打工者团体，他们的目的就是让人人有活干，人人有饭吃，EMPLOYMENT RATE就是他们的终极工作目标。而澳洲又是高福利的国家，5.7% 的UNEMPLOYMENT里面至少有70%的本地人并不是找不到工作，而是他们根本不想去工作，但是这些人也不傻，拿政府的福利总是要有一个理由的吧，那最好的理由就是政府你让太多的移民进来，抢走了我们的饭碗，所以我们找不到工作。可以说这完全是BULLSHIT，澳洲从2007年9月开始控制移民，每次的政策变化都会把一大批人限制住，3年过去了，按照道理说移民少了，是不是UNEMPLOYMENT RATE应该下降了，事实完全不是这样，UNEMPLOYMENT还在缓缓上升或者根本没变，这说明什么？ IMMIGRATION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH UNEMPLOYMENT！相反的，海外留学生把澳洲经济搞的红红火火，餐饮业，旅游业，零售业，娱乐业，房地产等，哪个跟留学生还有新移民没有关系？政府难道不知道这些吗？告诉你，每个政府都有智囊团，他们知道的比谁都清楚，但是，有些东西是不能说出来的，要卡你就是要个理由！
Parliament of Australia, Senate是这次政策的另外一个杀手锏。我上面已经说过了，政府要卡移民需要一个理由，而且他们已经非常的充分估计到了一旦政策实施的后果，并且为自己想好了后路，移民局是一个整天官司缠身的政府部门，查查高等法院的开庭日程，基本上每天都有跟移民局有关的CASE。中国有句古话，久病成良医，移民局也慢慢的变聪明了。说一下高等法院，高等法院的一个重要的功能就是，在一些法律条文模棱两可，或者说没有完全适用于一些当事人的条文的时候，高等法院的法官会自行根据其对法律的直观判断并基于人道主义理解做出一个判决，这个判决是一锤定音的，可以上诉，但是如果你不是找的TOP LAWYER外加大把CASH，成功的几率接近于零。而对于有明确法律条文规定的，并适用于某个当事人的CASE，高法就会根据现行法律进行判决，在这样的条件下，上诉几乎是不可能。所以，移民局为了摆脱在CAPPING VISA之后可能带来的官司，他们想到了最根本的办法，就是直接修改法律，修改移民部长职权。也就是说，如果修改成功了，移民部长说厨师的全部退回，你去高等法院打官司，高等法院会明确的告诉你，THAT IS THE LAW！那么移民局怎样才能成功修改法律呢？只有一个办法，顺从民意，这里PARLIAMENT OF AUSTRALIA, SENATE就发挥作用了，这个部门可以说是一个民意调查或者说是一个全民投票的部门，很多重大的决定基本上就是跟这里得到的数据走的，如果这里的民意通过了，或者有很高明的意见，不久就会体现在移民局网站上。