Only half the migrants entering Australia with skills on the MODL actually end up employed in their field and one-third end up unemployed or in a low-skill job, Senator Evans said.
It will be replaced by a new Skilled Occupations List of high-value professions and trades drawn up by Skills Australia.
More than 20,000 foreigners who applied to migrate to Australia before September 2007 under outdated rules that allowed lower English skills will have their applications withdrawn and their $1500-$2000 applications fees refunded under the changes.
This is because the system that allocates potential migrants points based on their qualifications and skills will be restructured.
“The current points test puts an overseas student with a short-term vocational qualification gained in Australia ahead of a Harvard-educated environmental scientist,” Senator Evans said. The new system is likely to give potential migrants more points if they are qualified in certain high-value professions and trades, went to a prestigious university, have more experience and display excellence in English.
The Immigration Minister will get the power to set a maximum number of visas that may be granted in any one occupation and the states will be able to prioritise skilled migrants.
Senator Evans said the changes would shift our immigration system from a supply driven model to a demand driven system in which migrants sponsored by an employer would get priority.
While Australia’s hospitals need nurses and doctors there are 12,000 foreign cooks waiting to come to Australia under the existing system, he said.
Under the existing system 40,000 unsponsored visas were issued to accountants over the past five years yet a shortage of accountants persists because most did not get work in the profession.
“Australia’s skilled migration program has been delivering self-nominated migrants from a narrow range of occupations with poor to moderate English language skills who struggle to find employment in their nominated occupation” Senator Evans will tell an Australian National University demography institute today.
About 170,000 people applied to migrate to Australia last year.
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