The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) Skilled Migration Blog recently included a post discussing the Business Skills visa program. The following excerpts from this blog explain the importance of the program and how it contributes to the Australian economy.

The current Business Skills visa program was introduced in March 2003 and aims to attract skilled and experienced business owners, senior executives and investors to migrate to Australia to enter into business or investment activity.

Business Skills is a niche category within Australia’s skilled migration program distinct from general skilled migration and the employer sponsored visa categories in that it directly creates business, and visa holders become business owners, rather than supporting existing businesses with a supply of skilled employees.

Small business forms a vital part of the Australian economy. The sector represents 96 per cent of all Australian businesses and accounts for 48 per cent of all private sector employment.

 The objectives of the Business Skills program are to contribute to the growth of the Australian economy by:

• generating employment
• increasing the export of Australian goods and services
• increasing the production of goods and services inAustralia
• introducing new or improved technology
• increasing competition and commercial activity
• developing links with international markets
• increasing the dispersal of business migrants across Australia through State and Territory Government sponsorship.

The program is largely a two-stage process whereby migrants enter Australia initially on a provisional (temporary) visa, generally valid for a period of four years.  Once a provisional visa holder is able to demonstrate satisfactory evidence of a specified level of business or investment activity, they may apply for permanent residence.

To read the full post click here.

If you would like to learn more about the Business Skills visa program contact Australian Migration & Visa Lawyers and speak with one of our Registered Migration Agents.

After a federal government report found that there are currently over 100,000 illegal workers misusing their business, student and holiday visas to be employed in Australia, the government has announced a decision to crackdown on employers hiring these workers. The following excerps from the Sydney Morning Herald explain further...

The failure of migration laws to stop the problem [of illegal workers in Australia] was sending the ''unmistakable message'' overseas that Australian authorities are toothless and ''you only have to get here'' to get work, says the independent review by the lawyer Stephen Howells.

The government will also announce today a crackdown on employers who hire illegal workers, including a $10,000 fine per worker caught.

Illegal workers, increasingly being caught in white-collar jobs, as well as shopping centre car parks, construction sites, restaurants and agriculture, are the real economic refugees denying Australians employment - not boat people, says the review.

 ''Refugees who arrive by sea and who claim asylum are not part of this problem; they are a very small number by comparison.''

The worst penalty illegal workers have faced is a taxpayer-funded flight home when caught, which is being exploited by organised rackets, the review said.

Employer groups had resisted fines for illegal workers caught under the Howard government, after a 1999 review warned of the growing problem.

''We now have very clear evidence that the previous approach of better education hasn't worked,'' said the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen. ''The way to deal with skills shortages or labour shortages is not to embrace illegal labour.''

An online system, VEVO, now allows employers to check staff visas, and was used for 485,330 work checks last year. Mr Bowen said there was ''simply no excuse'' for employers not to use it.

Employers will be fined $10,000 per worker if they hire, refer or enter into a verbal contract to illegally hire a non-citizen.

The full article can be viewed at the Sydney Morning Herald here.

If you have concerns or queries regarding the legalities of hiring overseas workers, or if you yourself are an overseas worker and you are unsure of the working rights related to your visa, contact one of our friendly migration agernts for professional advice. Click here to see our contact details.

The following article "Foreign worker solution for Perth" was recently published in The West Australian, outlining details about Perth soon becoming a "regional city" to up the potential for more sponsored visa places in the Western Australian capital.

Perth will be labelled a country town by the Federal Government as part of an extraordinary move to attract desperately needed workers to the city.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen will today announce that Perth will be reclassified alongside regional employment "hardship" areas such as Karratha and Port Hedland in the Pilbara.

The move will ease the way for businesses to bring in more skilled and semi-skilled foreign workers to fill occupations such as child care, aged care and scaffolding.

Adelaide is the only other major capital city to enjoy the nominal regional employment status.

The program will result in Perth being included in the Government's regional sponsored migration scheme, giving the city's employers access to a potential national pool of 16,000 sponsored visa places for foreign workers.

Workers coming to Perth under the program will be able to become permanent residents and businesses applying for the visa places will be given priority in the processing of their applications.

The scheme lowers the benchmark of English language requirement for eligible workers, while the demands on employers regarding salary thresholds are also lower than under other forms of skilled work visas.

The State Government has been lobbying Canberra to allow Perth's inclusion in the scheme, warning WA faces a shortage of up to 150,000 skilled workers by 2017 as major resource projects get underway.

The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the move, saying labour shortages were the top concern of local businesses.

"It will make it easier for many businesses to get the extra workers they need," CCI spokesman David Harrison said.

"While it won't single-handedly solve the problem, it is a welcome step in the right direction."

To read the full article at The West Australian, click here.

To learn more about the 457 visa program and how you can take advantage of the regional changes in Western Australia, contact us to speak to one of our friendly Registered Migration Agents today.