May 2021
The 2021/22 federal budget is a clear testament of the important role immigration plays in the Australian economy. Since World War II, we, as a nation, continued to rely on immigration to help us build and maintain our economy. With migration largely halted due to COVID-19 restrictions, our post pandemic recovery is going to face serious workforce challenges in the form of national skill shortages.
Treasury’s Centre for Population is forecasting Net Overseas Migration (NOM) to fall from around 154,000 persons in 2019-20 to around -71,600 persons at the end June 2021, first time since 1946 in the negative. The forward estimates forecast a subsequent year of negative NOM with around -21,600 at the end June 2022, followed by a gradual return to levels over 200,000 by 2023–24.
Return to healthy levels of Net Overseas Migration is seen critical for population growth, which is one of the drivers of economic growth.
From the immigration perspective the highlights of the 2020/21 Federal Budget include:
- Migration planning levels will remain thesame as last year at 160,000 (manly relying on onshore applications as the borders remain closed)
- Focus on onshore skilled migrants, special consideration for parent visa
- International students working in hospitality and tourism sector no longer face a cap on working hours
Bringing skilled migrants back into the country and opening of the international borders are seen to be some of the key contributing factors in Australia’s post pandemic economic recovery. Pending the health advice, gradual opening of the international borders is anticipated in 2022 and returning of the pre pandemic immigration levels by 2023/24.
In the meantime, the labour market skill shortage is becoming a huge economic problem for some local businesses, especially for those operating within the hospitality and tourism sector. The insufficient count of homegrown talent on one end and lack of skilled migrants on the other are resulting in employers not being able to fill their current job vacancies hence not been able to deliver on the core market need.
For instance, according to the CEO of Restaurant and Catering Association, Mr. Wes Lambert, more than 35,500 jobs are currently advertised on Seek in Queensland, with a large chunk being vacancies in the hospitality industry. He also said that some businesses simply can no longer be open for the entire week due to lack of staff. This workforce imbalance has largely been created due to closed international borders and lack of skilled migrants.
In the context of visas, the Budget document states that the government will continue to prioritise Employer-Sponsored, Global Talent, Business Innovation and Investment Program visas within the Skilled Stream.
The highest priority is given to attracting high calibre, distinguished, international talent through Global Talent Visa (GTI), with current allocation of 15,000 places. Last year, the number of places for this visa have tripped from 5,000 to 15,000, out of which 5,000 places have successfully been granted.
Business Innovation and Investment Program will also be increased to 13,500 places aiming to attract higher value investments and quality applicants with capacity to deliver strong economic outputs in the forthcoming post pandemic recovery.
BzMark continues to service the ever-changing needs of the migration industry. We have been doing so for almost two decades now. We understand the core industry requirements and strive to tailor our services to fulfil the current need.
Below is our basic Price List highlighting some of the most popular services:
Business Plans for all skilled migration cases —-$1,500
Business proposals for GTI visas ———————$1,500
Responses to the Department of Home Affairs ——- individually quoted
Business Plans for 188a business Innovation and Investment Visas — $1,800
Business Plans for 132a Business Talent visas —-$2,000
Business Management (ideal for 132a visa holders) —- individually quoted
* All prices exclude GST
For further inquiries and /or information on any of the above services, please contact us via: E-mail: [email protected] or phone: +61 412 067 204. We are looking forward to hearing from you.