Skills shortage
There is a visible skills shortage in specific professions across all states in Australia. The occupations listed in Schedule 1 of the GSM programme, are most likely to be the once that are in shortage. You would wonder what these occupations are and the repertoire; certainly the numbers are few hundreds while Engineering, ICT and Finance stand the best opportunities for Sri Lankans. Not to neglect the medical arena, where there is an acute skills shortage that allows a large number of professionals to work in Australia on temporary employer sponsored visas.
 Nevertheless, permanent migration for most medical professionals have been a hurdle from Sri Lanka as the recognition of the qualification process is not much of an encouraging task. Australia has been accepting migrants for decades and there is no indication this acceptance would come to an end. Despite the fact that the Australian government has made long term efforts to improve and enhance the local skills, it has never been able to cater the needs of growing businesses, most importantly find a permanent solution for the skills shortage. This is partly due to Australians leaving Australia for other destinations are as high as the level of incoming migrants.
Western Australian facts
Western Australia - with a mere tenth of Australia’s population - recorded demand growth of 8.4 per cent. During the past year, state final demand in Western Australia has grown at a blistering 16.4 per cent where as the rest of the nation grew only by 1.3 per cent. Western Australian business investment rose 27 per cent in the quarter. Mining and mining-related construction drove the burst of investment with big liquefied natural gas projects in Western Australia helping push up engineering construction 31 per cent in the quarter and 52 per cent over the entire year - the biggest annual increase in 30 years. Pointing to estimates that the oil and gas sector would need to double its workforce in the next five years while the mining sector said an extra 33,000 workers would be needed in Western Australia alone in the next 12 to 18 months. Mining entrepreneur Owen Hegarty said the resources sector was hit by skills shortages that would not let up. Western Australia’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said it was important to increase targeted migration to meet needs.
Western Australian government initiatives
To assist the boom and to overcome the skills shortage issue, the western Australian government has brought in few measures. In terms of speedily providing labour assistance to the market, the government has taken drastic measures in terms of processing government nominations in a very short time. My experience confirms that it can be short as a week to obtain a nomination from the State government. Because of this positive change, a large number of migrants have been able to lodge their visas in a very short period of time. Currently the state government sponsored migration visas take an approximate time of three months to process applications. This is one of the positive changes made to the migration program by the department of Immigration in Australia.
Occupations in demand in Western Australia
Under the State Migration Plan, nomination are offered to over 175 occupations. This is by far one of the most comprehensive lists of occupations that comprises a variety of jobs in all types of vocations. Engineering is of utmost demand, and all fields in engineering are to be valuable to the State’s growth. If qualified engineers possess mining related work experience, there would be employers willing to sponsor for employment. In Western Australia, applicants with IELTS 6 in each band, qualifies, whereas most other state governments have risen the IELTS requirement to 7 band. Accounting, finance, technical occupations, generic occupations such as office managers, community workers, counsellor are some of the areas in need. It professionals such as business analysts and constructional professionals have excellent opportunities to secure nominations. Once nominated, applicants will receive points towards their point score depending upon a temporary or permanent nomination.
In return the applicants are obliged to live in the State for two years and contribute to its economy. Most importantly, Perth was classified as a regional area for the purpose of migration, allowing extended blood relatives to sponsor applicants. Considering all facts discussed and the real demand for certain skills, why not consider moving to Australia’s richest state? Send us your CV to contact@australiamigrationcentre.com or visit us for comprehensive guidance on migration at Australian Migration Centre 5/6 Railway Avenue Nugegoda.
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