The Indian diaspora is the second largest migrant community in Australia , second to the UK. The ‘land down under’ continues to be an attractive destination for outbound Indians. With the re-election of the Labour party, in a landslide victory in the recently concluded elections, Australia will continue on its path of reducing net migration. Income thresholds are likely to increase across various pathways in the ‘ Skills in Demand’ visa category. While a cap in intake of international students is unlikely, visa fees hikes are around the corner.
Statistics reflected by the Department of Home Affairs (Australia) state that at the end of June 2023, 8. 45 lakh Indian-born people were living in Australia, more than twice the number of 3.78 lakh as on June 30, 2013. During the year 2023-24, nearly 49,848 Indians were admitted as permanent residents, an increase of 21% over the previous year. However, with stringent measures in place, visas granted to Indian students more than halved, with only 50,516 visas granted during 2023-24 as opposed to 102,696 in the previous year. Temporary visas for skilled employment also showed a decline, dropping from 27,402 during 2022-23 to 18,397.
TOI reached out to immigration experts to decode what lies ahead in the immigration space under the leadership of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Decline in intake to continue:
“In the lead up to the 2025 election, now won by the incumbent Labor party, immigration policy was a significant point of contention between the leader of the opposition - Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. In short, Dutton called for a substantial reduction in immigration across both the Permanent Migration Program and International Students, but without any detailed implementation plans. Albanese's approach was more balanced with a 10-year migration strategy to reduce annual net migration to 2,50,000 in 2024-25 and tighten visa processes,” said Mike Wall , Managing Director, at Gateway Immigration Solutions.
In December 2023, the government announced that net migration will be halved within two years from a record high of 5,10,000 by imposing tougher tests on international students and focusing on workers with high skills attuned to market needs. The net overseas migration numbers were projected to fall to 2,50,000 in 2024-25; followed by 2,55,000 in 2025-26 and 2,35,000 in 2026-27.
Nicole Kirkwood, Managing Director at Australia Visa and Immigration Experts (AVIE) said, “The Labour party’s win will be great for Australians if the government can overcome the logistical hurdles required to fulfil their election promises, which include building 100,000 new homes, childcare centers, mental health clinics as well increased investments in defense and continued investments in renewables. They also have promised more doctors and nurses as well as cheaper healthcare. While the Labour party has not announced any changes to numbers of immigration prior to the election it is clear from our conversations with employers that there are just not enough skilled workers in Australia who can or are willing to do the work needed now.”
Skilled workers:
As reported by TOI in December, Australia introduced the ‘Skills-in-demand’ visa and replaced the earlier regime.
Teresa Liu , Managing Partner (Australia & New Zealand) at Fragomen, a global immigration law firm dived deep into this category. “With the return of the current Labour led Government, we expect the current set of reforms on the Skilled Visa Program and the migration strategy reform agenda to continue. The main takeaway for aspiring employees and indeed employers or Indian businesses doing business in Australia, is that from a policy perspective, it is largely business as usual for most of the program from a policy reform perspective. However, the more “mundane” or expected changes in occupation lists and salary thresholds expected this year and as early as July may have more significant impact to aspiring employees so it’s important to get ahead of this, and if a business or employee is looking to relocate to Australia, that planning should happen now,” said Liu.
The Skills in Demand Visa (subclass 482) incorporated three pathways: Specialist Skills; Core Skills and Essential Skills. Liu added: “Covering the majority of roles, the Core Skills Occupations list is due for revision this year and could led to further refinement or even more significant impact should that list is reduced. The Core Skills Income Threshold, which is the minimum salary the occupation needs to earn to be sponsorable under this pathway, is due to rise on 1 July to AUD 76,515 (from AUD73,150). Combined, there might be an impact to an aspiring Indian employee. Given we are in May, I would suggest any aspiring employee should look at opportunities now to avoid any unforeseen impacts from these changes.”
As regards the Specialist Skills pathway which relates to high income specialist roles, Liu opined that, “Based on Prime Minister Albanese’s victory speech last night as to the importance of local labour protections and the strong Trade Union heart base of the Labour Government, reforms to remove or provide flexibility to Labour Market Testing (which was part of the Migration Strategy proposals) is unlikely to occur. On a more routine level, The Specialist Skills Income Threshold (SSIT) for the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) is increasing from AUD 135,000 to AUD 141,210, effective from July 1, 2025.”
She added that review and reforms in the Essential Skills pathway for lower salaried roles (which are focused on occupations in critical sectors like healthcare and aged care) are likely this year. But we expect high consultation with stakeholders such as trade unions to continue with the current labour agreements relating to specific industries, regions or companies under this stream and also for any future policy reforms.
Need for more skilled workers and faster processing:
Immigration experts concur that employers need more skilled workers and faster processing of the employer sponsored visas. “When the Skills in Demand visa was introduced last December, it came with the promise of fast processing of 7-14 days. However, five months later processing times are 46-84 days. The replaced ‘482 TSS’ visas lodged before December 7, 2024, have become a lower priority with processing times of 5-8 months. Employers are frustrated as they are unable to fill skilled jobs, and it is affecting their businesses and the businesses they service. It is clear that the government will need to focus on migration to fulfil their election promises,” added Kirkwood.
“Over the last 6 – 12 months, we have already seen a significant tightening of visa processes by the Albanese Government with more recent immigration numbers showing this is having the government’s desired effect, with numbers decreasing. Unfortunately for businesses operating in Australia, this tightening of visa processes has seen a marked increase in processing times with a substantial number of subclass 482 work visa applications lodged as far back as 6 to 9 months ago remaining undecided to this day. This is very concerning, given unemployment remains at near historically low levels at around 4%, which is seeing skill shortages more widespread and persistent across multiple sectors. With the election over we can only hope the Government turns their attention to their own Migration Strategy released in late 2023 where it was stated there would be greater targeting of the temporary skilled migration program to address skill needs and promote worker mobility,” said Wall.
“Employer sponsored permanent visas are also experiencing extensive delays with many cases taking nearly 18 months which creates uncertainty for both businesses and prospective skilled migrants, Businesses will be hoping for government strategies to facilitate more streamlined processing of employer sponsored visas,” he added.
International students:
“As the Opposition party has not been successful in this election, their more dramatic reforms in reduction in student numbers and heavier lifts mid-year in student visa fees will not occur. However, the government has signaled a further rise in student visa fees (which were already increased significantly last year), making this one of the most expensive immigration programs around the world”, said Liu.
Last year, the Australia government failed in its earlier attempt to cap student intake, however, an increase in vias fees come July seems imminent.
The current fee of AUD 1,600 was set in July 2024, which was a 125% increase from the previous fee of AUD 710. Their revised outlook includes a plan to increase the application fee for an Australian study visa by AUD 400 to stand at AUD 2,000.
Top three source countries: International students
Temporary visas granted to Indians
Statistics reflected by the Department of Home Affairs (Australia) state that at the end of June 2023, 8. 45 lakh Indian-born people were living in Australia, more than twice the number of 3.78 lakh as on June 30, 2013. During the year 2023-24, nearly 49,848 Indians were admitted as permanent residents, an increase of 21% over the previous year. However, with stringent measures in place, visas granted to Indian students more than halved, with only 50,516 visas granted during 2023-24 as opposed to 102,696 in the previous year. Temporary visas for skilled employment also showed a decline, dropping from 27,402 during 2022-23 to 18,397.
TOI reached out to immigration experts to decode what lies ahead in the immigration space under the leadership of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Decline in intake to continue:
“In the lead up to the 2025 election, now won by the incumbent Labor party, immigration policy was a significant point of contention between the leader of the opposition - Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. In short, Dutton called for a substantial reduction in immigration across both the Permanent Migration Program and International Students, but without any detailed implementation plans. Albanese's approach was more balanced with a 10-year migration strategy to reduce annual net migration to 2,50,000 in 2024-25 and tighten visa processes,” said Mike Wall , Managing Director, at Gateway Immigration Solutions.
In December 2023, the government announced that net migration will be halved within two years from a record high of 5,10,000 by imposing tougher tests on international students and focusing on workers with high skills attuned to market needs. The net overseas migration numbers were projected to fall to 2,50,000 in 2024-25; followed by 2,55,000 in 2025-26 and 2,35,000 in 2026-27.
Nicole Kirkwood, Managing Director at Australia Visa and Immigration Experts (AVIE) said, “The Labour party’s win will be great for Australians if the government can overcome the logistical hurdles required to fulfil their election promises, which include building 100,000 new homes, childcare centers, mental health clinics as well increased investments in defense and continued investments in renewables. They also have promised more doctors and nurses as well as cheaper healthcare. While the Labour party has not announced any changes to numbers of immigration prior to the election it is clear from our conversations with employers that there are just not enough skilled workers in Australia who can or are willing to do the work needed now.”
Skilled workers:
As reported by TOI in December, Australia introduced the ‘Skills-in-demand’ visa and replaced the earlier regime.
Teresa Liu , Managing Partner (Australia & New Zealand) at Fragomen, a global immigration law firm dived deep into this category. “With the return of the current Labour led Government, we expect the current set of reforms on the Skilled Visa Program and the migration strategy reform agenda to continue. The main takeaway for aspiring employees and indeed employers or Indian businesses doing business in Australia, is that from a policy perspective, it is largely business as usual for most of the program from a policy reform perspective. However, the more “mundane” or expected changes in occupation lists and salary thresholds expected this year and as early as July may have more significant impact to aspiring employees so it’s important to get ahead of this, and if a business or employee is looking to relocate to Australia, that planning should happen now,” said Liu.
The Skills in Demand Visa (subclass 482) incorporated three pathways: Specialist Skills; Core Skills and Essential Skills. Liu added: “Covering the majority of roles, the Core Skills Occupations list is due for revision this year and could led to further refinement or even more significant impact should that list is reduced. The Core Skills Income Threshold, which is the minimum salary the occupation needs to earn to be sponsorable under this pathway, is due to rise on 1 July to AUD 76,515 (from AUD73,150). Combined, there might be an impact to an aspiring Indian employee. Given we are in May, I would suggest any aspiring employee should look at opportunities now to avoid any unforeseen impacts from these changes.”
As regards the Specialist Skills pathway which relates to high income specialist roles, Liu opined that, “Based on Prime Minister Albanese’s victory speech last night as to the importance of local labour protections and the strong Trade Union heart base of the Labour Government, reforms to remove or provide flexibility to Labour Market Testing (which was part of the Migration Strategy proposals) is unlikely to occur. On a more routine level, The Specialist Skills Income Threshold (SSIT) for the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) is increasing from AUD 135,000 to AUD 141,210, effective from July 1, 2025.”
She added that review and reforms in the Essential Skills pathway for lower salaried roles (which are focused on occupations in critical sectors like healthcare and aged care) are likely this year. But we expect high consultation with stakeholders such as trade unions to continue with the current labour agreements relating to specific industries, regions or companies under this stream and also for any future policy reforms.
Need for more skilled workers and faster processing:
Immigration experts concur that employers need more skilled workers and faster processing of the employer sponsored visas. “When the Skills in Demand visa was introduced last December, it came with the promise of fast processing of 7-14 days. However, five months later processing times are 46-84 days. The replaced ‘482 TSS’ visas lodged before December 7, 2024, have become a lower priority with processing times of 5-8 months. Employers are frustrated as they are unable to fill skilled jobs, and it is affecting their businesses and the businesses they service. It is clear that the government will need to focus on migration to fulfil their election promises,” added Kirkwood.
“Over the last 6 – 12 months, we have already seen a significant tightening of visa processes by the Albanese Government with more recent immigration numbers showing this is having the government’s desired effect, with numbers decreasing. Unfortunately for businesses operating in Australia, this tightening of visa processes has seen a marked increase in processing times with a substantial number of subclass 482 work visa applications lodged as far back as 6 to 9 months ago remaining undecided to this day. This is very concerning, given unemployment remains at near historically low levels at around 4%, which is seeing skill shortages more widespread and persistent across multiple sectors. With the election over we can only hope the Government turns their attention to their own Migration Strategy released in late 2023 where it was stated there would be greater targeting of the temporary skilled migration program to address skill needs and promote worker mobility,” said Wall.
“Employer sponsored permanent visas are also experiencing extensive delays with many cases taking nearly 18 months which creates uncertainty for both businesses and prospective skilled migrants, Businesses will be hoping for government strategies to facilitate more streamlined processing of employer sponsored visas,” he added.
International students:
“As the Opposition party has not been successful in this election, their more dramatic reforms in reduction in student numbers and heavier lifts mid-year in student visa fees will not occur. However, the government has signaled a further rise in student visa fees (which were already increased significantly last year), making this one of the most expensive immigration programs around the world”, said Liu.
Last year, the Australia government failed in its earlier attempt to cap student intake, however, an increase in vias fees come July seems imminent.
The current fee of AUD 1,600 was set in July 2024, which was a 125% increase from the previous fee of AUD 710. Their revised outlook includes a plan to increase the application fee for an Australian study visa by AUD 400 to stand at AUD 2,000.
Top three source countries: International students
Source: Department of Education (Australia)
Temporary visas granted to Indians
Source: Department of home affairs (Australia) – India country profile
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