In February, I had blogged that …
…would “wager my bet” on Accountant and also the various IT professions continuing in the SOL when it is released.
Now that the Minister has issued the press release confirming that “No existing occupations are being removed from the SOL“, It is time to blush a little with the thought that the arguments put forth in February at the time when students and potential migrants in Australia were frothing with the thought of their occupation being moved out of the list based on AWPA recommendation. Even the education providers who “lived” on the international student’s attraction to these programs were keeping their finger’s crossed. That anxiety is now over… and rightly so. In-fact the addition of “Chefs” is welcome.
The media release from the Minister states…
Joint media statement with Andrew Robb – Minister for Trade and Investment, and Michaelia Cash – Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.
Chefs, bricklayers and wall and floor tilers will be added to the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) from July 1 to help meet the skills needs of the Australian economy, as announced today by the Minister for Trade and Investment, the Hon. Andrew Robb, and the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon. Michaelia Cash.
Minister Robb said the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency (AWPA) works independently of government to provide annual recommendations on the composition of the SOL to ensure it responds to Australia’s changing skill needs.
‘The AWPA analyses evidence such as the labour market, education and training, migration and general economic and demographic data to make sure we get the balance right,’ Minister Robb said.
‘In this case, bricklayers and tilers have been added to the list because of an increase in demand predicted for these occupations as well as a decrease in apprenticeship completions.’
Minister Cash said the addition of chefs to the SOL reflects that the occupation is in short supply, coupled with strong growth projected in the café and restaurant sector.
‘Including chefs on the SOL will provide greater flexibility for businesses to recruit skilled chefs from overseas when they cannot source these skills locally,’ Minister Cash said.
‘The addition of these occupations will be especially welcomed in regional areas, where there is a known deficit of skilled workers in the hospitality and construction industries.’
The SOL is used for people applying for the independent or family sponsored points tested visa or temporary graduate (subclass 485) work stream. Before prospective migrants can apply for independent skilled migration, they must submit an expression of interest via SkillSelect.
No existing occupations are being removed from the SOL, which currently lists 188 occupations that Australia needs.
me too 🙂
LikeLike
Indeed
LikeLike
Mr. Ravi Lochan singh. please do something to get the B eng (Hons) 3 years degree from UK university get validated /equated by the AIU or HRD otherwise future of lot of students is in danger. my son is also one of them who is passing out in July, 2014 and UK is not giving time to search the job as earlier they were giving 2 year’s visa after degree.
LikeLike
Mr Sharma, I fully understand the issue and it is much graver than what our media has reported. There thousands of Indian students undertaking degrees that are not getting equivalence in India. 3 year engineering degrees from England is one such. So are all the 1 year Masters degrees. It is important to make a petition to the new HRD minister in India… Take lead as the one moving the petition has to be a student (or possibly a parent of the student). I can also suggest the need to do a PIL. Indian Banks give forex for this study, Indian Banks give education loans… British Council promotes such programs openly and advertise as world-class… India is seeking global parity for its qualification and AIU is stopping such students to be able to seek employment or even further study in India. File a PIL…
LikeLike
hi Mr. Ravi . I am Santosh and i just want to know the probability of biotechnology to make it into the SOL list of Australia at least in the coming years.
LikeLike
Please note that this is beyond the coverage of this blog… difficult to predict.
LikeLike
Good decision to add chefs into sol list
LikeLike
What about the SOL for 15-16? When will they release it? Its 11th June already.
LikeLike
Already released
LikeLike
Dear Mr Ravi, in schedule 1 they have code 261111 ICT BUsiness Analyst but in schedule 2 this is missing. Does it mean those studying for 261111 will not be entitled for PR
LikeLike
You are referring to an old SOL blog. I blogged with the 2016 SOL yesterday.
LikeLike