Migration

Introduction

Australia's population reached 20.3 million by the end of June 2005. Of the new permanent additions that numbered 167, 319, Australia gained 47, 171 skilled migrants but lost 29, 621 skilled people through permanent emigration. The problem is plain to see. Australia is one of the fastest growing countries in the world yet it does not have the necessary highly skilled workforce to not only maintain the current economic growth, but as at Jan 2006 it does not have the required workforce to support current requirements in areas such as Health, Engineering and Construction. In response to this current skilled labour crisis, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) has launched a massive Migration Program to maximise the number of employer sponsored skilled migrants.

The problem

However in a paradoxical twist that sometimes makes a mockery of the skills shortage, it is now harder to gain entry in to Australia as a skilled migrant that it ever has been since the Migration program began in earnest in 1948. State and Federal programs often contradict each other and there is no central database that records skills shortages in relation to company, state or location. A skilled migrant can obtain a working visa and search for work in Northern New South Wales often with little or no success. Yet the same skills that may not be in demand in Ballina can often be the subject of a chronic shortage in Brisbane, yet there is no central agency to control the allocation of work or availability of migrants. As a result dynamic international business opportunity has arisen in the Business of Migration for the skilled workforce. However this business opportunity is not so simple and this can best be explained using Theiss, the Construction and