REUTERS/Atsushi Tomura/Pool
- Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has abolished the 457 visa for skilled workers.
- The current status for workers on the 457 visa will not change.
- The replacement regime will include shorter term visas that make it harder to gain permanent residency, as well as a reduction in the number of skills eligible for the visa.
Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is scrapping the 457 visa that allows temporary foreign workers to be employed in Australia.
Under the proposed changes will be a short term two-year stream visa with a broad list of occupations. The second visa class will focus on higher skills and will have a four-year limit. It will require a higher standard of English than the two-year visa.
Both will require prior work experience and a criminal record check, which is not currently necessary under the current scheme.
Turnbull made the announcement on Facebook this afternoon, explaining that the visa would be axed as part of his plans to put jobs and Australians first.
“Hear it here first – we’re putting jobs first and we’re putting Australians first by abolishing 457 visas. Watch the clip below to find out what these reforms mean,” read a statement accompanying his video announcing the move.
Here’s his announcement in full:
Australia is the most successful multicultural nation in the world. We are an immigration nation. But the fact remains that Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs.
So we’re abolishing the 457 visas, the visas that bring temporary foreign workers into our country. We’ll no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians. However it is important that businesses get access to the skills they need to grow and invest, so the 457 visa will be replaced by a new temporary visa specifically designed to recruit the best and the brightest in the national interest.
The new visa will better target the genuine skills shortages in regional Australia. It will include new requirements including previous work experience, better English language proficiency, and labour market testing.
To help train Australians to fill skills gaps we’ll also establish a new training fund. I’ll have more to say about all this in coming days and weeks, but our reforms will have a simple focus: Australian jobs and Australian values.”
See it in full here »
Pauline Hanson claimed her political party One Nation is responsible for the move by Turnbull.
Following the announcement she tweeted, “The Government will deny their tough talk on immigration & plan to ban 457 visas is because of One Nation but we all know the truth! #auspol”
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/854185490257297408
The Government will deny their tough talk on immigration & plan to ban 457 visas is because of One Nation but we all know the truth! #auspol
Also in response to the news, Opposition leader Bill Shorten tweeted: “Make no mistake, the only job Malcolm Turnbull cares about saving is his own.”
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/854185516744364032
Make no mistake, the only job Malcolm Turnbull cares about saving is his own.
At a press conference this afternoon the prime minister said the changes to the visa is to ensure migration system is working in the national interest of the country and to ensure that Australian jobs are filled by Australian workers wherever possible.
“During his [Shorten] time the number of 457 visa increased by two terms… and less than 10% of them went to the mining sector,” he said, adding that they ended up “flipping burgers”.
“The fact is Bill Shorten likes to talk about Australian jobs… but he had failed to protect them.”
Turnbull said in its current state the visa had “lost its credibility”.
As part of the changes the short-term visa wil cost of $ 1,150, while the medium-term visa targeted at higher skilled workers will cost $ 4,200 and can be applied for on or offshore.
Neither will result in a permanent migration outcome, as the current visa permits.
“The 457 visa is abolished,” said Turnbull.
The minister for immigration and border protection Peter Dutton said the changes were “an attempt to clean up Labor’s mess”.
“What we are doing is making significant changes… to restore integrity to visa program,” Dutton said.
He said the visa as it stands is essentially open-ended and results in permanent migration but said the proposed changes will put an end to that.
“This is a significant announcement. I think this will make a big different to young Australians… and be welcomed by all Australians.”
For people currently on the 457 visa, there will be no changes to their situation and they will be able to continue to work under the current conditions of their 457 visa.
“At the moment there are 95,000 457 visa holders in Australia,” said prime minister Turnbull. “Some of which were issued some of them a very long time ago… and can be rolled over on shore.”
He said that “because we are narrowing significantly the number of occupations… it is our expectations that you will see a material reduction over time of people working on these temporary visas”.
More than 1.28 million 457 temporary work visas have been issued since the 1997 financial year.
Business Insider’s Chris Pash has analysed the data of the visa of the past two decades. Here’s what he found.
Turnbull’s proposed changes following US president Donald Trump’s plan to sign an executive order seeking to tighten restriction on its own visa program for skilled workers.
On Tuesday Trump is expected to sign an order dubbed “Buy American, Hire American,” and will call on government departments to introduce reforms to ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the “most skilled or highest paid applicants”.
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