On Thursday, Australia suggested reforming its immigration system to speed up getting highly skilled workers into the country and smoothening the path to permanent residency.

The Federal Labor government stated that the existing system for selecting skilled migrants, the points test will be updated in order to find persons with the necessary skill sets for the Australian economy in the future.

In a speech at the National Press Club, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said, “Our migration system is broken. It is failing our businesses, it is failing migrants themselves. And most importantly, it is failing Australians. That cannot continue”.

Australia has been competing with comparable countries, such as Canada and Germany to attract more skilled migrants, with an aging population exacerbating the spike in demand.

The administration said that the visa process for high-skilled professionals would be streamlined, and steps would be done to retain overseas students.

O’Neil said, “Temporary skilled visa holders, who had been denied even the opportunity to apply for permanent residency, will be able to do that by the end of this year”.

“However, it will not add to Australia’s annual intake of permanent migrants”, O’Neil added.

In September, Australia increased its intake of permanent migrants intake to 195,000 this fiscal year, up by 35,000, to assist businesses dealing with significant staff shortages and vowed extra staff and funds to speed up visa processing.

The government announced that the migrant wage threshold for temporary skilled workers would be raised to A$70,000 from A$53,900 on July 1.

According to the government, over 90 percent of all full-time jobs in Australia are now paid more than the current threshold, resulting in foreign worker exploitation.

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