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The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has announced a two-day Australia Needs Skills expo in London starting 15 March 2008 designed to entice British skilled workers to live and work in Australia.
"Australia is this year seeking more than 100,000 people in its skilled migration stream including accountants, engineers, health professionals and trades people," said Immigration Minister Chris Evans. "There are skilled vacancies in all states and territories in more than 90 occupations."
More than 4000 prospective migrant workers have registered for the event where they can meet employers, recruitment companies, and state and local government organizations. Due to its popularity, previous registration is required to attend the event and the location has only been disclosed to registrants.
Past expos in Amsterdam, Berlin, Chennai, Kolkata, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Manila have been very successful for businesses and government agencies looking for skilled workers from overseas, according to Evans.
"Employer-sponsored migration is a high priority in a skilled migration stream which has economic benefits for everyone in Australia," Evans said.
A total of 24,800 British citizens arrived in Australia in the 2006-07 skilled migration stream period.
"Skilled British people who move to Australia help meet demands for workers including professional workers, nurses, electricians, carpenters and joiners, motor mechanics, bricklayers, fitters, computer professionals, school teachers and plumbers," Evans said.
Australia's immigration system for skilled workers is immensely successful and has influenced the other immigration policies such as the United Kingdom's new five-tier points based system.
While the Australia Needs Skills expos focus on employer-sponsored visas, Australia also provides a number of skilled worker visas under its General Skilled Migration program for people without a job offer, such as the Skilled - Independent visa.
The General Skilled Migration program is a points based system that assesses a person's chances of immigrating based on various criteria. Interested individuals are encouraged to fill out an assessment form.
