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For many South Africans, life abroad is a tantalizing prospect. More and more skilled South Africans are looking to work overseas, with many hoping for a life in the USA, the UK, and Canada. Another popular destination is Australia, and with the nation pushing for more skilled migration than ever before, now has never been a better time to make the move Down Under.
A recent survey by Synovate, a global market research company, found that 20 percent of South Africans were planning to move to another country or were seriously considering it. The idea of immigrating overseas was most popular with young people aged 18 to 44 years of age. For these individuals, Australia can provide a very attractive destination.
"There are plenty of young, ambitious and highly skilled people who are afraid of starting a career as well as a family in South Africa," said Candace Inskip, a workpermit.com Consultant and native born South African.
"Many of them look to countries such as Australia, the UK and Canada, which they know they can live and work without feeling uneasy about the country's economic stability," she added.
Indeed, many South Africans have already made the move to Australia. According to Australian immigration statistics, South Africa was sixth place for country of origin during 2006-07, with almost 4,000 South Africans immigrating to Australia during this period.
The country has a skilled migration program for people under 45 years of age which allows overseas workers to obtain permanent residence visas if their specialization is on a list of occupations that Australia is interested in.
The scheme, called the General Skilled Migration program, has been incredibly successful. The program utilizes a points based system that scores applicants based upon various factors such as age, qualifications, and experience in their occupation.
Australia is looking for a wide range of skills to fill gaps in their labor market -- everything from IT workers to engineers and accountants, as well as a wide range of trade occupations such as plumbers, bricklayers and hairdressers.
In addition, Australia recently increased the number of places allocated for skilled migrants by 31,000 for the 2008-09 year for a total of 133,500 places. This constitutes a thirty percent increase over the previous year.
Every three minutes someone successfully immigrates to Australia. If you would like to be one of them, workpermit.com can help you navigate the system. For more information, call our London office or fill out a free online assessment form and a qualified immigration advisor will get in touch with you.
