Short visa, lasting harm

There has been a great deal of controversy over a new scheme involving new temporary work visas for overseas students and graduates which will be implemented in July 2007.

Amanda Vanstone, Immigration Minister and Julie Bishop, Education Minister announced that the Federal government would introduce new temporary visas in order to assist overseas students in gaining skilled work experience in Australia in order to be eligible for a skilled migrant permanent visa.

Training and temporary work visas are contentious issues, especially the 457 visa which is available to temporary skilled workers and the more current trade skills training visas. The Federal opposition strongly opposes and criticises these visas claiming that they take away training opportunities and jobs from Australians. The visas are also criticised for undermining wages as well as working conditions and has led to the exploitation of foreign workers.

Based on the report which advocated the visas, there are many legitimate reasons to be concerned about the new changes. The visas could result in an increase in international graduates and students who would be in competition with Australians for highly sought after entry level jobs and for limited undergraduate positions for work experience. Consequently, there could be a decrease in the amount of local enrolments.

Approximately 67,000 internationals students completed their university courses onshore in 2004 and 15,400 skilled permanent visas were issued onshore in 2005-06, the majority of which were to students graduating from university, which saw a 7 percent increase on 2004-05. The amount of permanent visas granted is likely to fall in 2006-07 because of the stricter English criteria and additional requirements.

However, the evaluation report advocated a more accessible threshold entry mark which applies to the new temporary visas. They are as follows:

• A new temporary visa which is available to graduates for a period of two years allowing them complete work rights, eventually leading to a permanent visa if applicants are able to complete 12 months of paid, full time professional employment in Australia.
• Twelve months of training in a specific vocation in the third year as well as a period of optional work experience.

There is a high demand for professional work experience by Chinese and Indian students who wish to return home with experience in bigger international firms. While the availability of these jobs for visa holders is difficult to calculate, many firms would be interested in offering them jobs, especially those who already have international branches operating in India and China for example, banks and IT companies. Universities are also expected to encourage overseas graduates and students by promoting them to employers which will in turn maximise income from employment services and increase the potential to market the new visas. This has the potential to change the structure within the graduate market in a way that may be detrimental to Australian graduates.

The report went on to state that there were reasonable concerns regarding the potential effects of the visas on Australian graduates. Affecting the job market and wages, most notably in accounting and IT, where the majority of overseas students on visas are concentrated.