Emigrate to Australia – Now the chances are particularly good

Created: 01/14/2023 09:08

By: Catherine Loesche

The Sydney Opera House: Live where others vacation.

© Joel Carrett/dpa

Living and working by the sea: For many people this is a dream.

Australia has long been known for its tough immigration conditions.

This could change now.

Brisbane - Hundreds of vacancies in the IT sector, thousands of students still have no teachers for the coming school year and the landscape architect is also unable to find employees - although he has already increased hourly wages by 30 percent.

It cuts across all occupational groups: the shortage of skilled workers is not just a concern in Germany.

He also paralyzes Australia. 

The government in Canberra is flirting with many approaches to finding a solution.

As a traditional immigration country, the first option is to expand and simplify the otherwise strict visa allocation: With 700 professions on the various lists for visa classes, the number of jobs sought has almost doubled this year and the number available for skilled workers Standing visa places were also significantly increased.

Australia: An opportunity for specialists from Germany

"Specialists currently have very good chances of obtaining a permanent residency (PR) permit," says immigration expert Friederike Kühn from Your Migration Network of the

of IPPEN MEDIA.

There are currently many options, especially in the so-called Skilled Visa area.

As a trained system mechanic, Carsten Schröder also wanted to take the step Down Under with his family.

After vacationing in Australia, the sales partner of his former employer offered him a job as a service technician.

"I turned it down at first because I was 42 years old," says Schröder.

But back in Germany, like so many backpackers and vacationers, he just couldn't get Australia out of his head.

After another family vacation Down Under, his wife was also convinced.

"But the problem was that I didn't want to apply for a short-term visa because I was 43 at the time, because after two years on the short-term visa at 45 I would no longer have had a chance of doing PR," explains Carsten.

"Then we would have had to leave Australia straight away." 

Corona exacerbated the skills shortage in Australia

The staggering rise in jobs sought exposes the gaps in Australia's apprenticeship system: the country simply fails to train enough Australians for these jobs over time.

But the corona pandemic has also contributed to the lack of qualified personnel everywhere.

For two years, the country had sealed itself off almost completely because of the virus outbreak, and all borders were closed.

The immigration rate fell to practically zero.

And the recommendation by then Prime Minister Scott Morrison to migrants that it would be better to return to their home countries because of the pandemic drove many professionals away.

Under the strict restrictions, even dual nationals without a special permit could not leave the country and even then ran the risk of not being able to return. 

About IPPEN.MEDIA

The IPPEN.MEDIA network is one of the largest online publishers in Germany.

At the locations in Berlin, Hamburg/Bremen, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart and Vienna, journalists from our central editorial office research and publish for more than 50 news offers.

These include brands such as Münchner Merkur, Frankfurter Rundschau and BuzzFeed Germany.

Our news, interviews, analyzes and comments reach more than 5 million people in Germany every day.

Two years of pandemic: many departures after opening

Long processing times for exit permits and a lack of financial support during the pandemic for certain professional groups did the rest.

Those unable to leave the country during COVID-19 will seize the opportunity when borders reopen in early 2022. Since then, more than 600,000 people have left Australia, 83 per cent of whom are of working age, according to an analysis by Australia's Economic Development Committee (CEDA). .

Skilled immigration is therefore vital to bridging the gap – while at the same time training Australians for the jobs they are looking for.

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With the help of the emigration agent Friederike Kühn, the Schröder family finally managed to achieve their dream of living in Australia - even if they had to overcome several hurdles in order to get the coveted permanent residence permit.

Certificates of good conduct, language tests and extensive medical examinations had to be submitted.

The sponsor of the visa, the sales partner of his former employer, had to prove that he could not find an Australian specialist for the job despite an official job advertisement.

Cost for the Schröder family including moving to Melbourne: More than 24,000 euros.

Carsten Schröder's employer covered half of the costs and undertook to employ him for at least two years.

In return, he was not tied to his employer professionally.

Occupations in health and education are particularly in demand

Nurses and teachers are currently right at the top of the list of sought-after professions, and specialized doctors and social workers are also desperately needed.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, visas in the health and education sectors are given preferential treatment.

"These applications will now be reviewed and approved within three days," a spokesman for the ministry told our editorial team.

As of June 1, more than 43,000 temporary and 47,000 permanent visas have already been issued to skilled workers.

The government has increased the number of visas available annually for professionals and family members from 160,000 to 195,000, Immigration Secretary Andrew Giles said at the CEDA conference on migration last month.

20,000 additional university places have also been created in Australia and 180,000 free places at the vocational academy TAFE (Technical and Further Education) have been brought forward in order to promote training in Australia.

There are also special opportunities for professionals who stayed in Australia during the pandemic.

"For example, certain groups of people now have access to permanent visas, which previously only qualified for temporary visas," explains Friederike Kühn from Your Migration Network.

The backlog of visas, which was once nearly a million applications, has also fallen to 755,000.

Germans not among the top ten applicants

German skilled workers are not yet among the top ten applicants for a skilled worker visa.

"There are countries like Great Britain, India, China, Vietnam and the Philippines," says Friederike Kühn.

Many are drawn directly to the big cities on the east coast.

"However, I also keep meeting emigrants who want to get to know the original Australia, the outback, and consciously choose one of the regions in Australia."

The Schröders are happy in Melbourne.

"Thanks to our PR visa, we basically had no restrictions right from the start, we also had direct health insurance and didn't have to pay any school fees," says Carsten Schröder.

"The only downsides are that we don't have the right to vote and our two sons would have to pay the tuition fees themselves if they wanted to go to college, because PR doesn't qualify for HECS." Only Australian citizens are entitled to study aid .

So if you are seriously considering emigrating to Australia with the help of a Skilled Visa, you have to invest time and money.

“I think it's relatively easy at the moment to get a temporary visa for two or four years and then apply for PR.

But I noticed on Facebook that the largest percentage of people immediately start looking for a PR sponsor.

Basically, I think this is only possible if you have very good connections to Australia through your employer, friends or relatives,” says Carsten Schröder.