Australia junks work visa programme

457 visa programme, used by 95,000 foreign workers, majority of them Indians, is replaced |

Australia has abolished its popular employersponsored 457 visa programme, widely used by Indians, replacing it with a new stringent programme that requires higher English-language proficiency and job skills.

The 457 visa programme, used by over 95,000 foreign workers, majority of them Indians, was replaced on March 18 by a new Temporary Skills Shortage visa programme.

The 457 visa programme allowed businesses to employ foreign workers for a period up to four years in skilled jobs where there was a shortage of Australian workers.

The majority of the visa holders under the category were from India, accounting almost a quarter of the intake, followed by the UK and China at 19.5 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively.

The visa allowed people to live in Australia with their immediate family. It was designed to fill gaps in skilled labour but it had been criticised as being too accessible.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in April last year had announced that his government will abolish the popular work visa programme to tackle the growing unemployment and replace it with a new programme.

He had said that Australia will adopt a new ‘Australians first’ approach to skilled migration.