Malcolm Turnbull announced with great national fervor that Australian jobs will be for Australians only when he announced withdrawal of 457 Visa last week few days before ANZAC day.
Mr Turnbull also announced that 457 visa will not be available anymore to the overseas qualified skill holders seeking permanent migration to Australia. The work visas will be available in two year and four year categories and may not automatically lead to permanent residency or Australian Citizenship.
Skilled migrants holding Australian permanent residency are no longer eligible to apply for Australian citizenship in one years time and will have to wait for a minimum of four years as well as demonstrate higher level of English competency in IELTS examination.
Many potential immigrants to Australia will be discouraged to seek jobs in Australia as obtaining work visa could be seen as a major hurdle. Australia will lose skilled migrants who could potentially fill unwanted jobs as well as jobs in skill deficient sectors.
In Newzealand immigration minister Mr Michael Woodhouse made an announcement last week about changes aimed to cut low skilled immigrant numbers.Low skilled immigrants will only be able to stay in Newzealand for maximum of three years under proposed new laws and they will have to face a stand-down period before being eligible for another work visa.
American President Donald Trump already announced few weeks ago that H1B visa category will be revised and American jobs will be given back to Americans.This led to panic among Silicon valley employers as the IT industry is heavily reliant on foreign skilled migrants particularly India.
Most of these proposals regarding the curbs to immigration numbers announced in different parts of the world may appeal to right wing voters who are willing to blame the immigrants as the primary cause for the lack of prosperity and jobs among locals.The political leaders are shifting their tone away from the rhetoric of globalization towards an anti-immigration stance in order to appease these voters.
Europe is facing a different problem with illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.
Canada is one of the few countries which took a pro immigration stance and allowed controlled inflow of asylum seekers as well as skilled migrants in large numbers recently. Germany also allowed a major influx of asylum seekers. However Angela Merkel, German president is facing a huge public backlash as a result of her pro immigrant policy.
Most of the developed economies benefit from skilled migrants and success story of silicon valley was built on immigrant skills in USA.The severe cuts in skilled immigration quota will only lead to huge skill gaps in many sectors and unfilled jobs in some areas.It falls upon the ruling governments to train locally available potential job holders with these varied skill sets in order to fill those jobs.Whether that is really and quickly feasible is something to be seen in near future.
