Migration’s impact on regional Australia is vital, but visas need to be forthcoming, agent warns




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Mohsin Ali has worked at the Coober Pedy IGA store in SA’s far north while trying to secure a visa. (ABC News: Haidarr Jones)

Mohsin Ali has spent just two-and-a-half months with his wife since they married four-and-a-half years ago.

His greatest wish is for her to move from Pakistan to Coober Pedy, the remote South Australian town where he has worked since shortly after his marriage to Qandeel.

“She’s been living alone, back in my home country. She’s also going through a hard time,” he said.

“She even got a COVID positive [result], and even at that time, I wasn’t able to visit because of the COVID restrictions.

“Maintaining a long-distance relationship, you know, it’s very, very hard.”

For the past five years, Mr Ali has been trying to get approval for a working visa with the sponsorship of the supermarket where he works.

“I really love living here, and I just want to be part of the community; the people are so friendly,” he said.

“I replaced a guy who got sponsorship.”

But his application was rejected after a three-year wait, and without it, his wife has not been granted a visa to visit.

“They refused the nomination on the basis that the business really doesn’t need an office manager, which is very shocking news because I replaced the guy who got sponsorship in the same position,” he said.

His boss Penny Carter said she and Mr Ali appealed the decision and have still heard nothing two years later.

“For five years, he’s been continuing to fight red tape after red tape — decisions that shouldn’t have been made the way that they were,” she said.

“The previous person before him had a successful outcome in a matter of weeks, so it’s emotionally really difficult to support him through that.”

Ms Carter said the long wait and uncertainty had also affected her.

“There are just certain things that we aren’t able to provide or expand,” she said.

“Having people that are willing to live in these areas and be a part of the community, send their kids to school and be a part of the community here — it’s really imperative that we are able to make it easier for them to do that, for the survival of places like Coober Pedy.

“We want [people] to come and move into the Coober Pedy permanently.”

Current strategy contributing to regional decline, agent warns

Migration agent Mark Glazbrook said the outback opal town was not alone and that problems stemmed from a 2017 change to Australia’s migration strategy.

“A Productivity Commission report found that people who earn more money make a greater lifetime tax contribution to the economy, so a number of regional migration programs were removed,” he said.

Mr Glazbrook said that move meant the proportion of visa spots linked to skill shortages was decreased.

“A lot of those programs had lower wage outcomes — you might have seen people working in regional South Australia on $50-$70,000,” he said.

“Those programs were removed in favour of highly skilled, high-income types of jobs and occupations.”

Mr Glazbrook said that despite a 14 per cent increase in permanent visa grants, the number of those granted in South Australia had decreased by nearly 19 per cent.

“That’s our lowest outcome in over 10 years of permanent visa outcomes, and that’s a direct reflection of state government policy and federal government policy,” he said.

The fall is a continuation of a long-term trend — over the past 50 years, South Australia’s share of Australia’s population has fallen by a third.

Department of Home Affairs data also showed the number of skilled migrant visas granted in other smaller jurisdictions — Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT — also fell during the 2020-21 financial year.

Mr Glazbrook said the smaller number of temporary skilled migrant visas which remained were too complicated for employers and their employees to access.

“The settings of those programs are so hard for applicants and businesses to meet that those programs might as well not even exist,” he said.

Modelling commissioned by Mr Glazbrook examined the economic consequences if demand-driven visa spots were increased.

Mr Glazbrook said there was lots of evidence from the modelling that could be extrapolated to other smaller regional areas around Australia.

“We were able to identify job shortages in regional areas that local Australians choose not to do, and if 25 per cent of those jobs were filled by demand-driven migrants in regional South Australia, it would not only fill those jobs, but it would create a significant number of new jobs plus a good economic benefit,” he said.

Migrants would create ‘brand new jobs’

Mr Glazbrook said that “10,000, demand-driven migrants living in regional South Australia” would help not only regional communities but ensure “their population stability in creating the demand for essential services to remain in those areas”.

It would also ensure the longevity of local schools and keep “the cricket clubs and the footy clubs going”.

“But 10,000 demand-driven migrants will also create 16,200 brand new jobs that don’t currently exist across the entire state,” he said.

“It’s more of a shared benefit between the applicant who gets the visa, the employer who gets a worker and the regional community who gets another person living, working, contributing to the local economy.”

He said the only way to drive these changes was to radically increase the number of visas granted through business sponsorship and job demand.

“A lot of people say that migrants are job-takers, but quite clearly they’re job creators. And having people living and working in regional South Australia will create more jobs in Adelaide for locals to be employed in and trained in,” he said.

“So it’s a win-win.”

The Department of Home Affairs said while it recognises regional economies need support, migration settings were “carefully designed to achieve a range of economic and social outcomes that meet Australia’s needs”.

“A dedicated regional visa category has been retained in the 2021-22 Migration Program to allow regions to benefit from targeted migration,” a spokesperson said.

The department said a new skilled work visa was also introduced in 2019.

“This visa allows skilled workers to live and work in designated regional areas of Australia for up to five years,” the spokesperson said.

“State and Territory nominated and regional visa categories continue to play an important role within the migration program recognising the unique needs that exist within jurisdictions.”

Source: Thanks msn.com