How will the Australian Elections affect immigration?

As per a recent poll conducted by IPSOS, Immigration has jumped up to 6^th spot as the most common worry of Australians. The topic of immigration is divisive as the Labour and Coalition have different stands on it. Leftist voters want to bring in more immigrants to Australia while rightist voters do not. The major parties have the below approaches when it comes to refugee and migrant intake:

• If Labour wins the Australian Elections:

If Labour wins the Australian Elections, skilled immigrants will be paid more. Also, it might be easier for migrants to get their parents to Australia. Labour has made a declaration that it has a long-term approach to immigration intake. However, they are yet to announce any policies on the same. They have, however, made many promises on many visas. For example, Labour has promised to do away with the 15,000 yearly caps on the new Parent Visa. They have also promised to slash the visa fee for the same. Labour intends to drop the price of a 3-year Parent Visa to $1,250 and that of a 5-year Visa to $5,000. They have also promised that both sets of parents would be able to apply for the new Parent Visa which is not possible currently. Labour also announced in December 2018 that it would increase the income threshold of the Temporary Skilled Migrants from $53,900 to $65,000 annually. Labour also plans to increase the refugee intake from the current 18,750 to 32,000, as per Yahoo Finance.

• If the Liberal-National Coalition wins the Australian Elections:

If the Liberal-National Coalition wins the Australian Elections then the migration intake will be slashed by 30,000. As announced in the annual budget in April this year, the Coalition Govt. plans to cut down the immigration intake from 190,000 to 160,000. This will result in a loss of 120,000 visa places in the next 4 years until 2022-23. The Coalition has also promised to allocate a budget of $64.2 million to “Social Cohesion Measures”. These measures will help new migrants in settling down in Australia. The budget will be used to fund community hubs, community language programs and local sports grants. It will also be used to support understanding and diversity initiatives. However, cutting down has immigration numbers has made many Australians raise concerns about the impact it will have on the economy. Y-Axis offers a wide range of visa services and products for aspiring overseas immigrants including General skilled migration – Subclass 189 /190/489 with RMA review, General skilled migration – Subclass 189 /190/489, Work Visa for Australia, and Business Visa for Australia. We work with Registered Migration Agents in Australia. If you are looking to Visit, Study, Work, Invest or Migrate to Australia, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Consultant. If you found this blog engaging, you may also like… Do you know about the new Regional Visa in Australia?