Australian agricultural visa is on its final track now. On 23 August, the Australian government announced the establishment of a new most awaited “Agricultural Visa”. This will indeed help labor shortage in the fields of agriculture and primary industry such as including meat processing, fisheries, and forestry. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will operate this visa stream focusing on outcomes from Pacific labor mobility programs. The visa program is expected to start after September 2021. The most important thing is that this new visa with the passage of time will support the permanent residency pathways and regional settlement.
Covid-19 has caused a decline in Australian working holiday visa holders. About 30,000 workers are required now to overcome this issue. State governments have been encouraged by the federal government and industry to look at safe ways of bringing in workers, including on-farm or in-country quarantine programs.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud told the ABC;
“This is the biggest structural reform to Australian agricultural labor in our nation’s history,”
He also said;
“There are some features to this that are particularly going towards the heart of the structural change that the agricultural industry in regional Australia has been asking for so long. Most of our meat processing sectors are running around 60 to 70 percent capacity at the moment because they simply don’t have the people to do the jobs.”
To ensure a high degree of integrity and safeguards for workers, the departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Home Affairs and Agriculture, Water and the Environment will design the visa stream on its highest standards. The new agricultural visa is aimed at Pacific and Southeast Asian workers which will from now till March 2022 will double to over 24,000. The exact names of the eligible countries have not been announced yet as this will be done after signing the bilateral agreements.
The Australian government always tries to fulfill the labor shortage in the agricultural sector through Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) and Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS). The newly designed visa program will stand upon these aforementioned programs. According to the government’s announcement, full conditions will be developed and implemented over the next 3 years as the visa is operationalized.
Australia Immigration: Previously made changes
Australia in the recent past has also made some important changes such as:
- Significant increases in family visa locations from 47,732 to 77,300, including 72,300 partner visas (then mainly beaches)
- English language required for partner visa applicants and additional sponsorship responsibilities
- Focus on the cost of the Scale Select Free Visa Program on Special, New Global Talent (GT) and Business Investment and Innovation Program (BIIP)
- Visa application fee waivers and refunds for people with temporary visas and those infected with the Coronavirus epidemic
You can read here complete information about Covid travel restrictions in Australia.