Legislation to change the Migration Act will be introduced into parliament next month by independent South Australian senator Nick Xenophon to create a visa which could allow an estimated 40,000 foreigners to work in special migration zones in regional Australia.

Specifically targeted at ‘economically challenged’ regions of Australia including South Australia and Tasmania, the proposal is supported by several industry groups, The groups say the measures will boost population growth, revive regional towns and create between ‘1.3 to 1.6 jobs for every job filled’ by a foreigner, according to a report in The Australian

 “This program will be a win-win for struggling areas of the nation — boosting the local economy and boosting jobs in the process,” said Senator Xenophon. He believes the program would particularly help address the jobs crisis facing South Australia, where unemployment is at a 15-year high.

National Farmers Federation manager of workplace relations Sarah McKinnon told The Australian that the 457 visa program and the seasonal worker program used by backpackers did not accommodate semi-skilled workers. Without an agriculture-related degree, foreign workers are ineligible for 457-visa sponsorship by a farm employer.

“Across industry there is a need for this particular level of skill that we can’t always find in the local labour market and there is no visa that provides for it,” she said.

Peak horticultural growers’ group Ausveg said the challenge would be to identify a migration zone that covered regional areas most in need. “Many farms struggle to find labour, it is a huge concern for industry that they don’t have access to that labour force to harvest the fruit and vegetables that we consume,” Ausveg deputy chief executive Andrew White said.

The occupational ceilings for the skilled migration programme for the 2015-16 financial year were announced earlier this month with the quota for several occupations notably accountants, air-conditioning/refrigeration mechanics, engineering managers, electronic Trades Workers, Auditors and nurses falling sharply.

Rising sharply in numbers is the demand for Early Childhood Teachers, Medical Laboratory Scientists and several trades occupations including Metal Fitters, Wall/Floor Tilers, Plumbers and Painting Trade workers.

Registered nurses remain the most wanted occupation in the Australian workforce if you go by the occupational ceiling numbers. The occupational ceiling for registered nurses however dropped by almost 8% or 1170 places in the latest skilled migration programme.

Panelbeaters and Cabinetmakers made a debut with 1134 and 1530 places respectively.

Occupational ceilings limit how many invitations to apply are issued by the Department of Immigration each year for general skilled migration for a particular occupation. This is to ensure that the migration program is not dominated by a small number of occupations. Generally, applicants with an Expression of Interest in occupational groups which have reached their ceiling will not be invited to apply for a visa but however will remain in the EOI pool for two years from the date of submission, or until they are selected to apply when a fresh quota is issued.

The DIBP generally distributes grants over the programmeto to "ensure availability of invitations across the programme year" particularly for occupations for where applications are high in demand. It has listed the following occupations as being in high demand:

• ICT Business and System Analysts
• Software and Applications Programmers
• Accountants.

Occupational ceilings do not apply to Employer Sponsored or Business Innovation and Investment visa subclasses and have now also been removed for State or Territory Nominated, visa subclasses. Effectively this means that states can nominate occupations for Skilled Nominated Subclass 190 and Skilled Regional Subclass 489 visas even if the ceiling has been reached.

Businesses in the Northern Territory have slammed the Federal Government for unnecessary delays and red tape which they say is affecting the ability of businesses to get the skilled foreign workers they urgently need.

In February 2014, the Federal Government announced an independent review of the 457 visa worker program and then in May relaxed the English language competency requirement for foreign workers.

In August the Commonwealth announced a brand new initiative - the Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMAs) sub class of 457 visas which would apply only in the NT and for certain occupations such as truck drivers, childcare workers, and hospitality staff.

It was hoped foreign workers would be more willing to move to Darwin.

According to an ABC report, months later 17 NT businesses have been endorsed by the NT Department of Business to apply for DAMAs. But only three DAMAs have been granted.

After apparently 25 years of lobbying the government for a national registration scheme, Engineers Australia (EA) has decided that it will move to ‘self-regulation’ with its own scheme.

Although the federal government sees no need for such national regulation, the Australian Financial Review reports that the move by the EA is “to safeguard the industry against a wave of temporary work visas being issued to fill employment gaps.”

According to EA, currently 14 different Acts and subordinate legislation regulate some engineering services in most states and territories.  Where regulation exists, it is rarely specific to engineering services. Queensland is the only state that requires all engineers to be registered if offering or providing engineering services, and Western Australia is considering introducing similar requirements.  In other states and territories engineers generally operate under a self-regulatory system.

The peak body, which represents about 100,000 engineers, has been urging state and federal governments for the past 25 years to adopt a national registration scheme, which would ensure high professional standards are maintained in the sector.

Engineers Australia (EA) chief executive Stephen Durkin told the AFR that while most government representatives have seen value of a national registration scheme for engineers, the general response has been "but buildings aren't falling down'.

A self-represented applicant’s appeals to the MRT for the review of a partner visa decision, has failed with the member indicating that a child may have made a difference, but not a pregnancy. A delegate of the minister had refused the visa on the basis that the applicant failed to satisfy criterion 3001. On review, the Tribunal was not convinced that there were ‘compelling reasons’ to waive the requirement.

An applicant who is not the holder of a substantive visa at the time of application must meet certain criteria in Schedule 3 of the Migration Regulations unless the Minister is satisfied that there are compelling reasons for not applying the criteria: cl.820.211(2)(d).

In this case, criterion 3001 was the main issue. In order to satisfy criterion 3001, the application for the visa must have been lodged within 28 days of the ‘relevant day’ which is the date of the delegate’s decision. The delegate’s decision to refuse the application stated that the applicant came to Australia on a student visa and that visa was cancelled on 11 December 2012. On 11 February 2013 she lodged her partner visa application. Hence she did not satisfy criterion 3001 as the 28 days had lapsed.

Given this, the Tribunal was required to consider whether there were compelling reasons for not applying the criteria. The applicant argued as follows:

“We really hope MRT could consider about our true relationship and expecting baby's situation. We are hoping deeply MRT could give us a significant result due to the expensive visa fee we try to save for new baby as well. Because we heard the partner visa fee will go up to over $6000 from 1st July 2015. We want to be good parents like all parents in this world which give our baby a better life. We want to try our best to welcome the baby with two parents together.”

The Tribunal was not convinced and affirmed the delegate’s decision for the following reasons: