Migrating to Australia can very well be a long nurtured dream for many of us. The country has seen several thousand immigrants moving in every year and contributing to the development of the Australian economy. In recent times, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship has introduced certain modifications to the policy of  immigration to Australia. A basic knowledge of these new changes will be of great help while applying for an Australian visa. These new changes have centered on the General Skilled Migration Program that has been formulated to enable skilled employees to obtain an Australian visa and enable them to move into and work in Australia.

The General Skills Program, as we all know, is the main key for skilled workers from all around the world to fulfill their dream of Australian immigration. According to the basic guidelines of the GSM Program, candidates who possess specialized training in any of the occupations that feature in the Skilled Occupations List can apply for an Australian Visa. Their applications will be scrutinized and selection will be done on the basis of their age, qualification, work experience, proficiency of English language and skill competency levels. They must score a minimum pass mark in the Points based evaluation system (judged on the basic criteria mentioned earlier) to qualify for an Australian visa. In case the candidate is observed to possess some additional qualification pertaining to occupational skills, family connections in Australia, educational experience in Australia, spouse qualifications then the possibility of he/she scoring some additional points is high. The GSM Program has been highly successful in tapping the skilled labor talent from all over the world that is capable of contributing to the development of the Australian economy. This Program has been instrumental in changing the complexion of Australian immigration and has brought about some significant changes in the country’s economy.

On February 8, 2010 the policy of Australian immigration witnessed an important change when the results of the review of the Migration occupations in Demand List were announced by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. An important inference made by this review was the need to replace the current MODL by a new and more target-oriented occupations list that is better equipped to cater to the constantly changing labor requirements of the Australian market. The Australian immigration policy has undergone some important alterations following this review.

An important change made in the Skilled Migration Program with regard to Australian immigration was the creation of a Critical Skills List (CSL) that laid emphasis on providing work opportunities to Information Technology Professionals, engineering and medical experts. In March 2009 the number of visas granted under the GSM Program were brought down to 115,000 per year and several occupations were eliminated from the CSL. This change was effected keeping in mind the growing needs of the Australian economy. In May 2009 the visas under the GSM Program came down to 108,000.

Even the application form for an Australian visa under the GSM Program has gone through certain modifications and includes new question pertaining to health and character.

The government of Australia has brought about certain amendments to its Immigration Policy in an attempt to being down the immigration to Australia of poorly-skilled laborers. The changes have been brought about to improve the entire process of selecting the best candidates for Australian immigration that would best suit the market requirements in the country.