A country that boasts of a stunning cultural diversity that opens its hands to people of all nationalities, Australia provides a sea of opportunities to those who wish to settle there. The varied and breath-taking landscape, the exotic animal and plant life, the most happening cosmopolitan cities together with the development in the arena of global business have made Australia a much sought-after destination for immigration.

Immigrating to Australia can be a dream for many of us. To make this possible it is important to keep yourself abreast with the changing trends in the policy of immigration to Australia. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has introduced certain modification to its policy of immigration to Australia. These modifications have come out as a response to the growing labor force requirements of the Australian economy. When you are applying for immigrating to Australia please remember to have a clear idea about these alterations.

An important change been made in the General Skills Migration Program which is the main structure of the Australian immigration policy that aims at helping skilled employees from all over the world to obtain an Australian visa that can permit them in immigrating to Australia and working in the country. 

Generally there are four main categories of people who think of immigrating to Australia. They are:

1. Those with specialized skills and training and plan on immigrating to Australia in search of business or work prospects
2. Those who plan to immigrate to Australia permanently
3. Those wanting to immigrate to Australia looking for better educational prospects and.
4. Those planning on immigrating to Australia under humanitarian considerations

Out of these, the common category under which people try to immigrate to Australia is the Skilled and business migration category. Here it is the General Skills Program that functions as the key tool enabling skilled workers from all around the world to nurture their dream of immigrating to Australia. As per the basic guidelines of this Program candidates who possess specialized training in any occupation that may figure in the Skilled Occupations List are eligible to consider immigrating to Australia. The applications then go through a stringent process of scrutiny where they are screened on the basis of the appropriate age, qualification, previous or current work experience, proficiency of English language and skill competency levels. The recent changes in Australian immigration have made it imperative that those wishing to immigrate to Australia must score a least pass mark in the Points based evaluation system.

In 2009 the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) saw some modifications made in its structure that changed the threshold levels of scoring in the tests for two categories of applicants –those who have nominated a trade occupation and those who have applied under the GSM category.

In February 2010 the policy of Australian immigration underwent significant changes when the results of the review of the Migration occupations in Demand List (MODL) were made public by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. This review emphasized the need to substitute the current MODL by a new target-oriented occupations list that was better qualified to meet the changing labor requirements of the Australian market.

An important change that has been made in the Skilled Migration Program regarding Australian immigration is the introduction of a Critical Skills List (CSL) that lays emphasis on offering job prospects to Information Technology Professionals, engineering and medical experts.

The government of Australia has brought about certain alterations in its Immigration Policy with the main intention of improving the entire process of selecting the most qualified candidates for Australian immigration who would be able to contribute in a positive manner to the development of the Australian economy.