Applications for the skilled migrant 457 visa have jumped by 9.5 per cent in the last year, while approvals are up by 6.6 per cent.

Federal Minister for Immigration, Brendan O’Connor, said that the results vindicate the Government’s move to clamp down on the number of entries.

"These January figures show that after the traditional December lull, 457s have continued to increase," Mr O’Connor said.

"At January 31, there were more than 105,000 people in Australia working on temporary 457 visas. That is an increase of 22.4 per cent compared to January 2012.

"The overall trend is clear - more people are coming in on temporary skilled worker visas. This comes at a time when the unemployment rate is flat, not dropping.

"We know that in the IT industry, for example, 457 visas have increased by 68 per cent while vacancies for local IT workers are decreasing.

"The Gillard Government will not sit idly by while Australian citizens and permanent skilled migrants lose out to unscrupulous employers."

 

The Federal Government recently announced the following reform to the visa program to:

  • Make business sponsors declare that they will commit to employing Australian citizens 
  • Make training Australian citizens an enforceable requirement of 457 applications
  • Make employers show that the position is genuine
  • Restrict the number of workers that a business can sponsor
  • Tighten the definitions of eligible positions
  • Strengthen the market rate provision to stop undercutting of local conditions
  • Tighten on-hiring arrangements so that sponsors cannot bring someone in and then let them work for an unrelated company at a different salary.