Australia abolishes visa popular with Indians

New Delhi/Melbourne: In an unexpected announcement, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday that his government will replace the popular 457 visa that brings temporary foreign workers to the country with a new version that will recruit only the “best and the brightest in the national interest”.

The move to abolish the visa, used by over 95,000 temporary foreign workers, a majority of them Indians, is aimed at tackling growing unemployment in Australia.

Mr Turnbull was quoted by news agencies as saying, “We are an immigration nation, but the fact remains, Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs, so we are abolishing the 457 visa, the visa that brings temporary foreign workers into our country. We will no longer allow 457 visa to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians.”

Making it clear that the idea behind the move is to “put Australians first”, Mr Turnbull wrote on Facebook, “Our reforms will have a simple focus: Australian jobs and Australian values.”

The announcement has jolted New Delhi, particularly since Mr Turnbull visited New Delhi a few days ago.

Reacting to the development, India said that it is “examining consequences of the new policy in consultation with all stakeholders”, adding that the issue would be included in the ongoing Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) negotiations with Australia.

The programme known as 457 visa, introduced in the 1990s, allowed businesses to employ foreign workers for up to four years in skilled jobs where there was shortage of Australian workers. Visa holders were allowed to bring family members to Australia on 457 secondary visas. Though initially aimed at highly skilled migrants, over time it was opened up for a broad category of workers.

The programme was hit by controversy with allegations that the visa was being misused by employers to import cheap workers who lack necessary skills.

“It’s lost its credibility,” Mr Turnbull said.

The largest number of visa holders under this category are reportedly from India, followed by the UK and China.

Those who are currently in Australia on a 457 visa will not be affected by the new arrangement.  

As on September 30 last year there were 95,757 workers in Australia on primary 457 visas and 76,430 secondary visa holders, the Australian media reported.

Australia said it would replace the 457 visa with a new programme requiring higher English-language proficiency and job skills to fill “critical skill gaps and not bring in foreign workers because an employer finds it cheaper and easier to do so”.

Mr Turnbull’s announcement comes days after he visited India during which MoUs were signed for deeper cooperation in areas of health and medicine, sports, environment, climate and wildlife, civil aviation security and cooperation in space technology. However, no breakthrough was achieved on CECA during talks between the two Prime Ministers, with PM Narendra Modi saying, “We took a number of forward-looking decisions to further strengthen our partnership, including the decision to soon hold the next round of negotiations on our Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.”

On CECA, Mr Turnbull did not give a timeline for the deal.