ALP proposes major changes to PR system

Federal Elections are going to be held in Australia in late 2004 or early 2005. The Australian Labor Party (ALP), the main opposition party of Australia, has announced that should ALP win the federal elections this year, it would bring about radical changes to the current immigration legislation. Most of these are directed towards the growth and progress of the regional cities and towns of Australia.

The key changes proposed by ALP which will affect Overseas Students are summarised below-

• ALP would try to send almost 45 percent of the annual immigration intake to regional australia ;
• As per the current immigration legislation, Overseas Students who study for 2 years in a regional university get 5 additional points. However, there is a loophole to this system. At present, overseas students can still manage to get PR by studying in Metropolitan Cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane etc. This can be achieved if the student invests $100,000 in Australia or gets himself accredited as a National Level Translator and Interpreter. Because of these provisions, Overseas Students can manage to bypass the regional australia provision and yet obtain PR. BUT the ALP has made it very clear that if it comes to power, it will change this system. As per the ALP Immigration System, only students graduating from Regional Universities after a 2 years study will be eligible to apply for PR. The outcome of this would be that students graduating from Universities in Metropolitan Cities will not be allowed to file for PR irrespective of their points score !
• ALP would redefine the meaning of 'Regional Australia'. As per the current system, even a major metropolitan city like Adelaide features in the Regional Australia List. This is very misleading as Adelaide is not a regional city. ALP would rectify this error in the Regional Australia List.

These changes will come into effect as soon as the new federal government is formed in Australia. Overseas students planning to study in Australia and who intend to apply for PR after their studies are advsied to take note of the above proposed legislation changes.