Indian students pursuing courses in Australia can apply to work in the country without visa sponsorship for up to eight years from July 1 under the Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme (MATES) which will open up to 3,000 spots. Indian professionals from fields including engineering, information and communication technology, artificial intelligence, financial technology, renewable energy and mining are also eligible for this visa, the new rules say.
Australia Student Visa: The Australian flag flies .(Reuters)
The scheme will offer a new mobility pathway for Indian graduates and early career professionals with skills in targeted fields to live and work in Australia for up to two years. This comes as Australia proposed overhauling its immigration system to incorporate more highly skilled workers into the country. The country also aims to smoothen the path to permanent residency, Australian government had said in April.
Visa process for high-skilled professionals will be made quicker and easier and steps would be taken to retain international students, the government had then said.
Additionally, temporary skilled visa holders, who were unable to apply for permanent residency, will be able to do the same by the end of this year.
In September last year, Australia raised its intake of permanent migrants to 195,000, up by 35,000, as it faced widespread staff shortages.
Now work restrictions for all the student visa holders will be re-introduced and capped at 48 hours per fortnight as well from July 1. However, this rule doesn’t apply to individuals working in the aged care sector as they can continue to work unrestricted hours until December 31, 2023.
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