Skilled workers locked out of Australia as ‘global talent’ visas surge

Skilled workers locked out of Australia as ‘global talent’ visas surge

Sydney Morning Herald – 19 August 2021

The federal government has issued more than 12,000 of its controversial new “global talent” visas during the pandemic, while nearly 19,000 existing holders of previously issued skilled visas have remained stuck offshore.

The global talent 858 visas are a fast track to permanent residency for skilled migrants, introduced in December 2019. Experts have warned the economic value of the visa is unproven and “murky” criteria leaves it open to influence peddling.

Figures obtained by The Sun-Herald under freedom of information laws reveal 19,345 holders of temporary skilled visas were outside Australia in April this year, with more than 7500 of these visas due to expire by the end of this year, and another 9200 by the end of 2022. The figures include the 457 and 482 temporary skills shortage visas and the 491 and 494 regional skilled visas.

Many of these people were caught outside Australia when the borders closed or needed to travel for urgent personal reasons and have been unable to obtain a travel exemption to return to their homes and jobs in Australia. Some may have left permanently, while others are still hoping to return.

Former deputy immigration secretary Abul Rizvi said the loss of these skilled workers would be a brain drain for Australia and affect our international reputation.

“It’s certainly damaging when we’re talking about the loss of specific skills that will be hurting the Australian economy, but more importantly it’s probably a reputational damage and damage in terms of the individuals affected,” Mr Rizvi said.

“These are people, their lives are being put into serious damage and upheaval and I think if we had greater quarantine capacity we may have been able to let more of them in.”

He said the exemption process was “a bit of a mystery” given British far-right commentator Katie Hopkins was determined to have a critical skill, whereas people with more significant qualifications were locked out.

The government appears to be ramping up the new global talent (858) visa program instead, which it says is “designed to prioritise exceptional talent and provide a pathway to permanent residency”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said it issued 12,167 global talent visas from March 21, 2020 to June 30, 2021 but only 367 had entered the country, with many of the applicants having applied while already in Australia. The allocation for the 2021-2022 migration program is 15,000.

The Grattan Institute’s analysis earlier this year said the new Global Talent Program “should be scaled back while its value is assessed.”

Grattan fellow Henry Sherrell said: “With employer sponsorship, it’s clearer to meet a set of objective standards, whereas with global talent, it’s a lot more murky.”

Mr Rizvi warned the global talent visa effectively undermines every other skill stream visa because it is more flexible, while the “lack of legal criteria leaves it much more exposed to the risk of cronyism”. He said public servants need legal criteria in order to withstand requests from influential people to do a favour for a mate.

The Home Affairs spokesperson said more than 30 per cent of the global talent visas were in digital technology, including experts in quantum computing, blockchain and long-range wi-fi.

About a quarter were researchers and entrepreneurs in health and life sciences, 20 per cent were specialists in resources and clean energy, while many of the remainder were working across fields such as biotechnology and the development of advanced manufacturing materials.

The spokesperson said the 482 temporary skill shortage visa and the 457 visa it replaced were for the benefit of businesses that need critical skills that can’t be filled by Australians.

“Australia remains committed to using skilled labour to support economic recovery from the pandemic, but this needs to be balanced in the context of ensuring the health and safety of all Australians,” the spokesperson said.

Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said there had been numerous calls to review or scrap the global talent visa.

Lives in limbo

Katie Morris, 30, lived in Australia for seven years and considers Sydney home, but has been stuck living with her parents in Kansas City since the start of the pandemic.

Ms Morris flew to the United States at the start of March 2020, before there was any talk of a border closure or warnings not to travel, to see if she was a stem cell match for her aunt. (She proved to be a match and ended up donating her stem cells in June; her aunt is now cancer-free).

It was meant to be a 10-day trip but the Australian government shut the international border 24 hours before she was due to fly back. Ms Morris called the airline at 4.30am to try to move to an earlier flight but the next available flight was still due to land in Sydney eight hours after the deadline.

Kuldeep Rawal, saw his wife Renu Dhaka and son Kushaal Rawal, before the pandemic. He hasn’t seen his family for 18 months and is a stranger to his son.

“I was following the rules,” Ms Morris said. “It’s really hard to do something that feels like the right thing, and then have it catastrophically blow up your entire life.”

Before her 457 visa expired in April this year, Ms Morris applied for three travel exemptions to return to Australia but were all denied. In June last year she submitted her application for permanent residency and is still waiting for an answer more than a year later.

Ms Morris has managed to hold on to her job by working remotely but between cutbacks and the unfavourable exchange rate, she can’t afford not to live with her parents while in the US. She is still paying for storage of her belongings, care for her pet dog and her mobile phone back in Australia in the hope of returning.

Kuldeep Rawal, from Stawell in Victoria, is a 491 visa holder working in food services at a hospital who has been separated from his family because of the border closure.

His wife Renu Dhaka and son Kushaal have been stuck in India since early 2020 and have had multiple travel exemptions refused including one submitted by a migration agent.

“Last time I saw my son, he was four months old and it was his second birthday [in June],” Mr Rawal said. “He doesn’t even know who I am. Every time I try to talk to him, he just runs away as he wants to play and I can’t play with him. [With my wife], our relationship is going through a hard time as we just talk and cry about border reopening.”

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