OZ cuts down new skilled occupation list to 181

Australian government today announced a new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) proposed to come into effect from July 1, 2010. The current SOL has more than 4,00 occupations. The new list of occupations, which was announced by the Australian Government, includes only 181 occupations.

The proposed SOL has excluded occupations such as cookery, hairdressing and community welfare which were popular courses amongst Indian students in Australia, since it offered an easy pathway to permanent residence in the country.

Commenting on the change of list, Naresh Gulati, CEO, Oceanic Consultants said, "The increased demand of these courses had earlier led many new education providers to set up the shops purely because of the ever increasing demand of these courses. A large number of private colleges had mushroomed in Australia to cash on growing demand of these courses. Such institutions are likely to feel the heat of this change as they would not be in demand anymore. The decline in demand of courses offered by such institutions would pose serious cash flow crunch to such institutions and a large number of them would be forced to go out of business."

The new SOL will impact those students who have been granted student visas on or after February 9, 2010 and were aiming at obtaining Australian permanent residence upon completion of popular courses such as cookery, hairdressing and community welfare would no more be able to get the permanent residence if they wish to obtain permanent residence using such qualifications.